ESHT 2014 - Several signs in Llangollen that caught my eye, plus some family news

I missed posting yesterday, Saturday, December 6. You see, I most often work on my daily post the night before, setting it up to post the next morning at 3:30 a.m. I failed to do that Friday night, mainly due to several swigs of Jamesons and two vodka-infused Jell-o shots which I thoroughly enjoyed with my two sons, Lamont and Leland, and Leland's girlfriend Rachel. We met at the Blue Diamond after I got off work Friday to celebrate my younger son Leland's new job which he starts on Monday, December 8. Finally, after years of trying, he has the chance to put to use his civil engineering technology associate's degree with Ascentec Engineering, a company that--I read on the Internet--engages in the design, development, and manufacture of fixtures and tools for the electronics assembly industry. He'll be driving to Tualatin, a nearby suburb. Leland begins as a design intern. We all believe that the sky's the limit!

Back to the lack of a Saturday post, on Saturday I spent three hours getting to and back from a fine lecture at the Architectural Heritage Center: Portland 101: Crooked Grids, Tiny Blocks, and the Building of the City . . . How did Portland get this way, with its little square blocks and weird intersections, the funny pronunciations and the bridge ramps to nowhere? Why is it even located where it is? There’s a reason for everything (we didn’t say a good reason…)!
Stone carver’s mistakes, upside-down pineapples, and mythical tunnels are just part of the things true Portland residents should know about – we’ll look at the grid, the naming and re-naming of our streets, and the eras of commercial architecture that have marked our compact and vibrant downtown, as well as the near blitzkrieg effect of the Great Demolition which left us with parking lots where the temples of finance and industry once stood. Long time AHC Education Committee member Robert Jordan will guide us through 150 years of Portland’s development – a great overview for those just getting interested in Portland’s architectural heritage as well as for anyone who ever wondered, “Why did they do THAT?” 

Afterward, Leland and his sweetheart Rachel picked me up and we went to nearby Lloyd Center, a shopping mall with a food court, for lunch and a successful adventure in shopping for business casual pants. Yes, successful in that we found three pair which are now in Leland's possession as early Christmas presents from me--sweet! Successful in that we survived the uncomfortable heat inside the stores at the mall.

By the time I got home, I had just enough energy left to gather my canned good contributions for the Oregon Food Bank barrel at the Blue Diamond and to walk over there. After placing them in the barrel, I sat down at the bar and drank several glasses of water and enjoyed talking with Janessa, bartender, and Trace, cook--two of my favorite young people to whom I did not give birth! Then, I ate half an order of chicken black bean nachos, drank a hot toddy with half a shot of Fireball in it, thanks to a kind young man who overheard me talking about only needing a half shot--he's new to the Blue Diamond and had no idea just how big the shot glasses are there! After deciding to buy a shot, he shared half with his lady friend and half with me for my hot toddy! So, when I got home, I got on my comfy clothes and headed for the recliner and the heating pads. No contest, I fell asleep with the best intentions of getting up in a few minutes and blogging! Now, it's Sunday morning and I'm blogging for today, hopefully for tomorrow and maybe even a few days in the future!




Hughes! I like that and the fact that the word's on a nice-looking corner store selling quality fruit and vegetables right next door to another store selling meats and cheeses, also a deli. Serendipity! I put this photo on Facebook yesterday because my son Leland's first name is Hughes, plus he and his brother have had careers involving food since 1994--Lamont started at a busboy at Bravo! in Jackson, Mississippi, our former hometown, while Leland began there as a dishwasher; over time they both ended up at 3 Doors Down Cafe in Portland, Lamont as sous chef, Leland as line and prep cook, all skills learned on the job with the added touch of inherited talent from their dearly departed Daddy whose skills exceeded mine, masterfully.

And, since Leland's changing careers tomorrow, this photo should be shared today on the blog. Lamont will continue his work at Provvista Specialty Foods where he runs the company's lunch program (cooking lunch daily from fresh ingredients, scratch recipes, for 50 employees) and afternoons he maneuvers all sorts of cheese, including 80-pound wheels imported from Italy, into the sizes sold to restaurants and grocery stores around the Pacific Northwest. With his new job, Leland no longer has to get up at 3:15 a.m. Monday through Thursday to drive a truck full of ordered/sold goods to another driver in the Seattle area, then drive the empty truck back to Portland. Yea for Leland! Plus, Lamont's satisfied to have a job which makes good use of his skills and talents plus allows him to have weekends off. No more restaurant kitchens for either son.



Around the corner, I came across this sign--I immediately noticed bulldog since I'm a loyal Dawgs myself, a Mississippi State University Bulldog, to be precise. Talk about serendipity! Plus, I enjoyed the humor in the sign--dogs welcome, owners allowed.



Then I turned to my left to check out the other sign at The Bull. Hmmm. I'll bet we'd have walked in to check it out if we weren't already completely satisfied with our lunch at the Buttered Crust. I particularly like that item, Roast Served Daily. However, in checking some online reviews, disappointment most likely would have ensued.

Open House, Provvista Specialty Foods, Part Three

Read about Provvista Specialty Foods here.

