The Best Two Restaurants in Portland, OR

I've been too spoiled by good food the past two weekends to enjoy anything for awhile...I hate it when that happens!!

On each of the past two weekends, my wife and I have visited a favorite (and I would consider the best) Portland restaurant - Ox and Biwa.

There is something to be said about those 'top restaurant' lists in magazines and blogs...sometimes they really are the best restaurants!

Both Ox and Biwa are usually ranked pretty high in Portland, with Ox being listed as one of the best 2013 restaurants in the U.S.!!

Both establishments also do not take reservations - they obviously don't have too - so waiting is a standard practice.

Ox

To beat out the crowds at Ox (on a Saturday night), we showed up at 4:30 p.m. (the restaurant opens at 5 p.m.)! Luckily there is a bar next door that is associated with the restaurant and you can grab an appetizer and drink while you wait...p.s. the oysters are amazing!!

[A little tip, the restaurant hostess will come outside to add you to the wait list if you arrive before 5 p.m. - how great is this?!]

Ox really is our number one restaurant in the city.  We were a little worried that going back our expectations wouldn't be met, but have no fear, it was better than the first time!!

Everything on the menu sounds, smells, and looks delicious!

I would recommend the Beef Empanada, the Roasted Sea Scallops, and the Cocoa-Braised Lamb Shoulder.

Biwa

As our second favorite restaurant in Portland, Biwa has your Japanese hunger fix!

Melts in your mouth sashimi. Savory ramen. Crunchy seaweed salad.

Our favorite tradition is to go to Biwa and order the Omakase.  This is where the chef decides what to make and bring out - you are completely in their hands for the night. In another blip of fortune, Biwa's Omakase was listed as one of the Portland Diner's Month (sorry, ended in March!) items and we arrived with just three days to spare!!

Plates, upon plates of perfected dishes were brought out to us. At first you think that with such little subsistence you'll never get full, but after the fourth round of food, you start to wonder if you'll make it all the way through the meal.

Ruined on food!

I think this weekend I'd better not try to compete on the food front, my taste buds need to come back to the real world first.

What are your favorite restaurants?

Update 4/5/2014 - Okay, this only lasted one day. Last night we hit Radar (on N. Mississippi) - the Char was melt-in-your-mouth succulent. We followed the meal up with ice cream from Ruby Jewel. I'm satisfied for another weekend!

Darling, Let's Chase Adventure.

Darling, let's chase adventure.

My amazing wife made me this picture the other day!

I love it!

I love its message. I love the photo (our favorite mountain water hole). I love that this means she wants to chase adventure too. I love that I've found someone that shares my passions!

I hope everyone can find such an awesome partner in exploiting life!

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn

Oh, Kauai - You Are Delicious!

Oh, Kauai.

As soon as I step off the plane I can smell your intoxicating scent. You just ooze relaxation and adventure.

At the same time as my entire body starts to rejuvenate from the stress of life, my mouth starts to water...time for some ono grinds!

There is just something about a plate lunch and poke that I crave! And this craving didn't fail me on our recent trip back to Kauai!

Even before landing on the Pacific Island, we had our 'have to eat at' list of restaurants and hole-in-the-wall plate lunches planned.

Once on the island, our food list grew as we decided to follow our digestive systems to new excitement!

Old favorites and new favorites - below is our improved top 3 'have to eat at' locations while visiting Kauai!

(I have to admit, we didn't make it to the North Shore this trip due to the weather, so there may be deliciousness missing on the list below.)

First (and many times after) you have to visit Koloa Fish Market in Koloa (next to Poipu). The plate lunch options always include at least one kind of fish (plus your choice of sauce and a scoop of mac salad and sticky rice), as well as your traditional Hawaiian dishes of Kalua Pig and Chicken Lau Lau. Our favorite is the Ahi plate lunch with the cappers and butter sauce - we share the plate but get an extra scoop of mac salad! They also have five kinds of poke (five kinds!) - two of which we tried and loved (Korean Style and Avocado). But hurry! They sell out fast, with both locals and tourists line up out the door!

