Cartola is fast becoming a favorite with us. It’s a swanky little hole-in-the-wall cafe nestled on the corner of NE 7th and Knott, bringing some class to an otherwise abysmal corner of Irvington. A great place to slow down and take a load off.

Although they have a few options to nibble on (cookies, scones, etc), their top priority is the coffee. I always take it as a good sign when you walk into a store that doesn’t dilute its business with too many options. Sort of like how I can’t stand “one stop shops” like Fred Meyer– too many irons in the fire and all that.

On Wednesday we passed around a cherry danish (courtesy of Ben) while enjoying the outdoor seating. I geeked out with all three cameras in my bag– the D300, Rolleiflex and Holga– but obviously the digital shots are all I’m able to share at the moment.

Happy Sunday!

About a month ago some friends from the East Coast dropped by for a little Bridgetown Vacation and, though I had to work while they were here, I tried to squeeze in as much hangin’ as possible.

Their first night in town, we all met up at Ground Kontrol, where I learned that I love pinball and am not really too shabby at it, either. I will admit that I did more gabbing with the ladies than pinball playing. Natch.

A couple days later we hit up the triangle of awesome in our neighborhood. We went to sandwich happy hour at Petisco, goofed off inside (and outside of) Goodwill, visited Chris at Broadway Books, and grabbed donuts from my work.

Okay, I guess that’s more of a square than a triangle, but a square of awesome doesn’t have quite the same ring to it!

That weekend, we had a huge party in the park to celebrate Chris becoming an old man, but that day deserves a post of its own due to all the face-stuffin’, chess-playin’, YTAPOMTAPOYin’, etc. Just wanted to let everyone know that I’m slowly but surely gettin’ there! :)

As I mentioned in my previous post, I went to my first Paella Night on Sunday at one of my favorite local restaurants, Petisco. It was basically 2 1/2 hours of food and photography… Humina, humina!

Before I get to the massive amount of photos I have to share, I wanted to give a quick plug for next week’s Italian Night, which I’ll also be attending. The scheduled menu is as follows:

Antipasti
Prosciutto and fruit, Tomato and mozzarella, Bruschetta, White bean dip and crusty bread, Tenderloin Carpaccio with arugula

Zuppa
Stracciatella, egg drop soup

Insalate
Grandma’s green salad with pancetta, tomatoes, parmesan cheese and Italian dressing

Penne with Sunday gravy
Rich tomato sauce simmered with red wine, Italian sausage, pork ribs, sausage and beef meatballs over penne pasta, topped with ricotta and parmesan cheese.

Dessert
Tiramisu

The price is $30/person and it includes drinks (beer, wine, espresso, etc). You can call Petisco at 503-360-1048 to make a reservation.

And now, onto the photos!

Though the place filled up quick, Ben and I arrived early so I could get some shots of the indoor set-up. We ultimately decided to sit out in the courtyard so we could watch the paella in action.

There were individual tables, and also “family style” seating so that guests could mingle with one another. Ben and I also hadn’t seen each other in over a month, so that fueled our decision to snag a table for ourselves (ours is nestled between the ladies donning purple and yellow).

The aforementioned self-serve nosh was a spread of bruschetta, dates, olives, toms ‘n’ mozz and an assortment of meats and cheese. Our favorite was the Manchego.

The paella (pronounced pah-aye-yuh) was fired up around 5:30 with onions to get the aroma going and drinks were promptly served to get everyone else going.

Gradually more ingredients were added– most of which were a mystery to me. The orange liquid I’m assuming is a broth of some sort, but there was also a green sauce that had a label on it and I still felt clueless!

By my count the paella wasn’t finished until just before 7:00, so you get quite the show while soup and salad are being served.

The soup was Lobster Bisque, which neither Ben nor I had ever had before. In Ben’s words, it tasted like something was cooked in a buttery sauce, and then the remaining juices were poured into our bowls.

In a word: rich. For someone that’s been eating rice and beans most days of the week, this was a delicious shock to the system.

I’m a huge fan of simple salads with a touch of luxury, so the arugula tossed in a sherry vinaigrette and topped with pears, candied walnuts and a few dabs of Oregon chevre was a home run.

The seafood paella was served just like how it appeared, shells and all. If you’ve never had paella before, it’s reminiscent of risotto. And if you’ve never had risotto before, well… You’re dead to me.

And for dessert: Berry crisp with a scoop of ice cream, served up in individual ramekins.

Hard to believe this incredible night was pulled off by a staff of three, but it was. Thanks again, guys! Can’t wait for next Sunday!

Petisco is located on NE Broadway & 14th on the ground floor.

503-360-1048

Last night I attended Petisco’s monthly Paella Night for photography and food– pretty much my favorite combo ever!

Unfortunately I still have ~250 photos to sort through, but I wanted to upload a little teaser. There were plenty of self-serve appetizers to nibble on while we watched Michael fire up the paella in the courtyard. If I were to stand trial for seconds and thirds, I’d plead the fifth when asked how many times we replenished our plates.

More photos soon!

Yesterday Andrew came over just as I was getting home from work and we all had a pretty epic day together. We hung out for most of the afternoon, then went to County Cork for happy hour.

When we realized it was well past 6:00 and there was still tons of daylight left we decided to walk over to Irving Park.

They played catch and I entertained myself the only way I know how: taking pictures.

Baseball is surprisingly fun to take photos of, though.

Eventually I made way for the playground, which I visit more often than you might think.

I’m not sure if I’ll get creamed for posting these photos, but I thought they were adorable. Andrew is 6-years-old again and trying to fly to the moon, and Chris has Garth-face.

Great day.

Irving Park is located on the corners of NE Fremont & 7th and NE Fremont & 10th.
Photos 8, 10 and 11 were taken by Chris and processed by me.