Check it out:

The Italians know how to throw a party, so when Cathy Whims called about throwing a Palio di Portland party at Nostrana, we knew it’d be a good one.  Get ready Portland, because it’s time to take your foot off the brake and get in gear for the races, Siena-style!

Every year in the summer huge crowds flock to the Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy, where representatives from 10 of the 17 city wards compete in Il Palio, a harrowing horse race around the famous tilting Piazza. On Sunday, August 16th from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m., Nostrana is throwing its own “Palio di Portland” complete with races (bikes, skates, tricycles, three-legged, horse headed broomsticks!), a rustic Siena feast, bottles of Italian Rosé and Prosecco, prizes and more.

Executive Chef and owner Cathy Whims has crafted a Siena inspired menu with dishes like grilled pork sausages; onion foccaccia Siena-style; charcuterie of prosciutto, salametti and chicken liver crostini; and panzanella salad of ciabatta bread, fresh tomatoes, basil, olive oil and vinegar. Dishes will be served buffet-style alongside Italian Rosé and Prosecco at a $25 flat rate, gratuity included.

Guests are encouraged to bring family, friends and their competitive spirit, because between bites all are welcome to participate in the races, which take place outside of Nostrana. The races begin at 1:20 p.m. with an awards ceremony to follow at 2:30 p.m., at which time the winning racers’ own Portland neighborhood flag will be raised and bottles of wine and gift certificates awarded.

The schedule is as follows.

• 1:20 p.m. – Two-legged stick race
• 1:30 p.m. – Three-legged race
• 1:40 p.m. – Roller skate race
• 1:50 p.m. – Bicycle race
• 2:00 p.m. – Tricycle race
• 2:10 p.m. – Three-legged stick race

Nostrana’s “Palio di Portland” party is on Sunday, August 16th from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. Reservations for the event are recommended. Please call Nostrana at 503.234.2427 to secure a spot in the races and a seat at the table. Nostrana is located at 1401 SE Morrison, Portland, OR 97214. For more information about Nostrana, visit www.nostrana.com.

Click here to see a youtube video of what’s to come…!

gorgeous winter morning coffee with Table Mountain just behind us

After 3 dreadful cups of coffee yesterday, we were pleased to discover Cafe Vida in the Gardens neighborhood, just around the corner from our hotel (www.hippotique.co.za).  The lightly roasted beans and espresso was pulled just right.  My new favorite morning treat was their oversized four-cheese, onion and corriander muffin. The Indian spices infuse many moments in Cape Town, and we’re loving them all.

More TK.

For those of you looking to avoid the kitchen this Fourth of July have no fear. The Country Cat Dinnerhouse & Bar, which is known for its refined farmhouse cooking and finger lickin’ fried chicken, is offering a special Fried Chicken Meal To-Go only available from Friday July 3rd to Sunday July 5th.

For $12 each, you get:
1. Two pieces of Sappington’s signature boneless fried chicken – a southern recipe passed down by his Great Grandmother. Each piece is brined for two days, smothered in Sappington’s secret spice dredge and then cast-iron skillet fried into the chicken we know, love and crave.
2. One side of bacon braised collard greens, BBQ baked beans or cole slaw
3. Homemade biscuit

Pre-orders are recommended.  Call 503-408-1414.  For more info click here.

To learn more about the festival, the Producers Dinner and some of the restaurants involved check out the Horizon Air article below and visit www.indiewinefestival.com.

]]> http://www.ladcommunicationsblog.com/blog/2009/03/30/hit-of-the-week-horizon-airlines/feed/ 0 http://www.ladcommunicationsblog.com/blog/2009/03/06/ten-years-and-counting/ http://www.ladcommunicationsblog.com/blog/2009/03/06/ten-years-and-counting/#comments Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:30:02 +0000 Lisa http://www.ladcommunicationsblog.com/?p=2019 Last Friday marked the 10th anniversary of my move to Portland.  Thanks to all the folks who helped make the occasion so memorable and who generously helped us raise $ 1,000 to send to the World Wildlife Fund.

The LADies in all their festive gear!

The menu was crazy good thanks to our friends at Country Cat, Culinary Artistry, Deschutes, Black Cap, House Spirits, Nostrana, Tabla, Boedecker Cellars, Grochau Cellars, Penner-Ash, Alma Chocolates, and Cory Schreiber.  Extra credit to Holland Studios who shot the event and to our amazing entertainment — The Shanghai Woolies.

thanks Cory and Julie! Can't wait for your new book.

“It’s scary in the attic.”

First of all, in order to full appreciate my dilemma you’ll need a bit of background.   Although the LAD office has a production room and storage area, we do frequent mailings and need an place to store our extensive supply of boxes, packaging peanuts, folders, archived files, etc.  So, we lease a storage space in the attic area of our building.

Imagine, if you will, a small landing at the top of two flights stairs with six foot ceilings, exposed pipes and three old doors leading to the storage spaces.  Adding to the ominous environment is lighting that can be described at best as dim.

Can you picture it?  Excellent.