My sons Lamont and Leland work at Provvista and are in photos on Open House, Part One.



Here's a shot taken in the sunny parking lot. You can just about feel the warmth. Personally, I love Provvista's logo which you can see part of on these two trucks parked in the company lot. My two sons were born in Kansas, the Sunflower State, and now they work for a company with a sunflower logo!
 

Central Milling, Premium Flour & Grains - Est. 1867. A busy table. Country of Origin: USA-Utah.
 

La Querica's table is busy, too. Country of Origin: USA-Iowa. They produce artisan cured meats or salumi — prosciutto, pancetta, coppa, speck, lonza, guanciale, and lardo.
 

One of my favorite tunas comes from Sacred Sea Wild Albacore Gourmet Fillets. Country of Origin: USA-Oregon. It's not packed in oil but in it's natural juices. Yummy. The lady, who had drained the natural juices and placed the flaky tuna in those little cups for us to be able to enjoy it, said that her father was out catching tuna, so she came to the open house in his place.
 

Look at these meats from Framani. The man's apron says Traditional Italian Salumi, but on the Provvista Web site, the Country of Origin: USA-California.
 

More meats, this time from Olympic Provisions. Country of Origin: USA-Oregon. I've bought some of their goodies at the Farmer's Market and have been to their restaurant in the restaurant in Southeast Portland.
 

Mama Lil's--spicy, tasty, hot and wonderful. Country of Origin: USA-Washington. I tried for the first time the Bread and Butter Pickles, Spicy. So fine. So hot. I already knew that I loved the Peppers Pickled in Oil, although I don't know if I've had the Mild Spicy or the Hot. I'm guessing the Mild Spicy.
 

Steadily filling sample plates, Morena from Calabro Cheese. Country of Origin: USA-Connecticut.

Open House, Provvista Specialty Foods, Part Two

Read about Provvista Specialty Foods here.

My sons Lamont and Leland work at Provvista and are in photos on Open House, Part One.



Provvista employee Robin looks to his right, listening to a woman out of the photo, as he works at a table filled with all sorts of cans and bottles. Looks like peppers and tomatoes galore, arborio rice, bottles of olive oil? and boxes of something else that I cannot see the names of in this photo. Whatever is on the table holds the interest of those two people.
 

Provvista employee Terry enjoyed talking about cheese with folks who stopped at this table last Sunday. Some of these, as well as others on the tables in the distance, were sheep or goat cheese--I enjoyed bites of quite a few of them. My favorite cheese is at the table where the girl in the white apron stands. I can't ever remember the name of that cheese, but I know the label when I see it! I always have to ask Lamont or Leland what its called. It's from Italy, I think.

Later on I sat with Terry at a table over where the pizza and paella cooks prepared those tasty treats for anyone who stepped up and asked for a slice or a dish. I think both cooking stations were set up especially for the Open House.
 

Pizza cook slicing away as the fire continues to heat the pizza oven. I ate a couple of slices with kale and some sort of cheese on them--very tasty.
 

A guy hard at work from Crown Paella, paella and tapas for hire, Portland, Oregon. Our friend from Seattle, Pat, stopped by the Open House on her way home after a several-days-long yoga workshop in Beaverton. She enjoyed a dish of paella, as well as bits and pieces from lots of the display tables throughout the warehouse.

Open House, Provvista Specialty Foods, Part One

Read about Provvista Specialty Foods here



Here's Leland, my younger son, on the right, who is working with Chris at a table filled with various products available at Provvista. The Taza Organic Stone Ground Chocolate tasted so good, especially the Mexicano Salted Almond--I had several small bites over the course of the three and one half hours I was there. Also tasty on this particular table, the Luxardo Italian Maraschino Cherries.
 

Here's Lamont, my older son, who is standing outside the company's kitchen where he cooks lunch each day for the employees. At the Open House, he kept up with the needs of the various vendors for all sorts of necessary items for their displays, including those pieces of bread in the bowls on the table in front of him.
 

Leland on the left and Nick on the right. Nick is the Provvista employee who delivered one time years ago to 3 Doors Down Cafe when Lamont was at work there, with owner chef Dave. For a few seconds, both of them thought that Leland had come through the door with the delivery, there was that much of a resemblance. Today when I arrived, I found Lamont in the kitchen and this young man was there picking up things to take out into the warehouse. I immediately asked Lamont, "Is that the guy who reminds people of Leland?" Of course, the answer was yes.
 

Todd, Lee and AJ, all Provvista employees, at another table filled with items which end up being bought by restaurants and grocery stores in the Portland area and other parts of the USA.
 

Dave, 3 Doors Down Cafe chef owner, and Andy, Provvista and who was sous chef at 3 Doors Down Cafe in the past.

Adventure interrupted.

Photos tell stories. Words embellish stories. Lots of reading here even in an interrupted adventure.
 

Here we are, tootling along in the Lamont's Volvo station wagon on our way to Bend, my two sons and I. Our plan, to spend Friday and Saturday nights there in a place called the Writer's Retreat, one of the vacation homes managed by Bend Dutch Rentals. The guys wanted to boulder some during the days, and I wanted to explore the parts of Bend within walking distance of the retreat plus maybe ride out to see where they bouldered. We'd spend the rest of the time together, laughing, talking, eating, enjoying each other's company. We're blessed because you can do all of those things no matter where you end up.