Our newest discovery! Hamura Saimin is an even more low key food experience then the Koloa Fish Market. You can honestly get lost trying to find its location in Lihue - a few days before eating here, we literally turned around right next to the restaurant without seeing it! The noodles are cooked right in front of the seating area, with lots of broth and toppings. The setup and taste brought me back to the Thailand noodle stands - I was probably embarrassing my wife as I slurped the food down! Another place with both locals and tourists - don't be afraid if you don't fit in, everyone's there for the food!

And for dessert...try the pastry shop Hanalima Bakery in Lihue. They have a large variety of treats but we continued to make our way there specifically for the Malasada (Portuguese doughnut).  We stopped here three times in our one week trip! P.S. This is another location that sells out fast!

I must add, the prices at these places are unbeatable for Hawaii! Cheap and delicious!

So next time you're in Kauai - try something new! And then let me know about it...I'm always looking!

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn

Weekend Hike - Angels Rest, Oregon

We've started to get excited for our upcoming backpacking trip to the West Coast Trail and decided that we'd better get in shape!

As part of our preparation, we're going on at least one hike every weekend!

Here's the first...

The weather in Portland couldn't have been better this past weekend!

I'm still amazed that it's only March!

Taking advantage of the clear skies and sunshine, we headed to Angels Rest for a little hiking and sightseeing.

Angels Rest is a short but steep hike!

4.8 miles round trip but with an elevation increase of 1,450 feet, the crowds on the trail are the least of your worries - catching your breath and not twisting an ankle on the rocky path will keep your mind busy!  (Having a dog pulling on its leash is probably the main reason we were exhausted! Though we did find out that the pup is afraid of crossing boulders...)

Bring your glasses!  At the top of numerous switchbacks is an amazing view!  You can see east up the Columbia River Gorge and west all the way to the Portland city center (if you're lucky enough to be there on a sunny, clear day).  The edge is a straight drop off and had my hard racing a little as I peered over the ledge.

Pictures - at least with our iPhone - couldn't do it justice, as the city skyscrapers wouldn't show up through the lens.  (Another reason to not live your life through the camera - the real world is still more fascinating!)

Would I do it again? Yes!

Another beautiful Northwest day, another beautiful Northwest hike!

Did anyone else take advantage of the weekend?  Any recommendations?

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn

Friday Reading: Escape on a Workday

Happy Friday! Below is a quick writing sample from my journal. I'm trying to grab a few minutes (5, 10, 15 minutes) when I can to toss my thoughts onto paper. It's really quite liberating. I will share more as time passes.

After re-reading the below passage, I'm wondering if I'm the only one that thinks like this. So many colleagues go about their daily rituals. Are they wanting to escape like me? Or have they given up the fight? Did they ever want to fight in the first place? The notes end abruptly, but it's given me more thoughts on how I want to approach my life.

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn

________

Do you ever get that sick, nauseous feeling when you think life is passing you by?

I did. Again. Today.

I'm sitting in my office. Surrounded by paper, pens, people, cubes, meetings - and all I want to do is bolt and find something exciting!

I hope it's just that it's Friday. It's been a long week of back to work after vacation.

I can hear the coworker in the next office on a conference call. I can hear both sides of the call. The whole beginning was talking about how many conference calls everyone is on. How do we get anything done if we're always in meetings? Answer: We don't.

We're supposed to delegate, but how do you have time to do this? You work more hours. You work late. You come in early. You work weekends. To get ahead, to be in more conference calls, have more annual reviews (don't get me started on these!), more time in an office.

Life is passing us by! What are we working for? Is it worth it?!

We need money to survive, but at what cost? We go home exhausted, sit on the couch, and watch t.v. Too tired to work on ways to get out of the rat race.

The constant need to do better, for a boss, who is just trying to do better for their boss. So we don't get fired. Because we're worried that we won't be able to pay our bills without the job. The money stops and how do we pay the rent, how do we pay for food, how do we pay for the car?

We're worried, so we work more, harder, digging ourselves in deeper.

Spending more money on entertainment and items that give us pleasure for the few minutes we an enjoy them (before working again). We spend money on a nice house. We spend money on a nice car, we spend money on nice clothes and expensive meals.

