Author Archives: jcarey

Portland Food Photography: The Sapphire Hotel

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The Sapphire Hotel

Last week, David and I decided we needed to celebrate so we searched for happy hours on Yelp and we choose The Sapphire Hotel based on the reviews and the menu. Their website claims long roots into the history of Alberta Street:

The Sapphire Hotel was originally a turn of the century seedy hotel in Portland, Oregon inhabited by sailors, travelers and ladies of the night. They rented rooms by the week, night or by the hour and spent long days and evenings in the lobby drinking, laughing, eating, talking and kissing.

Aside from entertaining one another you could count on the presence of a mystic, traveling musician or a handful of gypsies to lend some fun and adventure to your night. As the years went by, the area around the hotel grew more affluent and the ladies of the night took jobs as shop girls along the avenue. The artists began to sell their work at the galleries that cropped up along the Avenue and the rooms became upscale apartments leased to the people in the local community.

There’s a long list of signature cocktails, wine and beer followed by a shorter list of tasty food.

The Sapphire Hotel

 

I ordered the hour hour special marionberry margarita and (I think) David got the Common-Law Girlfriend.

The Sapphire Hotel - The Marionberry Margarita

 

The Sapphire Hotel

 

I couldn’t resist ordering a couple happy hour appetizers in addition to the food. We chose pickled veggies and nuts & olives.

The Sapphire Hotel - happy hour

 

Dinner was a seared tuna nicoise salad and a meze platter. Two thumbs up! Give them a try for some ambience and delicious drinks and food!

The Sapphire Hotel - meze platter

 

The Sapphire Hotel - Nicoise Salad Special

Portland Food Photography: Portland Juice Press

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Okay seriously. This place is so good! I heard about it through someone on Instagram (can’t remember who), and I rode my bike up Milwaukee to visit it. It’s right by Bushwacker’s Cider.

portland juice company

They juice hundred’s of pounds of vegetables, fruit, and nuts every day. They specialize is juice fasts-you can actually have them deliver to your house or work. I just happen to like fresh juice and had a craving for a thick nut milk. So I picked out The Ohm. It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted: hazelnuts, dates, cinnamon, and filtered water.

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If you are undecided, they have no problem opening up bottles for you to sample the flavors. Next time, I am getting the lemon, ginger, honey one.

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They even have these vintage inspired postcards -FOR FREE! I took one or six.

portland juice company

 

ugly mug

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ugly mug

 

There’s so many great things about our new neighborhood. I’ve mentioned the many coffee shops, and here is a cappuccino from one called The Ugly Mug. They brew Stumptown coffee which is a local roaster.

This shop has a high shelf filled with a lot of mugs. (ha!) They serve a handful of pastries, coffee and espresso, and even beer and wine. They’ve got games and books and the rumour is that you can bring your dog inside although I haven’t witnessed that yet.

I’ve come in today to start working on some photos that need to be edited. It’s been a whirlwind of unpacking, planting, meeting new people, job hunting, and going for walks. David and I are both so amazed by all the lush greenery and the budding blooms of spring. It’s incredible. You can find more photos of our journey on our instagram feeds here or here.

home sweet home

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I love my new neighborhood. We live in the Sellwood-Mooreland neighborhood of Portland. We’ve already met new neighbors, many of whom are extremely active in the Sherrett Square street mural project. The corner of Sherrett and 9th Avenue was the first corner to paint a mural in the intersection. When they first did it, it was illegal. They eventually brought what they did to the mayor, and paved the way for street mural projects all over Portland! It now has a formal process where city officials help neighborhoods through the steps.

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The four corners of our mural also have little pausing stations. There is a tea station with ceramic teacups, bags of tea, and a hot water dispenser. This station is checked and maintained daily.

Across the street is a children’s play area. An open air wooden “cottage” holds toys and benches.

Walk to the other corner, and you will find The Communication Station. This is a place for the Sellwood Bee newspaper as well as any neighborhood news.

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The last corner boasts a tiny book lending library although other fun items sometimes find their way here.

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We picked a part of town to live in that is extremely walkable. We have easy access to two grocery stores, a homesteading store, about five or six coffee shops, a tea house, many restaurants and more. People walk everywhere! There are a number of little surprises that make walking exciting too! I’ve seen a couple poetry stations, a seed sharing station, chickens, gardens, dogs, cats, oh and there is a river too!

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This is the art store. A store that sells art. Dibs on the judgemental seahorse. (This store is not to be confused with the art supply store just down the street.)

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This is where you buy rennet, sourdough starter, jars, and learn how to make candles.

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Did I mention the Puppet Museum. IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. This is not on a main street. This is a small neighborhood street. It is in the building that housed the first Sellwood grocery store. It is so charming.

 

 

 

 

interview series! corbin chamberlin!

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“You can never be overdressed or over educated.”

