One of our favorite things to do around Portland is to go on a DIY culinary tour, usually with our friend Chad. Here are excerpts from our last one on Saturday Dec 10th.

We started with lunch at Good Food Here On Belmont. I got some shrimp tempura hand roll and udon soup from Sushi PDX – comforting on a chilly day.

Marcel had the Hillbillie, a pulled pork sandwich from Rockabillies. He also ordered some fried pickles and a fried twinkie which was yummy.

Let’s not forget the fried twinkie!

We were headed to Tao of Tea in Belmont when we got detoured into Saint Cupcake.

Another detour was Stumptown Coffee where we experienced a coffee tasting or “cupping” as they refer to it.

We finally made it to the Tao of Tea where we got some Pu-erh Tea.

Another stop at Belmont Station where Marcel had some Hophead by Deschutes Brewery.

Finally it is dinner time at Frank’s Noodle House.

Braving the chilly weather so we can test out the food carts on Belmont.

This was my first ever “real” cake made from scratch. After checking several cookbooks and food blogs, I finally selected David Lebovitz’s recipe. I followed the recipe exactly except that I only made a half portion for a 6″ cake. I also made the mistake of not using up all the syrup so there were some dry spots. Overall, it came out really good! Marcel was impressed and a friend even asked if he can order one 

There were three components in addition to the cake.

I found the frosting a little hard to spread. Maybe because the chocolate I used had a high cocoa content?

My first attempt at decorating a cake.

We ate the cake after dinner at Touché.

This was a very ambitious project considering my skills but I had to start somewhere. I am proud of what I have accomplished here

The Chocolate Festival is being held for the benefit of the World Forestry Center. What a way to indulge your chocolate cravings and help a good cause.
January 21- 23, 2011 at the OREGON CONVENTION CENTER

First things first. Lunch was at Bunk Sandwiches where I had the house specialty Cubano Pork Belly Sandwich. It was an indulgence totally worth the fat content! Marcel went the healthier route with a Vegetarian Torta.

The chocolate bunny welcomes the guests

Chocolate overload…

Not only were they delicious but also beautiful!

Classic church architecture in downtown Portland

Streets of Portland in the winter

This is a test drive of our new Canon G12 and we love it so far! It has a very “intelligent” automatic feature.