We have fleeting minutes of pleasure in exchange for our hard earned money. But then we get caught.

We spend more money to make ourselves happy then we're actually earning!

We put items on credit. We purchase a house/car with big loans. We now have monthly payments for items that are slowing diminishing in their entertainment/'wow' factor. So we need another fix!

But that will cost more money! So we work harder, more hours. Do better. Impress the boss, boss' boss, to get a raise, a promotion - which brings more hours of work/stress. So that we can afford the new, bigger, better, toys!

And we can't lose our jobs, because we wouldn't be able to pay the on-going payments for both our new and our old toys.

We're stuck. A rat in a cage.

We look out our windows into a foreign world, for a few minutes between conference calls.

We look at the hills, the trees, the sun. We wonder what it would feel like to wander those hills, in the trees, under the sun in the middle of a workday. Just a random Wednesday.

We feel guilty just thinking about it. It's not normal, we should be working during a workday. That's what weekdays are for.  Everyone works. You can't wander in the hills during the day. That's for the weekends - between the work you've brought home - to earn money, to pay for the enjoyment of life!

But is this life?

Is this living?

Can it be different?

Break the cycle?

No! That's wrong! Don't think like that!

No one breaks the cycle. This is how the world works!

Really? Yes, you have to earn your money - put in your 'time' to enjoy life once you retire (on a small retirement income).  You'll enjoy life then. Travel the world. Wander those hills, in the trees, under the sun during a random Wednesday.  When you're old. You'll probably need a cane to get up the hill. If the tree root trips you, you'll probably break a bone - since you're old.

Can I Reset My 2014 Resolutions?

The New Year resolutions I made only weeks ago have been put on the back burner.

My motivation dwindled as January rolled on.

Can I start again?

Wrong train of thought...

I will start again!!

I'm going to challenge myself to start acting on my wants!!

Life is about choices...your choices, my choices.  Time for me to decide what I want.

One month of 2014 is nearly gone...and I don't have much to show for it.

Time to hit restart on my new year!  Only eleven months left!!

2014 Goals:

1) Workout and a basic yoga, four times a week.  (Ultimately, I'd like to be performing the full P90X workout again.)

2) Spend quality time with my wife in the evenings and on the weekends.  (Snuggling on the couch and watching a movie counts.  Both of us watching separate shows, ones that are just filling our time and we're not gaining a benefit from, do not count.)  I need to find a way to measure this one...

3) Add six paying clients to PPF.  (Baby steps...but forward motion.)

4) Take a Spanish course and have a basic proficiency in the language.  I've always wanted to learn Spanish, but I haven't been able to get into Rosetta Stone.  We're planning a vacation this year to a location where Spanish would be very useful.

How are your New Year's resolutions going?  Still committed?

Yours in exploiting life!

Quinn

2014 New Year's Resolution - Budget? No? How About a WAM(D)?

I gave my tenth speech out of my Toastmaster's manual today and I felt really good!

I enjoyed the material and had a lot of fun presenting.

I received some positive feedback, which is always a bonus.

I had so much fun...that I decided to share it here!

(Maybe in the future I can record the presentation - it works even better with my quirky voice inflections and planned pauses.)

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn 

P.S. I pronounce WAM(D) so that it rhymes with Sam and spam.

Here it is...

WAM(D)

It’s another new year, but are you sticking with the same old resolutions?

Get healthy, eat better, travel more.

How about trying something new?  How about kicking the year off with a good, solid financial foundation?

In 2014, I want to challenge everyone to start a monthly WAM(D).

You know, capital “W”, capital “A”, capital “M”, silent capital “D”.

You might know it as “Where’s All My Dough?”...or possibly as a “budget”.

The word “budget” has become a four letter word.  It’s associated with punishing yourself and constricting your spending.  That’s not what I think it is, so I decided to call it a WAM(D).

I’m going to share a little about building your WAM(D), the benefits of a WAM(D), and a financial success story which used a WAM(D).

So what is a WAM(D)?

