Portland, OR Update

[Guest guest]

I was upin Portland this past weekend for the marathon and it was my first time in thecity.  Just a few updates from my stay there.  I stayed downtown and walked(and ran) everywhere.  When I first got in I walked down to the WholeFoods(which was a smaller one) to get some extra snacks.  For lunch I went to the “BlossomingLotusâ€.  It’s a really small café inside the “Yoga Peal†yoga studio.  It had rawand cooked food.  It reminded me of La Vie here in Santa Cruz (which I think issimilar to café gratitude, although I’ve never been to CG.)  The menu had theitems marked GF and I ate the dish with success.  For dinner since I couldn’t eatat the pre-race pasta party, I had spoken with the organizer and asked if itwas ok if I don’t pay $20 and bring my own food (which she was ok with.)  I hada salad from Blos.Lotus and had brought up a Tupperware of quinoa that I hadthe hotel heat up.http://www.blpdx.com/Anotherfind, was while I was walking the expo they had “Ultima†samples, which was adrink they’d be giving out at the aid stations.  It was gluten free (actually labeledGF on the container) and good!  (a safe electrolyte replacer for any of youathletes.)  http://www.ultimareplenisher.com/Anotherfind at the expo was an energy bar which I had to pass on b/c it had soy, butwhen I remember the name I’ll email it.At thefinish of the marathon I was pleasantly surprised to see Arico cookie bars asone of the offerings…and in an assortment of flavors.  http://aricofoods.com/Afterhobbling back to the room and showering up we headed to Hawthorne Fish House(the sister property to Corbett)  - it was a great experience.  It was nice tohave a fried food treat (haven’t in years) – I opted for the fish & chips, accompaniedby Bard’s Tale.  They also had 2 ciders and red bridge.  It was a chill placeinside with flat screens to watch the games.http://www.corbettfishhouse.com/hawthornehome.htmlOne bummerI came across was when I went into Deschutes Brewery (the Portland pub.)  Theydid not have the gluten free ale available.   The staff said that they (and theBend home locale) randomly brew the gluten free beers and they don’t bottlethem.  They keep them on tap and then they’re done.  The names change as thebrew.  They couldn’t provide any info on when another GF beer would be ready. (Joe, you had me so stoked on this one J  oh well)I alsowalked a ways out to the Trader Joes since right next to it was that glutenfree artisan bakery someone had previously mentioned.  However, I went there onMonday and it was closed so I didn’t get to check it out, so no comments there.http://www.newcascadiatraditional.com/contact.html TheBEST experience by far though…was my dinner at Andina (a south America (Peru)cuisine.  HOLY MOLY was this delicious!!!!!!  It’s more of a finer dining placeand higher up on the price scale, but they have a gluten free menu and I was inheaven.  I went the toppas route and had a little bit of everything.  They evenbrought some fried yucca since I couldn’t have the bread.  I haven’t been “outto dinner†like that since pre-diagnosis…I HIGHLY recommend it if you’re everup there.  It’s in the Pearl District and just fresh full of flavor and zing.  Iwas so full I had to pass on the dessert which looked amazing. http://www.andinarestaurant.com/ I think I hit upon all the major points I wanted to.  We need somemore of that Portland influence down this way! -