Piece of Cake

We went to Konditorei's for a slice of birthday cake this year. I was surprised by how many desserts were on display. They have four cases full of cakes, cheesecakes and other pastries. I guess the owner has been a chocolate cake tasting judge for something like 30 years at the fair. So, they know their cakes.

I got the chocolate mousse cake

 and my husband got the raspberry cheesecake.

They were $5.95 each, which is about the price you would pay at most sit down restaurants. The cake I got was good, but rich. I liked the texture.  The layers went from dense, to medium light, to light. My husband's cheesecake was dense and not as sweet, but he liked it.

The baby slept so we were able to enjoy our desserts and visit a little. One of the things that I like about our dates is how they create memories. I have driven by this restaurant many times and will be reminded of the date we had there when I drive by in the future.

Norwegian Food Cart

I was introduced to Portland's food cart culture when I moved there years ago. There are hundreds...maybe even a thousand food carts in Portland. When I worked downtown I would see flocks of business people lined up at the carts for lunch and for good reason. You could usually get large portions of good food for cheap.

I always preferred eating at the Thai booths, but my two favorite Thai carts either closed up or moved out of town. So, recently I decided that it was time to try something new.

I did an online search to find the best food cart in Portland and after reading journal articles, top 10 lists, and reviews, I decided to try "The Viking Soul." The food cart stood out to me, because they are the only ones to sell Norwegian food in the Portland area, from what I understand. I was also intrigued by their menu, which seemed to have innovative flavor combinations and the reviews they got.

One yelper said, that they could venture off and try a different food cart, but what if it wasn't as good as "The Viking Soul?" The horror...lol.

I've waited to write a blog post about this date, because we had to go there three times before we got to try everything we wanted.

The first time we went there, they were closed. The second time, I tried their wrap with meat balls, purple cabbage, and cream sauce. My husband got the mushroom patty and blue cheese wrap. Then, the owner gave us a free honey nut wrap, because they ran out of the smoked salmon wrap that we really wanted to try.

We went back for a third time to try their wrap with smoked salmon, pickled shallots, dill creme fraiche, and watercress greens.

Now I know why they are so highly rated. All the wraps were good, but my favorite was the smoked salmon wrap. The balance in flavors was spot on. I am going to try and recreate it at home this coming week.

The second best wrap was the meatball and purple cabbage wrap. We have already recreated this one at home. We use tortillas instead of lefse (potato wraps.) We fill them with turkey meatballs, a cheese sauce and purple cabbage. I like the balance of flavors (sweet/salty) in the ones we make. It reminds my husband so much of the wrap we got at the food cart that he thinks about our date when he eats it.

Wrap Recipe
*Tortilla wraps

*Purple cabbage recipe (I omit the caraway & pepper, I use oil instead of butter) - link

*Turkey meatballs - I buy them frozen at the grocery store 

*Cheese sauce - 1 Tbsp oil, 2 Tbsp flour (combine & cook in skillet for a min), add 1 cup milk, 1/4 tsp salt, 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, and a little roasted garlic from the jar. Cook & stir until thickened.

We lay out a tortilla. Spread cheese sauce in a line down the center. Put meatballs on top of the cheese sauce. Cover the meat with 1/2 cup or more of purple cabbage and wrap it up. Serve warm.

Rooftop Dining

I thought it would be fun to have dinner on a rooftop somewhere. So, I began searching for rooftop seating at restaurants in our area. That's when I discovered the Departure restaurant. It's located on the top of the Nines Hotel in downtown Portland and has partial indoor and outdoor seating.

We went there for the first time last night. I thought the restaurant had a contemporary design/layout inside. The rooftop had an interesting seating arrangement, with couches and wicker chairs on the sides and tables in the center.

I loved the views up there. It created such a romantic setting.

We went in the evening and there was a nice breeze. We were shaded by large umbrellas too.

The restaurant serves Asian cuisine. We ended up ordering sushi to share. We got crab rolls that had a sweet, spicy, citrus flavor that I really liked and a smoked salmon roll.

It was a neat place to have a date. My favorite part was the company (hubby+baby) and the views of the city. My husband said that it reminded him of a restaurant that you might find in a city like New York and I agree.

Chocolate Board Game

I thought it would be fun to play a board game with my husband for a date night. So, I did a search to find the best game ever. I found lists of recommendations and read several reviews before stumbling across the chocolate board games. Chocolate incorporated into a game? What could be better?