We'd made a pit stop at a grocery store a few miles before we came to these curves you see in the first two photos. And we'd already noticed lots of lots of participants in the 2012 Hood to Coast Relay that had started that morning at Timberline Lodge up on Mt. Hood--you can see a few running on the passenger side of that white car in the top left photo. That's not someone in the road directly behind the car's driver side. Balloons are attached to the antenna. Lots of the vehicles had all sorts of stuff attached so that relay participants could easily find them at assigned places along the relay.

Notice the wide shoulder in the third photo. Let me tell you, we three were proud to see it as quickly as we did because we'd just heard a strange clunky sound and felt a jerky movement as we rode up the ever-increasing slight incline. Lamont pulled off onto the shoulder as we approached that big tree close to the guard rail. The guys got out, looked under the front of the car, decided Lamont should pull over closer to the guard rail, then they opened the hood and found oil coming out from beneath the cap on the place where you pour oil into the engine.

First, Lamont called the auto shop where he takes the car--Atomic Auto which is within walking distance of my apartment back in Portland. No answer. I immediately said, "OK, now push the button on the SPOT." So, Lamont got it out of his bag and pushed the button for roadside assistance, one of the aspects of this little orange piece of equipment which I subscribe to yearly.

(I had bought the SPOT Locator for the guys' birthdays back in 2008 when they had decided to hike in the mountains--too many people became lost in the mountains during the first two years that Mama and I were in Portland, and I didn't want to think about their not coming home and/or getting in touch with me to let me know that they were back home within a reasonable amount of time of their expected arrival, so I said to them, "I told you that I wasn't going to come out here and live your lives for you, but I have to know where we can tell them to start looking for y'all." They graciously accepted like the good sons that they are.)

Back on the shoulder of Highway 26, in a couple of minutes, my cell phone rang. A gracious and helpful young woman on the other end verified all sorts of information, asked me for a mile marker which thankfully was right there--see the fifth photo, that's the back of it! It read 50.0. Better than that, even, was when I heard her tell me that my plan covered towing 50 miles from where I wanted to go. Oh, joy!

After making sure she knew that we needed a tow truck that would hold all three of us, she told me she'd text the name and phone number of the company to me shortly and that the truck should be there within 45 minutes, plus I would get a text right about the projected time of arrival to ask if indeed the tow truck had arrived. The first text came at 3:13 p.m. Purdy's Brightwood Towing was on the way. I called Bend Dutch Rentals and let them know what had happened and explained that I'd call again when we knew the outcome.

The guys got their bouldering crash pads out of the station wagon to rest their weary buns--they work hard at their jobs with Provvista Specialty Foods. I was on my third day of vacation that week, feeling good. But not good enough to take the guys up on their offer of a crash pad for me. I figured I needed to save all of my energy for getting into the tow truck which I figured would be high off the ground. So I kept my not-so-agile buns resting on the guard rail, watching passing sights like the tractor-double-trailer rig loaded with green bales of hay rumbling down the incline. Another thing we noticed--more Hood to Coast participants who ran by across the road were women. Leland mentioned it first, then I chimed in with, "Yes, and it was the year of the woman at the Olympics!" Ever the fount of trivia, that's me.

Purdy's arrived and by 4:08 p.m., I had already texted "1" for yes to the query, "Has roadside assistance vehicle arrived?" The attendant whose name escapes me checked for oil, found it too low but with enough there so that he could deftly drive the car right onto the flatbed of the tow truck. Next he attached it securely while Leland and Lamont checked the spot where oil had dripped out of the engine. By 4:13 p.m., he leveled the flatbed and was just about ready for us to climb into the cab, the guys through the back door, me through the front door after I had grabbed hold of the appropriate handles to help me make that huge first step. By the way, do you notice that tiny turquoise dot at the left corner of the flatbed in the next to last photo? That's a woman running in the relay.

I clicked my seatbelt and watched the passing scenery all the way to Atomic Auto; first we had to continue away from Portland until we came to a spot where the man knew he could make a looping turn and head us back in the direction we wanted to go. He didn't waste any time, let me tell you, driving those curves at a clip which gave me pause. However, I successful squelched my natural tendency to squeal when frightened in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle. If I remember right, he told us that his first tow call that morning had been at 6:15 a.m., way up on Mt. Hood.

By 5:52 p.m. he had the station wagon unloaded at Atomic Auto, eight minutes before closing time, and Lamont was on his way to talk with the guys there about getting her checked out. Lamont uses the female pronoun when referring to his station wagon. By the middle of that next week he had her back, good as new with some sort of new trap/filter something or other that had become clogged and allowed a build up of pressure which had to escape somewhere. Plus he had some brake work and front sway bar bushing work done--I think I remember that right.

We walked to my apartment and decided to not go to Bend, period. I myself felt like we'd come through the situation very much to the good. I didn't want to get into Leland's car and tempt fate--know what I mean? We'll reschedule before too long, just you wait and see.