Why We Love Portland: Beer Theaters

There are many reasons why we love Portland so much, but even we have to admit that the variety of cheap beer theaters is high on our list. Every town as the "dollar theater" (or at least, they used to be a dollar!), the cheap theater that is known for its sticky floors and uncomfortable seats. Well, let me tell you that nothing makes those seats and floor down right comfy than a few beers! The beer theaters, most of them run by the local dynasty McMenamins, offer local microbrew, pizza and goodies to make the three dollar experience even more enjoyable. And, to tell the truth, the floors and seats are pretty well maintained. In fact, the Kennedy School in NE Portland has couches and armchairs, nary a rickety movie seat in sight. With your beer and pizza in hand, even some of the worst movies put out by Hollywood have some redeeming value on a weekend night.

Sometimes, films are so bad that they are good. Point in case, our most recent beer theater outing was to the "Supertrash Film Festival", which was headlined by one of our favorites, "Big Trouble in Little China". Everything about this film was so entertaining that even the previews had us laughing out loud! The movie poster speaks for itself:
Thats quality with a K, my friends... Only in Portland would a B-movie from the 1980's headline a film festival (which, by the way, also featured RoboCop 2). All that I can say is, wish you were here!

Pho Van

Pho Van is hands down one of our favorite restaurants. We dined thee yesterday and enjoyed our favorites Vietnamese dishes (#50 Bun Ga Lemongrass chicken with vermichelli noodles and salad for me, #31 Bo La Lot make-it-yourself beef and la lot leaves spring rolls with fresh herbs and vegetables), which were delicious as usual. The motto of the resturaunt is "An Ngon", which means "Eat Well", and while dining here you feel that you are truly eating food that is both incredibly tasty and somehow healthier for you than the heavier dishes that populate many restaurants. The flavors at Pho Van are amazing, ranging from richly marinated meats to very light herb salads. And if all of the culinary goodness wasn't enough, Pho Van is one of the best Cheap Eats in Portland. Our meal for two plus beverages was under twenty dollars, which left just enough leftover to walk next door for some chocolate from Moonstruck Chocolates (more on that later).

Pho Van has three locations, one each located in the eastern and western suburbs of Portland, and one in a more central location off of Hawthorne on the eastern side of the city. If you have time, I'd encourage you to check one of their locations out!

Save the Date... Coming soon to a mailbox to you!

*whew* The Save the Dates are officially in the mail!

What with the ceremony, reception, dress and Save the Dates taking care of, we may now luxuriate on our behinds for a while. Of course, we should be spending some serious time thinking about the honeymoon. Not being big travelers, we have no idea where we will spend our first few days as a married couple. We have a vague idea that it should be relaxing yet have things to do that aren't too terribly touristy. If you have any suggestions, let us know. Oh, and if you happen to run into us, please remind us to get passports! I gather they are kinda important!

Long time...

Yesterday was our 8 year anniversary, which we celebrated by picking up bicycle headlamp pieces off the road in the darkness. Non-traditional, perhaps, but it worked for me (especially since if Andy hadn't shown up, I'd have been walking my bike home in the dark). I think that after our 1st year anniversary (celebrated with an amazing array of red roses followed by an uber romantic dinner at Sherri's) we have always had low key annual celebrations. I suppose now that our anniversaries will revolve around October 18th, 2008, but hopefully we will take time to pick up headlamp pieces or maybe grab a bite of Chinese on the 14th of January. Its been a good date for me for these last 8 years!

Save The Date

Although I love letter pressed invitations, their steep price tag of $800 and up for Save the Dates was simply out of our price range. So we've decided to do the Save the Dates and the invitations ourselves. Armed with some 180 lb paper and a pirated copy of Adobe Illustrator and the laser printers at work (shhhh -- don't tell!), I've come up with a Save the Date card that is hopefully whimsical and fun without being too cheesy. You'll be receiving them sometime towards the middle/end of January. Let me know what you think!