State Visit to Oregon, The Beginning

Greetings to all,

Finally a chance to sit and get caught up on a few, quite delayed, postings about seeing wonderful people and food and fun times. Hope that you enjoy as much as I do putting together. So Friday morning, August 27th, I departed Seattle about 7:30am with first stop to be coffee and scones with Sandy at her place of work off Exit 57 on I-5 in Washington. I was a tad delayed due to an overturned tanker truck or some such on I-5 at Olympia. As soon as I saw it was cleared via traffic reports off I went and got to said point, Exit 109, just as the back-up cleared. Nothing special other than nice weather and clear driving as I arrived at 9:50am and departed by 9:20am to be back on the road and headed to Portland. Arrived early enough to swing by Onpoint CU and get banking done and then downtown arriving at Mother's Bistro & Bar just in time to hear my dear friend Michael up at the front of the line declaring, "Of course there is a reservation under Schilling, he ALWAYS makes reservations!" To which I called out, "Michael, I forgot to call, sorry!" He turned to me and if looks could kill I would not be typing this at this very moment and I do believe I heard "Bitch!" come through the air.

Alas, they are now using those electronic notifier's to let you know when your table is ready and we were told about 20 minutes, not a problem. Really, not a problem in that less than 3 minutes out comes Sierra, a girl I just love and so missed who had been gone for 4 and a 1/2 years was back and comes running outside saying, "Oh yes you DID have a reservation Chris, we found it (here is where you insert the wink, wink, nod, nod and go with it!)." And we were whisked to one of my favorite tables, 13, in the window at the end and well, soon Jason, now trainer, came by to say hi as did Lisa, the owner and we had Shannon. After giving her a festive, but bad time on the menu, Lisa stops by and asks me to secret shop her on how she does. Poor child, she did not stand a chance with me. Lisa knows I am fair and yet firm.

Ice teas served and chopped chicken liver delivered quickly. Love it! We are chatting away and Michael decided to have a burger and she does a very good job in up selling without being obvious and I opt for the chopped Mexican salad, one of my favorites. Sadly, they were rushed out and not 5 minutes had passed since the chopped liver arrived. Found out later that while at dinner the servers pace the meal, at lunch it is all clocked by the kitchen. I suggested that the customer could be asked if they are on a timeline or is it a leisurely pace and I do hope a new path is chosen. We shall see on a future visit.

Shannon did a great job on checking in early on when we both did not have our mouths full of food and at two other occasions she paused near, but was not invasive so if we did need something we could have gotten her attention. A good server. What got a gold star was that she was at the next table doing a plunge on a French Press and looked over to see me finishing my ice tea. Granted, she could have paused, refilled my ice tea, knowing I know Lisa, and return, but she did not and DID the right thing in completing the task and then getting my ice tea. They are paying customers just like me and we are all deserving of good service. Lunch was coming to a close and there had been much laughter and all when dessert was suggested.

Ah, this is where I got to have some fun with Shannon. Decided if she could take this, she was in. It is the classic, is it a pie, or is it a tart. A tart is not a pie and a pie is not a tart. Well, I knew that and they can be interchanged, but let's just push the buttons. Well, if you have ever seen a situation where you know she is freaking out but not showing it, this was the case to which she goes to get Jason who has not yet picked up on my evil plan. He even tries to pass of that tart is Latin for pie. I declared, "Bullshit, I was raised Catholic and tart does not mean pie!" What, like I know Latin, I came after Vatican II!

We enjoyed a trio of desserts including a heart shaped crème brûlée, white peach sorbet (which was to DIE for!) and a new item of Angel Food Cake with sliced peaches and vanilla ice cream and a vanilla syrup. It was a miss, but correctable and I offered two ways to do it and so hopefully it got done. Michael was off and I was able to give a debriefing to Sierra and then settled in at the back corner banquette to await Diane's arrival. We did enjoy Lavender Silks which are delightful with lavender infused vodka, fresh lemon juice and a champagne float. There is also a honey drizzle offered, but we pasted - ICK! All too soon it was time to head out to Janet's apt. A chance to relax for a few before dinner.

End of first post - State Visit to Oregon