Happy Birthday, Miss Paula!

The mommies like to get together and do something fun for our birthdays. This year, we're trying to be more adventurous than the Cheesecake Factory. So to celebrate the last year Miss Paula is in her twenties, we went on an Epicurian Excusion from Portland Walking Tours. (Miss Molly had to work, thbbbt)

I got a bit worried when the tour began with the same three places as the tour Jeff & I went on - drinking chocolate @ Cacao, olive oil tasting at Benessere & orange tomato soup @ Flying Elephants. I enjoy all three, but I wanted something different. Luckily everything that followed was new.

I never would have found myself doing a salt tasting if not for the tour. The Spice & Tea Exchange let us try different salts on cucumber slices. I even had my mom buy some smoked salt so my BBQ contest loving brother could experiment with it. 

 At this point...we wanted food! Thank goodness Chez Joly was so generous with their samples. Crostini, crepe, and French onion soup. We spied a $25 price fixe dinner on their menu (salad, entree, dessert & wine) so may be returning.

We spent a lot of time at the next stop, The Park Kitchen...but didn't eat much. The garbanzo bean fries & squash ketchup were tasty, and the idea of making your restaurant as sustainable as possible is great...it just went on a little long. It would have been more interesting if the explanations were illustrated by the samples they served...which is probably easier for them to do in the summer.

Next, we went to the EcoTrust building for Hot Lips Pizza. This was the same seasonal variety I tried with Jeff in January - a squash sauce with broccoli & hazelnuts. I really like the juice sodas they make. After Jeff & I learned about them, we started buying them for the kids.

Finally, Miss Tina got her dessert :) Cool Moon ice cream served chocolate sorbet & trail blazer swirl and let us taste whatever else we wanted. Then, it was a quick hop on the street car back to the hotel we started at.

I had a great time, but I wouldn't take the tour again until the summer. Maybe things would have changed more by then. Is it worth the money? We got it on a special, which helps. If you know your way around Portland, you could get much more food for less money. But then, if you know your way around Portland, you might not be interested in the tour!