Wednesday, March 14, 2012

salt & straw. and other random portland things.


 

Do you like ice cream? Mm, me too. Pretty much every single kind out there, with the exceptions of Green Tea (bleh) and Pistachio (meh).

I'm an Oregon girl. More specifically, a Portland-er. (okay, so I don't actually live in Portland, but I'm about 1/2 hour away). If you don't know Portland, it's a beautiful urban city; very 'green,' very hip, and very health-oriented. Seriously, in the City of Roses (because yes, we're known for those, too), if you bike to work and shop at Whole Foods Market, you are majorly awesome.

One of the things I love about Portland are all the small, crazy cool yummy places. Oh, and I forgot to mention: for a foodie business, crafting local + being utterly unique = win. We have tons of little French-ish cafes, cozy bakeries, and, of course, creameries.  Like Salt & Straw.

This is a pretty random post, because for starters, I haven't even been to Salt & Straw.  But I saw an ad for it the other day, and was thinking, "Oh my goodness, this place looks amazing--" and then I realized it was right in my own homecity! So I thought I would post about it and file it under the categories of "filling you in about my home" and "things I love." A.k.a., "Portland," and "ice cream."

  

Salt & Straw is a pretty amazing ice creamery located in uptown Portland, Oregon. As I said above--I've never been there. But listen to this and gaze with me upon these pictures, and I think you will agree that this place should be on mine and your's "places-I-wanna-go" Pinterest boards. 

For starters, the ice cream is crazy, yet delicious--or so I've heard. I mean, here are some of the flavors:

Oregon Kiss
Ocumare Single Origin Chocolate
Catalonian Breakfast
Pear with Blue Cheese (not too sure about this one..)
Arbequina Olive Oil
Sumptown Coffee Cold-Brewed with Cocoa Nibs
Chocolate with Gooey Brownies
Lemon Basil Sorbet
Honey Balsamic Strawberry with Cracked Pepper
Double Fold Singing Dog Vanilla
Sea Salt Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbon 
Melon with Coppa

..and the list goes on. Apparently, Salt & Straw's ice cream is made with 17% Butterfat (helloooo calories!), churned with care "to be sure very little air is let in to ensure a nice bite," and kept low on sweetening "so the flavors can shine through." And listen what they do to ensure the caramel in "Caramel Ribbon" is amazing:

To take the edge off a bit, we've spent hours
over a hot stove perfectly burning caramel
for the sweet + salty combo that
you can't have just one lick of.


Um, yum. 

 
 

I guess all that needs to happen now is me visiting the place of glory. What flavor would you pick--or, more dramatically--what flavor will you pick when you come visit me and we go to Salt & Straw for reals?  ;) I'm thinking Big Hibiscus Sherbet or Grandma Malek's Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache. :] 



So there you have it. A little bit of Portland for ya. And just in the spirit of educating my readers about the places and spaces where I abide (because I am really and truly a real person and not just a blogging robot, in case you wondered), and in case there are some trivia geeks among us, here a few of my personal goods and bads about Portland.

The Good:

The gorgeous gardens. >> We have many--the Rose Garden, which absolutely stunning during rose season, and definitely one of our trademarks, the Japanese Gardens, etc.

The many running/walking/hiking paths. >> Portland is quite literally a city in the woods. There is city, and then, out of the blue, there are...woods. Trails are numerous, and I like that.

The coffee shops. >> I don't spend much time in these, due to lack of funds and the state of being, currently, a non-coffee drinker (though I do like it), but we have tons of cute ones. :)

The Bad:

Portland is the Human Trafficking hotspot of the nation. >> Just found this out this year, and believe me, you will never catch me walking around the city alone at night. Eek.

Portland is insanely weird. >> Yup, I wouldn't blame you for seeing hippies waving peace signs and sporting dreadlocks when you think, "Portland." And you will see numerous bumper stickers saying, "Keep Portland Weird!" ..if you ever travel our way. o.O

Portland is insanely and annoyingly liberal. >> 'Nuff said.

---

So. There's my little random post about Salt & Straw and other random Portland things. :) Come and visit me, whydontcha?

-lucia



ps-on second thought, honey balsamic strawberry with cracked pepper looks pretty sweet. wacky but interesting.  i wonder...

33 comments:

  1. Goodness! May I come to Portland and have a girls day with you? Please?
    Love it!

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  2. omi those all looks SO delicious! I couldn't ever pick just one. o.O

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  3. Interesting post, Lucia! The way you described your hometown and the lovely creamery, Salt & Straw, is amazing. The Chocolate with Gooey Brownies flavor sounds very yummy for me. :)

    I'll be sure to visit there whenever I'm in the area. ;)

    Take care!

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  4. You should try gelato if you already haven't, lucia! it's like italian icecream but sooooo much healthier than icecream and the flavor is better and creamier! lol, it's like my new favorite thing. :-) And portland sounds so awesome and hip! it's on my list of places to go!

