Win Big: Shop Small This Holiday Season in Portland

Win Big when you shop small.

You may have heard of Small Business Saturday, which is one of the three big shopping days of the early holiday season (the others being Black Friday and Cyber Monday). But here in Portland, there’s a local effort to encourage shopping at small businesses in Portland for a month, from November 14 to December 15! And that would be the Win Big campaign from Small Shops Big Hearts, part of Bricks Need Mortar, which supports Oregon’s independent retailers.

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Halloween 2024: Food and Drink in Portland

This is a vintage Jack O'Lantern.

Spooky season is upon us! Halloween 2024 in Portland offers plenty of things to do: decorate your home, trick-or-treat, tour a haunted house, go to a costume party. But for us, we are focused on the spooky food and drink treats for this time of the year. There’s plenty out there to enjoy, too!

I’ll continue to update this post over the month of October as new treats make themselves known.

Caseus Diem

Through the end of October, Caseus Diem presents the Boo-Brie: President-brand Brie with Divina sour cherry spread for $13.

3320 SE Division Street, Portland. Caseus Diem website.

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Rosh Hashanah 2024—New Year 5785—in Portland

Honey cake from Bakery & Spice for Rosh Hashanah 2024 (Year 5785).
Honey cake. Photo credit: Baker & Spice

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, is almost upon us! It’s the start of the High Holy Days, and a joyful time punctuated with delicious food and drink, celebrated by Jews around the world, from the US, to Argentina, to Ethiopia. And while in Portland we’ve lost a number of Jewish food outlets over the past few years—e.g., Kenny & Zuke’s, Kornblatt’s, Sweet Lorraine’s, and the one that still crushes me, the modern Jewish deli and market Beetroot—there are still some great options. Here are places that both Jews and gentiles can go to enjoy the foods of the holiday.

Rosh Hashanah starts after sundown on Wednesday, October 2, 2024 and lasts until nightfall on October 4, 2024.

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Groundhog/Ground Hog Day 2023 in Portland

Smoked brats from Gartner's meats in Portland, Oregon.
Photo credit: Gartner’s Meats

For a couple of years on this blog (2022, 2019) I’ve written about Groundhog Day, AKA Ground Hog Day—and you know, that play on words never fails to delight me. After doing a little research, I’ve gotten a better hold on where to find the ground hogs in Portland, better known as sausages. So here is our roundup of some reputable places for sausages of all kinds.

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