michael + nellie’s blog of awesome

WARNING : boring ( yet informative ) post.

welcome to portland



i realize that this is quickly becoming a travelers cuisine blog and i’m ok with that. we like food, you like food, most of our budget is being blown on food… it’s very american and i’m sure that we have an understanding. that said, we found of the most bitchinist deli in the known earth. i’m a big fan of the rueben. i think that mr. rueben was very bold to take 4 ingredients, that most people have distinct feelings towards, and blend them all together. but kenny & zukes didn’t just make a rueben. no, this was something much more! i looked on as the sandwich maker, nay CHEF, draped ( configured rather ) cuts of piping hot pastrami over a bed of melted swiss and cool sauerkraut. unbelievable!



after lunch we stopped in at a coffee shop where we continued to discover that oregon boasts of some of the most delightful people on earth. jeana couldn’t help but notice that we were from out of town ( i think because we were the only peeople wearing sweaters in the whole of the northwest ). she was so kind and helpful in making sure that we got a chance to see the “real” of portland culture. she is studying to be a lawyer and if she could have any quality or attribute, it would be the sudden and supernatural knowledge of all things “the bar.” here’s a picture of jeana staring down a rooster. we’re prayin’ for your success. thanks for all the help!



traveling on a budget brings some pretty exciting adventures. one of which is sharing a single bathroom with about 50 strangers. we’ve thoroughly enjoyed sleeping on the road, but it seems distinctly “less safe” in the city. we had two hotels that i needed to take pictures of ( for the job ), so we were set on those nights, but had a night in the middle that we were leaving up to chance. glad we did because we happened across one of the SCHWEETEST places that we’ve ever stayed. it’s called the ace hotel and it’s just east of portland’s pearl district. we stumbled across it after seeing the totally retro “photobooth” in the window. it had the most thorough branding that i have seen in a hotel and the bathroom thing didn’t turn out to be so bad. here’s a glut of pictures, all lit by the two provided “clamp lamps.”







check out this flat screen!











we went out for good old fashioned “pho” restaurant with the beautiful and talented michelle knopp. joining the knopp family for coffee and brownies, we talked politics, being a professional musician in portland, and how i’m really slackin’ on building a respectable harem ;) here’s a pic of the girls myspace stalking



we’re LOVING portland! more to come