A WAM(D) (Where’s All My Dough) is a look at all the income and expenses you have in a month.  This includes wages, side income, mortgages and rent, telephone bills, food, travel.  Anything that comes in and goes out of your bank account.

How many of you here already have a detailed monthly WAM(D)?

How many of you review your WAM(D) at least monthly?

According to a recent Gallup poll, just 32% of Americans have a monthly budget (or WAM(D)).  

But what does that mean?  Well, according to the same Gallup poll, just 30% of Americans have a financial plan for savings and retirement goals.  Summary - if you don’t start tracking your money, how can you plan with it?  You can’t!

You’re probably thinking, “I don’t want to do that.  It’ll take way too long.  I make enough money to pay my bills and that’s enough.”  Those are fair, but unfortunate thoughts.  This line of thinking is what the other 68% of Americans are thinking.  Soon they’ll be thinking, I’m planning to retire and I don’t have enough money!  Where’d all my dough go?!

Yes, this can be a daunting task, at least initially.  Preparing your first WAM(D) may take a few hours and multiple reviews a month.  Possibly even a fight with your spouse.  But once it’s established, it should only take you 15-30 minutes a month to review and tweek.

How to go about building your WAM(D)?

Some people like a lot of details.  I know one couple who keeps their WAM(D) on an Excel spreadsheet.  They have 60 lines of detail, breaking out every type of expense.  They like to know exactly what categories they’re spending money on, so they can set limits accordingly.

Some people like simple.  My wife and I fall into this category.  We don’t like a lot of limits, we don’t want to stress about the pennies, but we do want to know how much we’re spending.  We use Mint.com to track our transactions.  Our monthly costs (rent, phone, internet) are categorized, our financial priorities are categorized (retirement, travel, savings), and then we leave a lump sum for everything else.  The lump sum is food, entertainment, coffee, treats, bar tabs, dry cleaners, dog baths.  We take this amount out in cash, weekly.  This reduces the transactions that we have to track in our budget.  We don’t need to know the details for this money, but when it runs out, we’re done spending for the week.  Pull out the leftovers…

Those of you with WAM(D)s already, do you like details or simple?

What type of tools do you use for your WAM(D)?

What’s the benefit of a WAM(D)?

The benefit is a strong financial foundation.

How much can you afford to spend on your next vacation?  How much can you afford to put into retirement?  Can you afford a new car?  Why is your credit card balance always increasing?  Can you pay off your student loans early?  How are you going to pay for that coffee?

Having a WAM(D) can answer all of these questions.

With a WAM(D), you’re at least educated on your spending.  Whether you take additional actions is your next choice.

I’d like to take these last few minutes to share a story with you, a story about exploiting life.

It began a couple of years ago with a beautiful woman and a devilishly handsome man.

My wife and I were living the proverbial paycheck to paycheck life.

We were playing the credit card game, transferring balances from credit card to credit card.  We were making the minimum monthly payments to our car loan and our student loans.  We didn’t worry about buying groceries, eating out, or taking a few trips here and there - that’s what credit cards are for, right?!

We were making all of our payments and meeting our obligations, but we always felt broke.

We were having a lot of fun.  But we stressed about our finances.  We were constantly stressed out about our financials.

At one point, we were over $70,000 in debt!!

You might be thinking, “Wow, how typical.  The average American life.  No one can afford to live without taking on debt.”

But the most amazing part - at least to me looking back - was that we were earning over $70,000 a year!!  We had no excuse!

Where’s all my dough?!

Two years later?  Here we are.

We’re debt free.  Completely debt free.  Over $70,000 of debt paid off!

Even better?  We took our first international trip during this time - a dream of ours for years - and paid it off!  We even took a second international trip!

We added to our savings accounts.  We added to our retirement accounts.  

We felt comfortable enough to take financial risks by seeking new jobs, which brought in additional income.

We funded a side business.

Even though our rent went up, our weekend activities actually increased during this time.

We didn’t sacrifice any of our fun, we just knew how much we were spending on the fun!

We were exploiting life!

All of this because we finally we broke down and decided to confront our demons head on.

We made our WAM(D).

It all starts with this one simple question.

Where’s All My Dough?

WAM(D)!!