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  5. Oh that ice cream looks positively scrumptious!!! :)

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  6. I would love to visit Oregon... it is the only way I will ever satisfy this craving for that yummy, strawberry-looking ice cream. But that was your plan, wasn't it?

    xo,
    J

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  7. Yes, we definately do want to keep Portland, Portland. :) My Aunt lives there, my dad works there, and we occasionally have to pick someone up from the airport there; but I think it's better taken in small doses. Then again, I'm a complete country girl, so the only thing in PDX that interests me is the coffee shops - oh, and the Portland Zoo is awesome too. :)

    I'll have to check out the Salt & Straw Ice Cream Shop next time I'm up near there. :) Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Random but great post! I enjoyed reading it, Lucia!
    :)
    Tane♥

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  9. Ahh Ice cream!!! That stuff is just awesome! :D

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  10. Hello fellow Oregonian! =)
    I have to agree about Portland being full of yummy sounding food (Voodoo Doughnuts for example!) and some VERY scary people, I love it though! I try to get there as much as I can but three hours of driving is a little much for frequent trips! =(

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  11. I love Portland! My mom hates driving down there so we don't go too often, but I'm going to have to beg her to take me to that creamery. ;D

    ~Kaylee
    www.whateverrblog.blogspot.com

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  12. Love Portland! I'll have to stop by that ice creamery sometime. Sounds great. Thanks for the post Lucia, I didn't even know Portland was a hotspot human trafficking place! :O

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  13. If I'm ever visiting Oregon again {I live in the CA}, I'm definitely going to give you a call. ;)

    lovely post, Lucia, as usual.

    xoxo,
    Grace

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  14. Now I really feel like eating ice cream... and it's 1AM. Maybe I'll sneak downstairs and get some...

    eve @ essence of eve

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  15. I would either choose Chocolate with Gooey Brownies or Double Fold Singing Dog Vanilla. And I live a few hours away from Portland. ;)

    ~Stephanie
    www.thekingsbookworm.blogspot.com

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  16. oh, the ice creasm looks so good! did you actually take the photos of the ice cream and the cafe, because you said you'd never been there before...i really wish i lived even remotely near you because i would SO come and visit you and we could go to that amazing cafe and enjoy ice cream together : )
    -Holly <3

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  17. loving these photos and such a cute place to eat and hangout! i love ice-cream. yum!

    p.s. thanks for your sweet comment! you are the best. in reply to your question: i have a canon rebel with a 50 mm lens. it's def my fave lens ever!

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  18. Yummmmmm please send some icecream my way :D We don't have hardly any variety of icecreams here!! ach made me drool, though I have just eaten!

    Olivia :P

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  19. oh. my. These look delish! I'd love to come visit you in Portland :) xo.

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  20. I agree with you that Portland is very weird and hippieish. (is that a word? haha) When we went there last year I noticed lots of er.. strange people.

    Anyways...That ice cream looks so yummy! If I ever visit Portland again, I will have to stop by that place!

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  21. looks delightful!
    by the way, for some reason even though i've followed your blog, it doesnt show up in my feed. i have to manually type in the URL to your blog. wonder why that is.

    delicatelyfierce.blogspot.com

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  22. Looks delicious! Thanks for telling me about such a great ice cream place. Too bad I don't live closer.

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  23. Oh, that ice cream looks really good! We lived about 45 minutes west of Portland for a year and just moved from there. I love Portland! I do agree that it does have quite it's weirdness and hippieish. When ever we would go there, I would notice quite the strange people... :) But it's a very unique and pretty city!

    Anyways, that ice cream looks really yummy and I really want to try to go there when we visit again!

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  24. You're making me have the most ridiculous craving for ice cream! I would actually probably go for that goat cheese and pear flavor. :)

    www.raspberrycappuccino.com

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  25. I nominated you for the Versitale Blogger award! Go to my blog to find out about it!

    PolkaDot

    www.zebrastripeandpolkadot.blogspot.com

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  26. Portland is a lovely city!!! I love Oregon in general...it is a beautiful state! :-) this place looks so awesome, I could go for some ice cream right now!

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  27. I live in Australia, but if ever I go to Portland, America, I'd love to see you, Lucia!! This was a fun post :)

    ~Joy @ joy-live4jesus.blogspot.com

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  28. I'd loooooove to come to Portland sometime, wanted to go for years. Especially after I started reading www.urbanweedsblog.com.

    Love your blog!!

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  29. What a fun, random post! I just recently drove through Portland for my first time on the first of the year. Being a country girl who had never been on a road trip by my self and driving through that huge city at rush hour was quite intimidating and an experience that I will not be forgetting anytime soon! Perhaps next time I drive through there, I will have enough nerve to try to take a look around and find that cute little ice cream shop! How fun!

    ~ Missy

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  30. looks sooo yummers!

    ps - yesterday, i got the necklace i won in your giveaway. i love it so much! thanks again. :)

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  31. oh my goodness. i'm drooling over the beautiful pictures, and the icecream, but more so for the pictures.

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Aw! Thanks so much for leaving a comment! They make me smile. :)

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