Oregon Road Trip - Day 4 ~ Photo-log

Welp, the last day of our Oregon trip :( As we had to travel back to the border in time, we had breakfast at the Lake Oswego St. Honore Boulangerie and then hit the road for most of the day.

The pastries, sandwiches, and coffee always make good photos at St. Honore! I have a new favourite now: the mini raspberry croissant! Perfect size to satisfy my sweet tooth without as much guilt from the bite-sized buttery croissant!

Goes well with my cafe au lait!

I shared a ham and cheese croissant with W in addition to my mini pastries.

My sis and bro-in-law had the Quiche Lorraine and a few cakes and pastries to round out their breakfast.

After being on the road for a couple hours, we arrived in Seattle late in the afternoon. My bro-in-law suggested making a pit stop at Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream Shop. Having ice cream was a great incentive to stretch our legs out under the afternoon sun!

Leaving the decision making up to me (as always), W let me choose the 2 flavours for our double scoop in a cup. With a dozen or so interesting and yummy names, I totally hemmed and hawed for a long time! Finally, I went for the balsamic strawberry...

And I chose the Stumptown Coffee to appease W's traditional palate.

The ice-cream texture was spot on, being thick and creamy. The balsamic strawberry combination was not new to me but to see it together in ice cream form was new! Sweet and a little tangy from the balsamic, this was good to the last spoonful! The Stumptown Coffee was also strong and full of little bits of coffee grounds. We were fine with the ground coffee incorporated in the ice cream but my mom was not too fond of that.

We had dessert before our dinner! After having ice-cream, we went over to Kukai Ramen near Northgate Mall for a soothing, hot bowl of noodles. The ramen at Kukai was pretty good compared to the options back in Vancouver. The broth was flavourful and smooth while the texture of the curly noodles was just right for me, perfectly al-dente.

For me, I always need to have some form of Asian food at the end of a vacation to the States. Not only because I am usually craving for Asian food after having many meals of Western cuisine, but because it creates a feeling that I am ready go home, to fully conclude a great vacation.

Oregon Road Trip - Day 3 ~ Photo-log

With this year being the year we visit new places in Oregon, I finally had my chance to suggest eating at the Waffle Window!! I had this on my to-go list for a few years now. This was finally the year!!

We went to the 3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd. location in Portland. It was literally a hole in the wall situated on a side street. We nearly passed by it on on our way there. As it was a small, eat-and-go kind of eatery, there weren't a lot of indoor seating. Good thing the weather wasn't too bad. We ended up sitting at some picnic tables outside.

The Three B's - The Original Bacon, Brie and Basil waffle! Copied by others up and down the west coast, this inspired combination has thick cut pepper bacon, slices of Brie and fresh chopped basil, served with our house-made peach jam

Looking at the menu, I gravitated towards The Three B's. It was a good combination of sweet and savoury! The waffle had the perfect consistency between fluffiness and chewiness.

Ham and Cheese Waffle - Black Forest ham with Jarlsberg and Gruyere cheeses served with Grade A maple syrup

W chose the classic ham and cheese on top of the pearl sugar waffle. He also added a fried over-easy egg on top to make it more filling. Nothing amiss with this one!

Granola and Fruit Waffle - House-made granola, vanilla yogurt and fresh fruit according to season

Being a healthy and traditional person, my mom decided on the sweet granola and fruit waffle. During the spring season, Waffle Window selected fresh raspberries, blueberries, and pears for the topping. This was so good that to this day, my mom still compares all the waffles she's had since then to this one!

My dad also went the safe and classic route being the ham and cheese, except without the fried egg.

After brunch, we explored downtown Portland and sneaked in a bit of shopping haha...

My brother-in-law was interested in riding the street car that travels all over Portland. We headed to a nearby station and hopped on the line that went over a bridge to the east side of the river and back. As with any public transportation found in any major city, we saw a lot of "interesting" locals...some a little on the shady side...

My mom was adamant on treating the whole family to a seafood feast at Red Lobster (thanks mom!!) so we drove south to the location in Tigard as that was the closest one to our hotel.

White Wine and Roasted Garlic Mussels - Steamed in white wine with roasted garlic, roasted tomatoes and green onions. Served with grilled artisan bread

We ordered 2 appetizers to start but all our food came out pretty much at the same time haha... The mussels were were juicy and flavourful sitting in the wine and garlic broth-sauce. Though the meat were not too plump, these were still delicious.

Lobster, Crab and Seafood Stuffed Mushrooms - Fresh mushrooms with our signature seafood stuffing, smothered in Monterey Jack cheese and baked until bubbly brown

With 6 mushroom caps in one plate, it was the perfect size for our party. I found it a bit too oily from the melted cheese though.

Wood-Grilled Tacos - Fresh Tilapia, Three soft, golden tortillas, cilantro slaw, jalapeño ranch, and house-made pico de gallo. Served with wild rice pilaf

We weren't huge taco fans but we wanted to try something that we would not normally order. I suggested the tilapia as the protein. There wasn't anything wrong with the tacos but they weren't that outstanding either. The jalapeno ranch sauce was way too spicy for me. I loved the wild rice pilaf though! 

Ultimate Feast - Tender Maine lobster tail, steamed North American snow crab legs, our signature garlic shrimp scampi and Walt’s Favorite Shrimp; served with rice pilaf and choice of side

As we were in the mood for lobster, we ordered 3 different lobster entrees to share.

Wood-Grilled Lobster, Shrimp, and Salmon - A Maine lobster tail, jumbo shrimp skewer and fresh Atlantic salmon, wood-grilled and finished with brown butter. Served over green beans and baby gold potatoes

The crustaceans were done quite well. They still retained a bouncy and juicy flesh. The soft baby potatoes soaked up the brown butter and were pretty darn delicious!

Roasted Maine Lobster Bake - Petite Maine lobster tails, split and roasted with sweet corn on the cob and baby gold potatoes in a white wine and garlic-butter sauce

Although simple and plain, the lobster bake had 3 lobster tails and plenty of soft roasted potatoes. It was nice to enjoy a lobster tail plain with just a squeeze of lemon juice to bring out its original salty ocean taste.

With our tummies full of seafood, we still had to make room for dessert! My mom bought boxes upon boxes of ice cream filled mochi from Trader Joe's! Just leisurely enjoying little bites of ice cream mochi in our hotel room...what a perfect end to the evening!