Hello everyone! I’ve been away from the blog for a few weeks and I wanted to tell you why: I got married! Yes, after 17 years together we tied the knot.
Where I’ve Been for the Past Few Weeks
Tasty Vietnamese Food at Three Fifty Cafe
Last week I had a chance to spend some time at Cully’s Three Fifty Cafe, and tried a handful of delicious items. If you haven’t been by, I recommend stopping in soon. From coffee to banh mi to salad rolls, the cafe is offering really good Vietnamese food that I look forward to eating again.
Note: I was invited by the owners who comped my meal, but observations are my own.
Continue reading “Tasty Vietnamese Food at Three Fifty Cafe”Farewell 2022, Hello 2023!
As I write this, it’s almost the end of 2022. And while I say it every year, I’ll say it again—I can hardly believe the year is over! It seemed to rush by, but at the same time January 2022 seems ages away. Personally, I’m looking forward to 2023, not because 2022 was so terrible, but more or less because I’m ready for a new year and that feeling of a “new start” it seems to bring.
As I think about the blog this year, I’m proud to say that this is the first time since I started this small outpost in the Portland food media world a handful of years ago, that I’ve written it for the entirety of a calendar year. There was something published every month. I’m really proud of that. The years that proceeded were full of interruptions: starting the blog halfway through 2017; breast cancer in 2018; recovering in 2019 from my mother’s death and finishing up her estate, plus a big move across town; overall weirdness in 2020 with COVID and its perpetual mutations; anemia and side effects associated with my cancer drugs in 2021, plus more COVID.
I got noticeably better, health-wise, in 2022, plus an increase in my work as an editor. It really was a better year.
I have plans to continue writing here in 2023, and look forward to it. Hoping to bring back Salad Week! And I have a few other ideas. I’ll do a roundup of 2022’s top posts and such at the start of the new year.
Many, many thanks to all of you for visiting and reading Bridgetown Bites. I’m grateful to each and every one of you! Happy New Year!
The Ongoing Issue of Loud Restaurants
For decades now, I’ve heard one topic discussed when it comes to restaurants, bars, cafes, and other eateries, regardless of the condition of the physical space, menu quality, and cost spectrum—and that’s how loud a place is. I’ve heard older folks talk about it as well as those younger, and everyone in between. A lot of people wish restaurants were quieter (though not as quiet as a “mausoleum,” as per WaPo restaurant critic Tom Sietsema). So why does it persist?
Continue reading “The Ongoing Issue of Loud Restaurants”Bison Coffee House Vandalized
Bison Coffee House in the Cully neighborhood. Photo credit: Bison Coffee House
Earlier today, in the wee hours of the morning, Bison Coffee House in the Cully neighborhood was vandalized—windows broken, “property damaged, and white debris from a discharged fire extinguisher throughout the interior,” according to the PPB. The good news is that they were able to successfully clean things up (some of the responding officers helped with the cleanup) and were back in business fairly quickly. But why did this happen?
Continue reading “Bison Coffee House Vandalized”