Book 1: Richard Russo: Bridge of Sighs

OH, what a great book to start the year. Exactly what fiction should do: explore the details of a made up life to let us see what is in our real life.

My favorite quote from the book is currently my e-mail signature

"The one life we're left with is sufficient to fill and refill our imperfect hearts with joy, and then to shatter them. And it never, ever lets up. Blame love"

This is a book about divisions and how those divisions are crossed. It's about innocence and realism. The book is set in a small New England town where an old mill used to be the center of economic activity but is now closed (ah, typical Russo!). The town is divided into East and West with Division street the boundary. The protagonist, Lou, starts life on 1 side of town and ends up moving to the other side. The book unfolds as Lou is writing an autobiography; although there are 3rd person narratives of some of the other key players. The central event of Lou's life was when he was a kid and a group of bullies locked him in an old chest near a river (after he crossed a bridge). He ended up having the first of many spells where he just drifts away and is lost for a while. 

There are just so many conflicts and tensions in this book; not all are resolved. The recurring motif of divisions and bridges really interested me. One of  the key physical divisions is in an old park that has a wrought iron fence running around it. Lou spends many days with the caretaker of the park painting and keeping the fence in good shape.

Another central tension is innocence v. experience. Lou's dad (Big Lou) is a true innocent and just doesn't see the bad in people and can't figure out why bad things happen. Lou's mother is much more experienced and spends much of her life trying to navigate their lives through the reality of life. Lots of problems and challenges. Lou ends up being more like his dad than his mom.

Lou's best childhood friendship is also problematic and plays itself out through the entire book.

This is definitely 4.5 stars.

As I re-read my notes here it is apparent I need to work on my writing skills. I hope a little practice and writing up my notes soon after I read the book will help.

8 more books: My 2009 New Year's Resolutions

8-5-3-2 more or less

• Read 8 more books
• Lose 5 more pounds
• Floss 3 times a week
• Brush 2 minutes a day
• Give more; take less (at work I say that means give more guff; take less back talk). This is problematic because it doesn't meet one of my criteria: it isn't measurable

The Books

I was an English major in college but got away from reading. I remember in the 80's I read some of the new fiction (Less Than Zero) and some Thomas McGuane. I just got turned off by the protagonists going through hard times only to end up dead on the last page. I just go bummed out. I ended up reading more non-fiction; some religious stuff and history; and others. I'll go back and recap my 2008 list in later posts.

But this year, I thought I'd try rediscovering fiction and exploring life from that point of view. I plan to make at least 1/2 my list novels or short story collections.

It's early February and I'm on my 3rd book - Couples by John Updike. This has been on my shelf since college but I've never really gotten around to reading it. I figured now is the time. John Updike died recently and I've listened to a number of past interviews with him (Fresh Air, On Point with Tom Ashbrook). Listening to Updike talk really brought back to me what fiction is all about: exploring a made up life in order to show ourselves what our real lives are about. And Updike's focus on description; on making every word the right word, brought back to me the idea of the artistry of writing: it really is an art form.

 

Purpose - My 2008 New Year's Resolutions

A year ago - December 2007 I decided to take New Year's resolutions seriously; which is really, REALLY not like me. But surprise, surprise; I established some measurable goals and tried through the year to follow up on them. Some of them are personal (well all of them are personal) but one of them I thought might be a good point for discussion and give-and-take. And I plan to write about more than just my resolutions.

My resolution for 2008 was 8, 5, 4, 3. I wanted my resolutions to be easy to remember, measurable, and attainable. The numbers meant:

 

- Read 8 books. Status: Success: I read 11 books

- Lose 5 pounds: Status: Success: I was down 15 pounds during the year; ended up 10 pounds lighter at the end of the year

- Brush my teeth 4 minutes a day. Status: Not successful: Two - 2 minute sessions is TOO much; I couldn't keep it up and actually hurt my teeth with my electric tooth brush

- Floss 3 times a week. Status: Not successful: Probably averaged 2wice a month. 

So, reading that you probably figure you don't want to stand too close to me when we talk. Interesting that I picked two items involving my mouth.

Want I want to do in this blog is discuss the books I've read, but I figure I'll be all over the board and talk about food and other things of interest.

