Portland Weekend: Saturday (part two)

(posted by Emily) 

Saturday 27 September 

After lunch, we decided to check out the Portland Art Museum, as a part of Free Museum Day. 
a Keith Haring in the basement
The museum has one Monet--probably the highlight of the museum for us
a Degas ballerina
some modern art--I like the colors
Rick walking through the modern art 
this reminded me of an ink blot test
modern art is weird
This is something I could see in my house
this was a vase, sitting on top of a tv screen, that was playing a video loop. It was a very cool effect
things like this always make me think I could be a modern artist. 
Usually, we are both fans of Impressionism and modern art, but to be honest, we weren't all that impressed with the museum's collection. The modern art was just strange and unimpressive, and other than the Monet, there wasn't much art of note. 

 We had dinner reservations on Saturday evening, but decided we wanted to head out for some beer first. We had passed by the Deschutes brew pub while wandering the Pearl District and wanted to see what they had to offer. 
we tried the classic sampler
inside the brew pub
after the sampler, I still wanted to try the stout, and Rick had a larger glass of the first beer we sampled. 
Dinner on Saturday was at Portobello Trattoria, a restaurant specializing in vegan Italian food. It didn't take much convincing to get Rick there to eat! The space is small, but cute, and we really enjoyed our meal.  


 We started with a cashew cream pizza with caramelized onions and fresh basil. Rick said it was exactly what he wanted :) I thought it was pretty delicious, too!

We also got an order of Sweety Peps--cashew cheese stuffed sweet peppers. So simple, yet so delicious. I am definitely going to try to make these at home!  

When we discovered the restaurant didn't have any dishes with pesto sauce (Rick was bummed), we opted for the gnocchi with fresh marinara and and walnut parmesan. It tasted light and fresh, and the pasta melted in your mouth. 

Dessert was a must--every review of the restaurant online said we had to give something a try. We opted for the house-made thin mint sundae with chocolate mint ice cream, homemade thin mints, coconut whipped cream, fudge sauce, and cookie crumbles. I am not usually a fan of mint and chocolate (with the exception of Kappa Dessert), but this dessert was amazing. Rick has declared it the best dessert he has ever had--the combination of all the elements really sent it over the top. I could eat it again and again. 

After dinner, we hopped back on the bus and headed back to our hotel. We called it a night early, after such a long day! 
--E&R 

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