-Oscar Wilde

I met Corbin sometime in the past few years in my time at Liberty Market. He’s a regular customer whenever he’s in town. You can often catch him on his laptop or having a meeting over coffee. He makes me laugh, and he challenges me as a friend. Also, he has fabulous hair.

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Jamie: Tell us a little about yourself.
Corbin: Arizona native. Can’t get enough coffee, carbs and expensive silk scarves. I’m a fashion writer (The New York Times, Newsweek/The Daily Beast and an editor at the New York Observer’s SCENE Magazine). In addition, I’m working on two books at the moment. I’m an advocate for long dinner parties, pricey perfume and late-in-the-hour consumption of ice cream. Overall nice guy with a soft-spot for outcasts, misfits and troublemakers.

Jamie: I’m curious about your fashion history. Were you a toddler born with all the right tastes who demanded to dress yourself or was this something that more slowly developed?
Corbin: I’m really fortunate to have a ultra-stylish mother and grandmother. I was always concerned about what I was wearing, but I wouldn’t consider it fashionable or stylish. I had a uniform; oxford shirt, bow-tie and vest.

Jamie: What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever worn?
Corbin: I’ve worn a lot of outrageous items (long fur coats, capes and caftans) to suburban-spots outside of the anything-goes-streets of New York City and haven’t felt embarrassed, rather a tad overdressed. Perhaps I blushed a bit when I ran into a very important editor-in-chief in the hallway of a hotel in L.A while wearing gym clothes.

Jamie: Gym clothes are one of those necessary evils, aren’t they? What advice do you have for the average suburban American? What to wear? What not to wear?
Corbin: I suppose gym clothes are a necessary evil– after all the gym is hell. The best advice I can give is that once you’re done with your spin class, go home and change. No one wants to see you in sweaty-spandex at the market, really there are no good excuses. I’m in LOVE with the fitness gear from Nike. It’s the gym, not a the Oscars– just keep it basic, modest and clean.

Jamie: Have you ever met Stacy and Clinton?
Corbin: I’m sorry, who? Doesn’t ring a bell.

Jamie: Would you like to share some internet links?
Corbin: Well, you should read the following everyday…
www.sceneinny.com
www.elle.com
www.thedailybeast.com

And follow these divine individuals on Twitter. .
@PeterDavisNYC
@DrrrAmina
@BryanBoy
@NicoletteMason

Also find me at @Corbin_C and corbinchamberlin.tumblr.com for my constant mischief making.

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(photo provided by Corbin)

Thanks again Corbin for participating in my interview series! If you have any questions for him, please ask away in the comments!

 

thinking about the internet

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I really like using social media.

Blogs, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Ravelry, Google+, Reddit, Pinterest…(the new MySpace?)

I know hardly anyone that doesn’t use some form of online social media. (My brother actually is one.)

A long while back, I didn’t use an RSS feed to check the blogs and websites I liked. I checked them manually. CRAZY.I.KNOW. And I was feeling irritated because I was using all this time to go through my friends’ blogs that they hadn’t updated in FOREVER. I ranted to a friend of mine, “Why do they even have blogs if they don’t use them?!”

And my wise friend Zack said, “You don’t get to determine how other people use the internet.” (And he told me about RSS feeds. What a genius.)

And that’s my advice. Stop telling other people that they are wrong for posting too many photos, or too much of what they are having for lunch, or talking about their pet/kid/favorite tv show, or for basically not using it the same way you do.

If you don’t want to see it or hear about it, then don’t follow/friend them. It’s that simple.

Let me restate: If you don’t like how they express themselves online, then don’t look at what they post. (Or don’t post in my earlier story.)

But wait, you say, “They aren’t using the tools right!”

My reply is, “In your opinion.” Maybe they aren’t using them in an effective manner to gain followers or to not be annoying to you or whatever, but unless they are being hateful bigots, leave them alone. Let them do what they want.

Stop criticizing.

Carry on.

 

interview series! jessa!

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I first met Jessa through my work at Liberty Market. I run the twitter and facebook, so there are a lot of people that I interact with pretty regularly even if they don’t know it’s me right away. Jessa and her husband Dan were coming to almost every single community dinner that Liberty Market ran each month. (I think maybe they missed one?) So, I would chat with them there while I was taking pictures, and eventually we’d get to chatting when we would run into each other during the week as well. Jessa is someone who runs hot! She’s always got several pokers in the fire-she’s making things happen!


(more photos from the May 2012 community dinner found here.)

 

Jamie: Tell us a little about yourself.
Jessa: A favorite quote of mine is “Give me dirt & I’m happy.” 
I’m a country girl living in the city and in my very limited amount of free time, I find myself wheeling & camping with my Toyota FJ to find dirt. Nature is my rock, my home, my everything. When life becomes too much, I find myself in the middle of nowhere soaking it all in and even getting married in it! I am in love with photography so anyone that follows me on Instagram can see who I am and what I like in a nutshell. I’m simple…but complex at the same time since my mind goes a mile a minute. 
I’m not one to talk about myself… But I could go on and on and on.

