Well, actually I did wait until March 16th when K and I attended our quarterly TeSoAria wine pick up. Owners John and Joy Olsen again put out a yummy, casual spread of goodies and their always amazing crew of staff and volunteers poured their fantastic selection of wines. I know I usually skip the whites and head straight for the deep and delicious reds but I must profess, the Vermentino truly has me dreaming of long and lazy summer days, sitting on the porch, putting away a bottle of this stuff. Now if I can just get Joy's recipe for Barbacoa pork that she used for the little sliders she served at the pick up...
On the 17th K put together our traditional St. Patrick's Feast of deliciousness pulling together not one, not two but four Corned Beef Briskets served with Colcannon. Shae made her own Irish specialty, Kerry Cake. (recipe to come) So amazing. Thank goodness we had burned a few calories earlier in the day during the 35th Annual Shamrock Run for Doernbecher Children's Hospital. 
On the 21st we attended the Laurelwood Public House's 12th Anniversary. Owners Mike De Kalb and Cathy Woo De Kalb have been successfully gathering friends, fans and family to their Public Houses for 12 years. Touting some of the tastiest beers made as organic and sustain-ably possible, the family friendly "pub" on NE Sandy Blvd is one of my favorite places to go. To celebrate their 12th, LPH held a wonderful little party and released The Boss IPA 12.0. Now, at first I misread this as 12 % and thought "what?! how can that be?" Can IPA's even get to 12% The answer is "yes" there are a few Imperial IPAs out there that reach that level although when you get above 10% you're generally looking at Barleywines, Barrel aged, and Stouts. But let's get back to the Boss 12.0. with it's ABV around 6.5%. This is a really well balanced, not too bitter IPA with the sweet floral ending I look for whenever I sip off of K's IPAs. I'm proud to say that over the past couple of years I have learned to enjoy an IPA or two or four leaving my generally favored Porters and Stouts for chillier weather and cozier evenings. I think I really came to appreciate the Oregon style IPA when we started growing our own hops, a delight to look at and breathe in. 
Then it was time to celebrate K and my 27th anniversary. So we headed down to NE Alberta district to do what we love best, eat and drink. First stop was Aviary's happy hour, a nice way to introduce yourself to this smarmy little place. This menu has some really bold offerings and although I was intrigued by such menu items as the red curry braised goat and the fennel cured sturgeon, we did just want to start our evening here and so we stuck to the bar's HH menu. K ordered an IPA. Yes, I'm smiling when I type that. I ordered a Death by Snu Snu (yes, I'm smiling as I type that as well) cocktail in spite of it's $11 price tag because I really wanted something funky and absinthe inspired. This puppy delivered, not death, but sweet sweet deliciousness. I suppose those guys drawing Futurama knew what they were talking about. To munch on, we had the brussel sprout nachos, trotters and eggs and the slaw dogs. I loved the queso fresco and the sauces served but perhaps the brussel sprout could have been a teeny bit less charred and they would have come off better and not so bitter. The trotters and eggs are basically a scotch egg deconstructed. Very pretty and tasty, satisfying but nothing to knock your socks off. The Slaw Dog however is a deal-maker. The smoky sweetness of the dog and the spicy sting of the slaw, whoa. Don't worry what your date is thinking when you stick this messy thing in your mouth, it's worth it.
After Aviary, we decided to walk up Alberta and stop wherever we darn well wanted to. And there it was. Pie and Cocktails. You don't have to beat me with a stick, of course I want pie and cocktails. This was going to be an evening of mixing it up so who cares if dessert is the "middle course"? I hadn't even heard that Travel and Leisure had voted Random Order one of the best pies in America. Yes, BEST PIE in America. Here we were, and they were right. K ordered the Irish coffee and a Tahitian Vanilla Suger Salted Caramel Apple Pie. I had the Temperance Trader Bourbon infused SDF-PDX Salted Pecan pie and a Nudge. Truly, the only way I ever want to have Pie and Coffee again. Sitting in the window, watching the sunset down Alberta, listening to Devo's Are We Not Men? Thank you, Random Order, thank you. Off and running again, the Branch Whiskey Bar beckoned. Not only because I had a Groupon, but because I wanted to try a Lobster Corndog. I mean really, we had set out this evening to try things we had not tried before and a lobster corndog was definitely on that list. So glad we stopped in. This place was hoppin' but we found a perfect little table at the back, perfect for kitchen spying, K and I love watching kitchens at work. It reminds us of when we were younger and able to keep that kind of pace. I shudder to think of myself on the line now. Someone would get hurt. Probably me.
We ordered whiskey drinks because this was, after all, a Whiskey Bar. K had the Dark and Stormy and I ordered a Whiskey Ginger with Ginger Beer. It'll put a whistle on your lips for sure. We shared an order of Lobster Corndogs which fortuitously comes with two dogs. Warning: don't disrobe your dog. It is a wonderful salty sweet indulgence but definitely not pretty if you separate "dog" from "corn". Just close your eyes and enjoy. The corndog was firm, not greasy and had just a hint of savory sweet seafoodness. I want more. To double our indulgence we ordered the Duck Fat French Fries. I promise, this isn't just naive consumerism talking. These fries are wonderful, crisp, herbaceous, fat, delicious. But rich. A little too rich to take in all at once so you definitely want to share your order. Putting all these away yourself will have you diving into your water glass like a mad dog. Unfortunately, my Groupon wouldn't load...guess I'll have to come back and try that Chicken and Truffle Pot Pie.
All in all, a great start to the month, and she isn't even over yet...