Headed out again!

My youngest son, Andrew, and I will be driving from Portland to his house in Tucson. We are going to drive over part of Route 66 as part of the adventure. 

On Sunday we'll head from Portland to Ashland where we'll take in the play "Our Town" at the Shakespeare Festival. Monday we'll drive down the heart of California into Barstow where we will spend the night at a hotel overlooking the BSNF railroad tracks.

Tuesday we'll reprise part of Carla and my drive through Amboy, Needles, Kingman, Seligman, and over to Winslow. 

Because we have to get to Tucson by Thursday and want to visit our relatives in Cottonwood and Sedona, we'll have to bypass part of the old road. For example we won't go through Oatman, but Amboy and Seligman are a must. We will be having lunch at the Sno Cap in Seligman!

I'll post some pictures along the way as Carla and I did last year.

Stay tuned

Northwest Grille - December 15, 2007

9900 SW Canyon Rd (Shilo Inn)
Portland, OR



This was my pick. I wouldn't have picked this normally because A) it is part of Shilo Inn hotel which is a chain; and B) it is part of Shilo Inn hotel. But, it had a grand write up in the Oregonian a couple of days before we went; so I figured, what the heck. If we can find a good breakfast place on the westside, I'm game.

Well, in a word, "Ugh". Typical hotel restaurant food. I had the "Meat Lover's Scramble". The spuds were cool, there wasn't much meat, and the cheese on top wasn't melted. Service was nice enough.

I guess, I'll have to bite the bullet and head back to the east side of the river for a decent breakfast next time.

China Delight - November 24, 2007

Address: 8975 SW Beaverton Hillsdale

I definitely wasn't on my "A" game for blogging; I didn't have my PDA; didn't get a picture; and didn't pick up a business card. So, bear with me.

I may be off on the date by a week. There was a little bit of snow was spitting at us on the drive and it seems like we talked about Christmas trees.

The most interesting place about this restaurant is that it is a Chinese restaurant in the evenings; but in the mornings it is "Carma's American Breakfast" restaurant. I think the name is Carma's. Some folks lease the place and serve breakfast when the building would otherwise be idle. What a great idea.

I do remember I had a scramble which was okay. If I remember correctly, their motto was they had the best breakfast in Beaverton. Well, based on my experience that isn't saying much; there just aren't that many good breakfast places in our neck of the woods. But if I was going to vote for a best, I'd pick Murrayhill Cafe over this spot. But, I would consider going back here.

Podnah's

I can't remember ever having biscuits and gravy before, so I considered myself a Biscuits and Gravy virgin. That is until Podnah's. And the first time was truly great! Really, really good biscuits with yummy gravy on the side, which I appreciated because I could control the amount of gravy I got in each bite. The sausage was spicy and tasty and I didn't feel that it was greasy at all. Howard was kind enough to share his scrambled eggs with me, so I considered my breakfast just about perfect.

The only downfall was not having any decaf coffee AND no herbal teas that I could drink. I was about to settle for a cup of hot water, when the waitress suggested that I go the coffee shop next door and get my coffee. That turned out to be just fine. The Bean is a nice little shop with a very friendly proprietor who was happy to fix me a decaf Americano. We visited with the owner for a bit while he fixed my coffee, and by the time we got back to Podnah's, our order was almost ready. That made for a short wait.

From what I observed, it looks like Podnah's uses French Presses to make their coffee, and then puts the coffee in hot pots for the customers to serve themselves. Since I use a French Press at home, I'm sure I would have enjoyed their coffee had I been able to drink it.

Deducting a half point for the shortness of the menu, and another half point for not being able to accommodate my drink needs, I'd rate this place at four stars.

November 17, 2007 Podnah's Pit BBQ

Yum!

There are some foodies in my office; Jeff and/or Brendan have set as a goal to eat their way through the top 10 restaurants in Portland as rated by Portland Monthly magazine. They had lunch at Podnah's Pit BBQ in Northeast and raved about it. I looked on the web and found that they started opening for breakfast just about a month ago. So, it definitely sounded like a candidate.

When I looked at the menu on-line I knew I'd be happy but that the others might have a hard time getting something they like. But hey, we rotate picking and I figured I'd please myself and hope the others would find something they liked. The menu is very short.