There were three games with chocolate to choose from
1) Monopoly
2) Scrabble
3) Clue

I decided to go with Clue, because it's my favorite of the three.

The chocolate pieces were the playing cards that have room, guest name, and weapon information on them.

The gaming board was made of paper.

I could tell that the chocolate pieces weren't made with super high quality chocolate, but the idea was fun. We will probably buy our own chocolates and reuse the card info in the future.

The insturctions for the game were simplified, but we just played the game like the original, because we thought it would be more fun.

My husband was not surprised that I would buy a chocolate game, lol. We both had fun playing it though and when we finished he said "everyone should get chocolate after playing a game instead of points and the winner should get a few extra pieces." lol. The chocoholic in me would have to agree. 

 All three games are sold on amazon. This one cost about $10 with shipping.

Birthday Free Stuff

Years ago I learned that there are some restaurants that will give you free stuff on and around the time of your birthday. I've come to look forward to these deals, being the frugal person that I am. We don't usually cash in on every deal, but we try to at least make it out to Red Robin for a free burger and Panera Bread for a free pastry. These two deals cut the cost of our date last night in half and we got to go out to eat, which we don't usually do.
I ordered something new at Red Robin. It was a chicken sandwich called "burning love." I wish I would have taken a picture of it, because the presentation was really cool. It came out with a whole roasted jalapeno on top. I enjoyed the flavor, but the level of heat from the peppers inside was a little too much for me. My husband got a chicken sandwich.

Afterwards we went to Panera bread for dessert. We shared a brownie and a cinnamon roll.

One thing I should tell you, is that you have to pick up a membership card and activate it months before your birthday to get in on the deals at Panera Bread and Red Robin. Then, you'll be able to cash in on them anytime during the month of your birthday.

I've listed some of the other birthday free stuff that I know about below. All you have to do to get these deals, is sign up on the companies website to get their email notifications.

Baskin Robbins - free ice cream
Noodles and Company - free pasta (Portland)
Chevy's - free meal (Portland)
Denny's - free grand slam (on the day of your birthday)
iHop - free breakfast
Shari's - free slice of pie
Pietro's Pizza - free personal sized pizza & salad bar
Acapulco Mexican Restaurant Y Cantina (Portland) - free meal

I know there are more deals out there, so if you're interested I would recommend doing a search online.

Honey Bee date

My husband loves honey. I think he's even talked about having honey bees someday. When I was growing up my family always had honey around, because our home teacher was a bee keeper. As a child I grew up eating it on sandwiches mixed with peanut butter, but since then I've learned that I also really like it on freshly baked bread. 

For our date, I made challah bread and served it with honey. While we ate the bread I read off "bee" trivia questions that I found online. My husband knew most of the answers, but I think we both learned a few new things. One thing that I think is really interesting about honey bees is that on average each one produces only 1 1/2 teaspoons of honey in their lifetime. Crazy, huh?

I could tell that my husband enjoyed answering the questions and I had fun quizzing him. The warm honey bread turned out great too.

We didn't have time, but it would have been fun to watch the "bee movie" as part of our date, or to tour the honey making process of a bee keeper in our area. I bought clover honey, but they have different flavors at Winco and Roths that would have been fun to try. Maybe next time.

Bee trivia (see pages 73-77) link

Challah bread recipe link

50's Photo Shoot

My husband enjoys photography. So, I thought it would be fun to have a vintage photo shoot. We decided to dress up in 50's style clothes.

A friend let me borrow her dress and shoes and I made a Kate Middleton inspired hat.

I wanted to wear red lipstick, so I bought the "Russian Red" color from MAC, which ended up matching the trim on the dress perfectly.

I picked out a hat and vest for my husband to wear at a thrift store. He also wore a white collared shirt under the vest, grey pants and brown vintage style semi formal shoes that he already had.


I dressed the baby up in all white. She wore a lace bonnet, onesie and ruffled eyelet skirt.

We took pictures at a lookout point at Akeny National Wildlife Refuge. It was very scenic with ponds, rolling hills, tall grass and wildflowers. It reminded my husband and I of the old frontier.

 I like how the photos turned out. Some were formal and others were playful.

My favorite part of the date was dressing up and all the compliments going back and forth between my husband and I. I liked the fun playful family moments too with the baby.

We both enjoyed our date and it's fun to be able to look back now on the pictures we have.