Road Trip to Portland
Posted Thu, 2010-04-22 10:05 by Emily Caryl
My favorite blog in the whole world is The Pioneer Woman. It's written by an Oklahoma ranch wife. She cooks, she cares for cows, she takes much better pictures than I do. And, last fall, she published a cookbook. At that time, The Pioneer Woman embarked on a national book tour. But she didn't come to the Northwest.
But several weeks ago, The Pioneer Woman announced a visit to Seattle and Portland. I accidentally scheduled a party at my house on the day she visited Seattle. So I decided a road trip to Portland was in order last Monday.
I planned to make a day of it. I'd investigate a few new fabric stores and meet the author of my favorite blog.
First stop on the agenda: The Whole 9 Yards. What gorgeous fabric! I was very impressed. They have a diverse selection of decorator fabrics. If I were re-decorating my house (on an unlimited budget), I'd make a special trip to The Whole 9 Yards. But I'm not re-decorating my house. I'm making kinetic costumes. Cheap kinetic costumes. So I forged ahead.
Stop number two: Fabric Depot. To say my jaw dropped when I walked through the door would be an understatement. My reaction was much the same as walking into Shipwreck Beads for the first time. Fabric Depot is a Wal-Mart sized fabric store. According to the sales clerk, they have 1.5 acres of fabric, notions, patterns and yarn.
I could spend an entire day in there. I could almost move to Portland for this fabric store alone. They have a ridiculous amount of fabric. Special occasion fabrics, quilting fabrics, decorator fabrics. Cotton, faux fir, silk, knits. They have an entire section devoted to "coffee and tea" prints. Seriously.
Here's some of the loot I walked away with:
The pink swirly fabric is 60% silk/40% cotton. When Jonathan figures out how to put textures on my web site, I'll let you all feel it. It's dreamy and silky and smooth.
I know. Calm down. It's not healthy to get this excited about fabric.
I also got this:
It's purple. And suede. And it's not just a bag. It's a craft organizer. It has pockets.
Lots of pockets.
Ooodles of pockets.
The bag is a Creative Options Total Tote and you can find out where to get your own here.
Since my time was limited I had to leave Fabric Depot before I even saw the entire store. It was a sad occasion that invoked a little tear as I exited the parking lot.
I drove across Portland in rush hour traffic, located Powell's Books in Beaverton, obtained a ticket (thereby securing my place in line so I could have my cookbook signed), and walked over to McGrath's Fish House for a beer and a bite to eat.
The Calamari Wasabi Caesar Wrap ("McGrath's signature calamari wrapped in an herb tortilla with romaine lettuce, Parmesan cheese, and wasabi Caesar dressing") was a tasty surprise! I love calamari, wasabi and Caesar anything. But I'd never tasted all three of those items in one dish. It was distinctive and delicious. I can't wait to try to re-create it in my own kitchen.
After dinner, I moseyed back to the book store. The place was a mad house. Women and babies burst from every aisle. There were at least 400 people gathered. The anticipation was contagious.
Finally, The Pioneer Woman arrived to hoots and cheers.
She answered questions for about 30 minutes. She did her Ethel Merman impersonation. And then she announced that she'd sign all our cookbooks.
When I first arrived at the book store, I was handed ticket number 225. Translation: a really long wait to get my cookbook autographed. At first I was a little anxious about the time because I planned to drive back to Port Townsend that night. But the waiting actually ended up being one of the most pleasant parts of my day.
For nearly three hours, I sat and yakked with strangers who felt like friends. The woman to my right was a retired creative writing teacher. The woman behind me was from Anacortes.
We talked about how tall The Pioneer Woman's daughter is in real life. We talked about which recipes we'd tried, how we modified them, and which dishes were tolerated by our picky husbands/boyfriends/significant others.
We'd driven to Portland from all over the Pacific Northwest. We had different lives, careers, and hobbies. We were all different ages. Yet we were friends before we ever met.
This must be what is meant by "online community." Although we're living vastly different lives in different places, we're cooking the same dishes, laughing at the same stories, and identifying - at least in some small way - with the life of an Oklahoma ranch wife.
So thanks, Pioneer Woman, for bringing us all together. Thanks for sharing you recipes, your family, and your life. There are a lot of really wonderful women out there who follow your blog. And I feel privileged to have met a few of them on Monday.
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