• Biscuits and gravy
• Smoked trout hash
• 2 breakfast burritons (with or without sausage)
• Ham, eggs, and grits

I wanted someone to order the trout hash so I could at least see it; if someone has it, please post a comment.

I love good biscuits and gravy but rarely order it because it can be so easily ruined; a floury paste with a couple of chunks of greasy pork served over a hockey puck.

But Podnah's knows there biscuits and gravy: there were huge chunks of spicy sausage in a creamy, peppery gravy; no lumps; no grease. The gravy was served in a soup cup alongside two wonderful, light, flaky biscuits. I also had a couple of scrambled eggs on the side. Make no mistake: if you want biscuits in gravy in Portland, go to Podnah's.

The ambience is very VERY low key; it strikes me as what a southern barbecue joint would be. It is a small, narrow building with small old fashioned kitchen tables lining both sides. There were only a couple of spots for 4 people; we actually pushed a couple of small tables together. A few pictures are on the wall. Suffice it to say, if you are going to Podnah's you are going for the food.

There are a couple of small things that keep this from rating 5 stars in my book. They had NO decaffinated coffee. After we ordered, Dianne and Carla ducked out and went next store to get a coffee from a little coffee shop and brought it in. Also, we had to go fetch our own coffee from the back of the shop and the cups were little. But for a little breakfast joint that delivers the goods, this rates 4 1/2 stars.

Podnah's Pit BBQ

1469 NE Prescott St

Veritable Quandry

I enjoyed this restaurant very much. I also had the Eggs Benedict on the homemade english muffins. I generally don't get anything Benedict because I don't care for the sauce which is usually too lemony or tart for my taste. This sauce was just right and the english muffin was good. It was dense, as Howard mentioned, and not at all crispy, but still good.



The service was good and the company was delightful, as usual, with the added benefit of having Murray there, too. It was nice to get to meet Jeff's future father-in-law.



When we ate here a few years ago, I had the steel-cut oats for breakfast. It was so creamy and tasty with just the right amount of fruit, sugar, and cream. I loved it! I was glad to see it was still on the menu. I would have had it again, but it just wasn't an oatmeal kind of day for me.



I would give the VQ four stars for ambience, service, and quality of my breakfast.

November 10, 2007 - Veritable Quandry

We had a special visitor to our group this week. Carla and my son's, fiance's dad, Murray Slovick. He lives in New Jersey and came out for the weekend to visit his daughter's future in-laws. He is extremely charming and we had a blast.

We wanted to show him "Portland" and so wanted a real nice downtown experience. It was a toss up between Mother's Bistro and The Veritable Quandry. We've been to both before and enjoyed them both. The ambience, architecture, and location of VQ won out. So we headed there for breakfast.

Here's the regular 4; Murray was at the controls of his camera.

Ohmygosh; if I walk down the street with that expression, I bet people give me a wide berth.

So many choices, it was hard to decide. I opted for the local made sausage with currants, along with eggs and a potato cake. The sausage was delicious; the eggs were, well... eggs: fried over-medium. The potato cake was a little dense and maybe I was just full, but I didn't eat it all; it wasn't compelling.

Murray (and I think Herb) had the Eggs Benedict on a home made English muffin; they seemed pretty whelmed (not overwhelmed or underwhelmed, just whelmed) by the muffin - dense like the potato cake.

After breakfast, Herb and Dianne headed home, where I think Herb had to install a new toilet. Carla, Murray, and I walked on the Hawthorne bridge where I got a picture of Murray and Carla:

A pretty nice picture of the waterfront; too bad I only had my phone camera.

From there we took the tram up to OHSU, then explored Powell's, the Pearl, Pioneer Courthouse Square, where they were putting up the Christmas tree, and quick drive through Ladd's Addition in the Hawthorne area.

For dinner that night (I know, I know, this is a breakfast blog) we ate at Higgins, which is my favorite restaurant in Portland. If you are in Portland for a night, I recommend Higgins without reservation (well, actually you may want to make a reservation).

Next up is November 17; I have a couple of places in mind. I'll try to get a report out soon.

I've also made up a little breakfast blog card the size of a business card with the blog URL on it; maybe we'll get a little traction with this.