berries, block prints, food, and foof!

pete’s parents came up for a full 2 week vacation, and pete was able to get a total of 6 days off work to hang with them; i managed to take most of that time off too (working on knitting patterns in the car whenever possible) so we had all kinds of adventures! there’s so much to show, so i’m dividing it into 2 posts, and i’m going a little backwards, starting with last friday/saturday.

besides being taken out to amazing portland meal after meal, i’ve been eating fabulously at home the last few days, after we picked berries on sauvie island!  as i write this, i’m drinking tazo awake tea with local honey from the island, mmmmm.

it was a new experience for us all, walking through the farms and filling our baskets with fresh fruit.  we drove on to the island, and started looking for berry picking signs, with no specific farm in mind, so we started at a small-ish blueberry field.  (it actually seemed pretty huge, until we had our second farm to compare it to, pictured above)

the blueberries were easy!  they were mostly at good ripeness, and the ripe ones fall off easily when you wiggle them, so you pretty much shake the bundles with your basket underneath and the good ones fall right in!  between the 4 of us, we got a huge bag full (the total ended up filling 3 quart-size ziplock bags) for about $4!!  unbelievable!  and delicious!

then we wandered around the island some more and came across a raspberries sign…  it ended up being a huge farm with dozens of different things growing, the main ones on that day being raspberries, blueberries, and cherries.  there were also smaller patches of peas, lettuce, and some others that i can’t remember, and the not-ready-yet sections included tons of marionberries, and lots of herbs and other stuff i can’t remember…

the raspberries were at the very beginning of ready-ness (i’m pretty sure it was the first day for them, so we lucked out!) so they were trickier.  it was more of a hunt to find the ripe ones hidden behind tons of unripe ones.

but oh was it worth the work!!

and then, i saved the best for last… this wasn’t even on the sign at all, but the lady told us there might be a few hood strawberries left!  they were just at the end of their time, but we figured we’d go search around and maybe find 2 or 3 good ones.  it was definitely a search – so exciting to see a red spot inside all that green!

but we ended up finding a bunch of them!!  mostly small-ish ones – that photo below on the right shows our bucket; the top layer is all strawberries!  yummm!!  oh and, guess how much that huge thing of fresh raspberries and hood strawberries cost us… just guess… ok, ready?  $2.60!  for real!

last weekend i made a batch of vanilla/white chocolate chip cupcakes to try out my yard sale cupcake book, so after berry-picking i ate one with raspberries and blueberries – so good!!  then for a couple breakfasts in a row i had oatmeal with berries.  i’m going to have to make sauvie island a regular trip now, food just won’t be the same without it!

the day after sauvie island i didn’t take any photos, but i have to tell you a bit about it.  we went to the portland art museum to see the escher show – i didn’t think i was that into it, but i always love art museums, so i was up for checking it out.  wow, i was so wrong!  i am a total escher fan now!  especially as someone who does printmaking – it was so cool to see his actual lino blocks and wood blocks, and to see several process series.  like, the original concept drawing, then another drawing designing it more, then 2 separate block designs, each printed on its own, then the final print with the 2 (or 3) different blocks, and the blocks themselves.  so cool!  (not my personal favorite, but this is one where we got to see the actual 3 woodblocks.)

and then, weirdly enough, the patterny works were really inspiring as a knit designer.  i think it’s the same kind of thought process that turns organic shapes into a seamless pattern, and turns rows of knit stitches into a shape or pattern… am i crazy?  i need to go to art museums more, they can be so creatively inspirational in a unique way.  anyway, this is another print i really liked, and this was crazy awesome to see, taking up a whole wall.

lastly about those days with pete’s parents, roundup of pdx food highlights!  sweet potato pancakes at gravy (they taste like carrot cake!), falafel at ya hala, veggie lasagna at sub rosa, then on the days pete had to work but we still had a few meals out with them – hash brown scramble with veggie gravy at jam was best!

guess who had a birthday the other day!

our foofy kitten is now a whole year old! (that shot was taken the day before her bday.)