I’m not sure I’ve let my blog fall this quiet since I got back from Thailand, and even then I managed to squeeze in some photo dumps and BSG recaps here and there!

To tell the truth, this weekend was utterly exhausting for me, in good ways and bad. Good because Chris’s whole family flew in from California to spend the weekend with us; Bad because I had work related things to do every day that they were in town.

But it was all worth it on their last day in town when we all met up for brunch at Helser’s on Alberta. Originally I intended to take us to Mississippi Station, but they’re closed on Mondays so I frantically scrambled to find something just as good.

Helser’s wasn’t just as good, it was better. I’ve never had such a hard time deciding what to order. Everything on the menu sounded amazing.

Portland, like a lot of other areas, is experiencing a cold snap, so hot bevs were necessary while we waited for our food.

My favorite cap got passed around the table and everyone tried it on.

The men were not invincible, no matter how hard they tried to ignore our giggling and goofing.

Sue sat to my left and discovered how addictive a dSLR is. She got some snaps of me and this one, I think, is most representative of how I look when I’m having a good time. I know I make a lot of dumb faces on purposes, but in this case the facial expression is, unfortunately, involuntary! ;)

And then– finally– our food came! It took awhile, but we were a big group, and it was worth the wait. After all our deliberating over the menu, here’s what everyone on my side of the table had:

Danny chowed on some monster-sized Pigs in a Blanket. I’m not a sausage fan at all, so this was the only thing on the menu that didn’t have me drooling. Danny gives it two pigs up.

Chris had the Mushroom Hash with scallions, roasted garlic, onions, Yukon gold potatos and melted havarti cheese.

Sue had the vegetarian Eggs Benedict, with mushrooms, tomatoes and spinach.

And even though I had such a hard time deciding, I ordered the first thing that caught my eye: the Pepper Bacon and Tillamook Cheddar hash, with Yukon Gold potatoes, scallions, creme fraiche and two poached eggs, runny on the inside. It was heavenly.

By the time we were done scarfing it was time for the fam to catch their flight back to California, so we walked them to their car and enjoyed a classic Campbell-Goodbye.*

A stressful weekend, but stress I’d gladly carry again if we could do this every weekend. No doubt about it.

* A Campbell-Goodbye is when you wave, yell farewells and I-love-yous until you’re completely out of sight.