Jamie: I can relate. I feel so much more connected to myself when I am out in my yard or my community garden. There’s something about the smell and things growing that really centers me. Are you actually from the country or do you just gravitate towards it? I was born in the middle of downtown Phoenix, but sometimes I think that my family’s roots as dairy farmers in upstate New York runs deep. Where did you get married?

Jessa: I was born in Tempe and grew up in Gilbert backing cotton fields and even the well-known Morrison Silos. As a kid I remember the bus ride passing all of the fields and stopping at the small farm houses to pick up the farming kids. I always wanted to be them. My family is originally from Danville, Illinois, and I’ve heard that my great grandparents had a large farm. Must be in my blood…. 

Dan and I are seriously in love with nature, and we couldn’t see getting married anywhere else. In July every year the Toyota FJ Summit happens in Ouray, Colorado, and it just so happened all of our friends were going so we decided to plan a small wedding at the base of Bridal Veil Falls. To get to Bridal Veil Falls, there was an easy option and a hard, scary option-of course we chose the hard scary option of doing Black Bear Pass BEFORE the wedding! Life is Short, live it each and every day! After doing this trail and being two hours late to the “set time” to meet everyone else at the location we were happy to be on flat, stable dirt! We had one of our best friends become a Dudeist Priest online, many friends wore Fuzzy Duds, and we did our own vows around wheeling and nature. It’s a day we will never forget! 


(photo provided by Jessa)

Jamie: So pretty much everyone who knows you, knows that you are the driving force behind The Gilbert Farmer’s Market, but how did that happen? What was the journey leading to it?

Jessa: This is a fun story of how the GFM was born... Yes it’s Dan and my baby! 

Many people know about me because I’m the one behind the social media but my husband, Dan, is the other half to the market that many people don’t know about. We have worked with each other for years so there was no question about this partnership. 

Let’s go back to the summer of 2010. Dan was in real estate working for the banks and I was working with my dad at our family’s popcorn factory. The one and only Bubba’s Popcorn where we create magical Flavors of popcorn like our number top seller’s Dill Pickle, Fruit Stand and of course Windy City. 

My life is always changing, it’s something I’ve accepted since it’s been happening since my childhood. I woke up on Friday morning at 4 a.m. after a dream about a farmers market, and that it was ours! I remember this like it was yesterday, I snuck out of bed and our two rescues followed, I grabbed my laptop and sat on the floor so the dogs wouldn’t wake up Dan. By the time the sun was coming up, I had researched WHERE all of the markets in Arizona were and was ready to go learn as much as I could as fast as I could. One thing I was very strict about from this day was to not solicit at any market and instead grab their contact information and contact them later. I wanted to respect all of the other coordinators, and I still do this today. 

Long story short, we did the necessary research, put together a packet, met with the town of Gilbert, and opened on October 23rd, 2010! 


(picture of early morning at GFM location, taken from the GFM FB page)

Jamie: Wow. That’s really amazing. Most people say they have a dream, but they didn’t really HAVE a dream! So what are the roles that you both play? Was it hard to leave the popcorn factory? (Also, I am imagining it’s exactly like Willy Wonka’s except with popcorn.)

Jessa: The popcorn factory is a smaller version of the Willy Wonka chocolate factory, just with popcorn!    We are currently rebranding ourselves and will have many more products and Flavors coming before the end of the year! Fun stuff is happening and it’s so good to see it finally growing! 

I never really left the factory while I was researching for the market we adjusted a few things and hired people to cover my shift in the factory. I have become more of a behind the scenes owner for the factory.

It’s been a wild ride with the market and I’m just lucky to have done something about the dream I had, what if I hadn’t? Something I always think about now! NEVER talk yourself out of a good idea! 
For the market, Dan and I cover everything together from website building and maintenance, to building a farmers’ market app for iPhones, to social media and paperwork. We have a system where we cross-check each other’s work on a regular basis so everything is very organized. We’re OCD and everything has its place from paperwork to market set up on Saturdays. It’s not an easy job by any means but we enjoy it!

Jamie: Would you like to share an internet link or two?
Jessa: I’d love to! 
My Favorite AZ Rescue, who I used to volunteer at: Friends for Life Animal Rescue

This is one of our favorite towns we have ever visited and believe that everyone should see the beauty! This just happens to be where we got married as well! Ouray, Colorado

One More Link: 
Fuzzy Duds: The non-official clothing of our wedding! 

My newest favorite site:  
We always hope to get a chance to travel to a new place and what better way than to stay with a “local” at their home! SO FUN! 

Thanks Jessa for spending the time answering all my questions! Please feel free to ask her your questions in the comments below!