My “Name that LADie” adventure starts out simply enough – it was a quite Friday with only one other LADie and myself in the office.  It was around eleven o’clock when I realized I needed an older file and after searching through our filing cabinet I knew I had to go upstairs to get what I was looking for.  I grabbed the keys to the attic and our storage unit, breezing through the door and quickly yelling to my co-worker that I was headed upstairs and would be right back. They don’t call them famous last words for nothing.

After entering our storage space, I made my way across the room, found the box I was looking for and opened the lid to the file folder.  And then I heard it.  The unmistakable sound of the door clicking closed behind me.

No big deal – all doors have to open from the inside, right?   Oh, no.  Not our old broken door lock.  Once the door had closed behind me, it had locked shut and wasn’t coming open.   This is the moment I freaked out.

You see, I have a very active imagination and every time I’m in the attic space I manage to convince myself that Michael Meyers is hiding out in the storage unit next door and he’s about to get me. Crazy, but true.

After a few deep breaths (thanks yoga) I was able to calm myself down and start thinking straight.  I wasn’t that far up from the nearest business, someone was bound to hear me if I started screaming for help.

Alas, it was not meant to be.  After about ten minutes of yelling and banging on the door I gave up  decided to sit down and wait it out (it was about this time that I decided a psycho killer was bound to hear my screams and come eat me for dinner).  Plus, I knew that eventually people would notice I was missing and come to find me – after all, they did know where I was.

An hour later I knew it was time to take matters into my own hands.  If I wanted to get out of that storage unit (and boy did I) I was going to have to do it myself.

My first lockpicking thought was a credit card – I’d seen this particular device used many times with great success on tv.  The only problem with that one is a shocking lack of credit cards in most storage spaces.  My next strategy was to search the room and see what I could find that might be of any use.  Now, you’d be really surprised at the number of everday office supplies that might be good lock picking tools – letter openers, staple removers and paperclips (this one seems kind obvious, and yet it really performed the poorest of all my attempts).

Then I found it.  The ultimate tool for unlocking the attic door – the metal rod on a green hanging file.  It’s size and shape are the perfect design to reach between the door and the door frame and open the metal clasp on the lock.

Ha ha!  Take that attic!

As I made my way downstairs towards our office I was still half dazed and completely astounded that I was able to break free. I was also excited to let my co-worker know that I had escaped safe and sound and that they could call off the search.  To my surprise I learned that no one was looking for me – in fact, she thought I had taken an early lunch and was returning late!

After recounting my harrowing tale, my coworkers were understandably awed and inspired by my keen wit and ability to think clearly under pressure.  Following this unfortunate episode (and a commendable peformance with a fire extinguisher) I received a new office nickname – just call me MacGyver.

It’s that time of year again, yes, it’s Indie time!  For those of you who don’t know, Lisa founded the Portland Indie Wine Festival back in 2005, and it’s been LAD’s signature event and passion project ever since.  

We’ve altered the format a bit this year, but trust us, it’s for the better.  One day with all 40 wineries, new location and hours, VIP tickets, gourmet bites from Portland’s best chefs and restaurants, a wallet-friendly wine warehouse sale and a Friday night fundraising dinner for the Indie Wine Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to preserving and sustaining the art of craft winemaking. 

For more info go to: www.indiewinefestival.com or click here to read our Indie blog where we’ll keep you up to date with what’s going on in the PIWF world.  You can also follow us on twitter and Facebook.

Buy your tickets online here. 

Hope to see you there! Oh yes, and if you’re interested in volunteering this year, email info{at}indiewinefestival.com.

With Lisa in San Francisco and Stephanie tied up at a meeting, Lota, Jackie, Shawn and I headed out to Northwest Portland for our first taste of Crush. First impression – I can’t wait for this tasting room to open! The space was modern and inviting. Even amongst the construction, the energy was contagious. The 10,000 sq/ft winery is a fantastic industrial loft-style space with floor to ceiling windows, tasting room, cellar and crush facility.

We started off the day in the main crush facility. Athena brought us over to the collection of massive fermentation tubs that needed to be punched down and pumped over.

This is when we were given our first task. I started out with punch downs. To do a successful punch down, I learned you must work the flat tool down through the huge tub of fermenting grapes to make sure the juice and skins stay mixed up. After ten minutes, my arms couldn’t take it anymore (quite the work out!) so I switched with Jackie who was doing pump overs. The pump over process takes the juice from the bottom of the barrel and pumps it over the top with a hose. Again, we did this for about 10 min each barrel.

After punch down and pump overs, it was time to sip. Stewart took us through an educational tasting of four fermenting tubs – three pinot noir (from different vineyards) and one syrah. We could taste the subtle differences between the pinots. Grapes from Carlton Hill tasted well-rounded and elegant. Grapes from Holmes Gap Vineyard tasted as vibrant and bouncy as the young winery.

After the tasting, we were presented with a less glamorous task…siphoning a pinot gris jug to separate the juice from left over sediment.

Lunch was delicious! Athena whipped up one of her favorite pasta recipes from her James Beard pasta cookbook, a nice green salad, Cypress Grove cheese with fresh bread and, of course, wine. It was the perfect end to our day in the life of a winemaker.

For more information about the Portland Wine Project, click here to read Mike Thelin’s article in Portland Monthly.