Marnese: At A Glance

Whoo Hoo! It's Fall!

Fall really is my favorite season. It has my favorite holiday, Halloween. It has my colors, green, gold, red, orange and streaks of purple. (Definitely me) It has my favorite weather, gusts of wind with mixing warm and cold crisp air. I have been sitting for hours on the front porch watching leaves dance and the robins get drunk on all the red berries in front of our house, their a hoot. The cats across the street are fascinated by their weird flights and giddiness.

We have definitely overbooked November. NanoWrimo, sewing classes, Opera, free concerts, fashion shows, and book clubs. Rob took me out for a belated birthday, starting with bacon wrapped dates stuffed with chevre and an almond. The restaurant's name is Veritable Quandry. The cooking staff was all women that night. And we lingered over the meal for two hours. The hazelnut fed organic pork chops melted in your mouth, so juicy and tender they didn't need a fork, the nutty flavor would have made Nero Wolf eat his heart out. I had a drink called the Fall and it was sublime - when I closed my eyes I could see the dancing leaves of color (hey it was only one drink) For desert I had a super natural experience with a chocolate souffle drizzled with dark chocolate sauce. Oh heaven, I tell you! Definitely a restaurant to get reservations at if you ever visit the area. All you foodies -- heads up - Robert smiled through the whole meal.

Next he took me for a short walk up the street and to the Keller Auditorium, where we watched Phillip Glass's Orphee (opera). Amazing! Our only complaint was that the audience wore a lot of perfume. The performance and orchestra where stellar in this modern retelling of the movie. How they worked out the mirror scenes was amazing and clever. It was a perfect compliment to the excellent dinner we just had.
The walk to the bus stop was spectacular- down town was all aglow, the tree wrapped in white Christmas lights, twinkling the falling leaves. A great birthday. Robert bowls me over again!

One of the groups we signed up for, to meet locals, had an event that we attended, an underground tour of Portland. Wow, what an history. It was great fun to listen about all the characters in Portland's past and was totally shocked about all the bigotry and racism that surfaced in that history too. Definitely wasn't what I was expecting but it was a good time and we met some folks.

Back at home Chef Robert fixed braised lamp shanks in orange olive and tomato sauce. Ummm WOW. The meat virtually fell of the bone, no knife was needed and every succulent tender morsel sent me real-ling. The brussel sprouts were tender yet firm, rich in a sauce of white wine and caramelized pearl onions. God I love this guy! (Hey put in an order for this when you visit!)

I made my first pumpkin pie from scratch with gluten free crust, also made an apple pie. They were okay- the crust still isn't perfect yet, practice practice practice. The pumpkins were marvelous though- so yummy and sweet roasted.

Oh and the roller coaster didn't end there. In the spirit of recycle and reuse, I went to the fashion show "Junk to Funk" with one of the women from my sewing group. What a hoot! We also got to be up right up against the runway- great for shots:

Program above

and corresponding fashion below:

junk2funk

Love those shoes!

Rant, sew, Rant, sew!

Okay- I've got lots of excuses for not posting. Not going to spill them here--- just rant ;-).
How come all the restaurants I've been to lately give Rob all the ice in the water? Is it a conspiracy? Do women in Portland not like ice in their water? What? No one anemics here? When I ask for ice, how come the sneer? Okay- started just switching glasses after waitstaff leaves the table. Only notable exception was the male waiter- who never returned to the table. Grr. NOTICE: Waitstaff, I leave BIGGER tips for ice! (I know it's a compulsion- ice eaters unite!) Bring on the trays!
Now sew...here's my new baby.

Nothing fancy- but wow- what a little work horse! I've been obsessed since I got it. New curtains in the hall, taking pity on the neighbors so they don't have to watch me in the shower or on the toilet, cause lord knows that if I close the bathroom door- I must be escaping and some dog must rescue me! No peeking! Oh and covers for the couch. Shown here - looks like we have a winner- note that's not the covers I made ;-)

Had to throw a few covers on it right after it was delivered, um Rob you'll have to grab a chair. (He's off on his own rant)

Speaking of ranting, ;-) Please, please! If you walk your dogs in the city, have them on leash! You wouldn't let your 2 year old run across the street by themselves would you? Come on, do you really believe in the option of squirrel/kitty dinner that they are going to look for oncoming traffic? And although I feel for the woman who watched her puppy get hit on Burnside, I have a stronger urge to bitch slap her. Pets/children are a responsibility- step up to the plate! You down the street- put that beautiful border collie on a leash! This is the third screech of car brakes I've heard this week. Doesn't this qualify as animal abuse? You can't blame the drivers when your dog runs in and out between park cars. How do you think your kids are going to feel when they see that horrific event? A few bad apples ruins the pie.

Back to sewing, been watching several green sewing podcast videos- so....while Rob was looking for a chic lamp at VV, I bought 20 or so old sweaters (99 cents each) so I can reconstruct into a coat. Washing them and properly tacking them out to dry so I can cut them up and sew them is testing my patience. Whose virtue is that? ;-) So am now covering all the couch pillows with some groovy 70's material while I wait. Dogs dig it man- you know they can't be fully comfortable without a pillow!

Going to be struggle this next month doing NaNoWriMo and trying to balance my sewing cravings, wish me luck and many words!

"What are you mumbling?"
"I'm trying to get all the bad words out of my mouth"
Another Thin Man

Oh I am so spoiled...look what Rob went and got me to cheer me up! Gluten free beer and my very own jug! Isn't he sweet? (note: Yep that's a North Fork Brewery Glass!) won't be feeling anything after this ;-) GO PHILLIES!

Kevin, Mark, James, George and Nallah...Oh My!

We have company! I'm so excited! Chez Robert made Country Style French Stew, Sweet Potato Hashbrowns, Sage Sausage and made from scratch Pumpkin Pudding....yum! It was great to see all you guys again, glad you stopped by on your way back from the concert.

Visitors 10-17-09

Hope y'all had a good time and will come and visit again.
About 11am, the house went dark, and there was a large rumble outside. We went outside to a wall of rain. The neighbors beautiful multi colored maple shed it's leaves in seconds flat. It was an exhilarating few moments. I love downpours, really miss our old metal roof.
Well Mena is landing in Beijing as we speak. Hope that she will take lots of photos and has fun.
I'm really tired today, I am so out of practice on being a hostess. Or at least that sounds like a good excuse for a nap!