My March Madness began at the Bijou.

Cafe, that is, downtown Portland at SW 3rd and SW Pine. My table where I waited right about 7:30 a.m. Thursday, March 15, for my favorite restaurant breakfast which I knew would keep me from getting hungry too soon at the Rose Garden Arena. My goal, to enjoy all four NCAA March Madness Second Round games that day, feeling a minimal amount of hunger and a maximum amount of college-basketball-induced joy. I rode the 12 bus from home and willingly walked two blocks to the restaurant through the rain because I knew that my plan was a really good one.


My favorite restaurant breakfast, the Redwood Hill smoked goat cheddar French-style omelette. Inside the perfectly cooked, fluffy eggs, you find three ingredients. Crumbles of Redwood Hill smoked goat cheddar--maybe it's been riced, I don't know, but it's teensy pieces of big-flavored goat cheese. Small rectangles of crispy bacon. Slender, perfectly-formed ovals of paper-thin green onions. It comes with the crunchy salad greens you see here or with chunks of potatoes which taste like they were actually grown in the earth. And the muffin of the day or toast accompanies it. I always go for the muffin which I take with me in a square paper sleeve provided by the waitstaff. I always order one outta-sight-best-ever buttermilk pancake upon which I put two pats of butter and a small amount of maple syrup which I pour into slight grooves that I cut into the top of the pancake once the butter has melted. That lets the syrup soak right on down into the pancake, doncha know.

As I savored my first bite of the omelette, I turned to my right to face the counter behind which the cook(s) work steadily, smiled and flashed the cook the A-OK sign. He smiled back and said, "Thanks." After a fine meal, I walked in the rain again, this time three blocks, to catch a MAX train to the Rose Garden Arena, site of my planned college-basketball-induced joy.

Some of you probably guessed the Farmers Market. This one's on Wednesdays!

You're right. It's the one at Shemanski Park in the South Park Blocks, downtown Portland. I rode the bus over the Hawthorne Bridge, got off at SW 6th and Main and walked the two blocks up the slight hill to shop. I love this chance to get fresh vegetables and fruit, plus other handmade goodies in the middle of the week. The market is just the right size for someone with only an hour for lunch and two bus rides to get there and back to work!

The vendors to the west of the park.


The vendors to the east of the park.

The structure which looks like sculpture, with the red tile sort of roof on it, is actually the Shemanski Fountain.

I ate lunch before I went to the market because all I wanted to do was look for food to cook and maybe some strawberries and some sort of cherry concoction. I bought asparagus, arugula, chard, green onions, carrots, red potatoes, a jar of Sweet Tart Cherry Jelly from Cherry County, plus a pint of strawberries. When I got home that night, I washed all of it then cut the carrots and potatoes into pieces and put them in the oven, drizzled with olive/canola oil and sprinkled with sea salt. I washed the arugula, chard and onions, cut the onions into discs and rough chopped the arugula and chard, then sauteed all of it in a big skillet with olive/canola oil and some sea salt. I washed the asparagus and cut off some of the stem ends, then put it into a great big pot to steam. I also had some broccoli that I had bought at Freddie's last Friday--I steamed it at the same time. The only thing that didn't get done in time for me to eat any of it last night were the potatoes and carrots. I had left over pot roast with potatoes and carrots, though, so that was OK. I spooned some of everything else on the plate and ate like a queen. Lucky, lucky, blessed me!


By the way, here's a photo looking south from Main so that you get an idea of the expanse known as the South Park Blocks.


And here are a couple of the prepared food vendors. I think the folks in my Thursday photo probably bought lunch at one of these and were sitting in the sun enjoying their lunch. The vendors are set up on SW Main which is closed during the market. I love how Portland does that and Portlanders seem to readily accept that there's a legitimate reason for the street to be close for a period of time. Love it!