Almost immediately after
arriving I was introduced to the American take on food. Jeff and Nikki took me
to a pub close by their house where we had a bite to eat and a beer to
celebrate my arrival. I ordered a hamburger. Although I was starving (airplane food
doesn’t have to reputation of being a satisfying meal) I was unable to finish
this huge greasy burger. It tasted great but when they go big, they go big. It
was nice to see that the on the walls of this fine establishment Dutch street
signs could be found. The sight of the familiar blue signs reading pottenbakkersteeg and Van leeuwenstraat made me feel right at home. It was
about 9.30 pm. I was already awake for more than 24 hours and was exhausted.
J&N took me to their apartment and introduced me to a huge couch I would
call bed for the coming 9 days.
As a good guest is supposed
to I came bearing gifts for my hosts. I introduced J&N to one the Dutch
most genius culinary inventions: the stroopwafel. Obviously they loved them,
who wouldn’t. I also brought a gift for their beautiful 3 month old daughter
Zoey. It was a stuffed animal of Dikkie Dik. A bright orange cat with a smile
on its face and very popular among Dutch children. The name did require some
explaining. Nikki decided to name it Kat after my red cat I had in Curacao. I’m
sure this was also to avoid explain to others why Zoey was playing with her
Dikkie Dik. After this I went straight to bed in an attempt to battle the
jetlag that was surely coming. Luckily J&N being young parents went to bed
quite early too, so I didn’t feel burdened for forcing them upstairs so the
Dutchie could take a nap.
The next morning I felt pretty good. I even
accompanied Jeff for a morning run. We did about a 5 mile run through a
beautiful wooded, but also hilled area of Portland. We went all the way up to
the highest point of the city called Council Crest. It was the place where the
chiefs of the Native American tribes would gather to talk about what to do
about this Kevin Kostner fellow who kept chasing off this lone wolf. (Just on a
side note, only the tribes in the northwest of America had totem poles. Just so
you know whenever you’re playing trivial pursuit). Unfortunately it was
overcast and quite misty which prevented us from having an awesome view of the
Portland metropolitan area. But I was sure there would be more opportunities
for great views.
During the rest of the day we had to run some
errands and went out for dinner at a place called Fire in the mountain, famous
for their spicy chicken wings. We met up with Nick, one of Jeff’s friends which
I’d met in Curacao 2 years prior. The wings were great but I wasn’t quite so
sure about the deep fried pickle (pickles should be eaten cold at all times),
but he deep fried Twinky was pretty good. I though it to be a very disturbing
bordering to genius snack. The jetlag was hitting me hard and we decides to
call it a day and chill at the house for the rest of the evening. Nikki had got
me a bottle of Jameson Irish whisky, bless her heart, and I enjoyed a nice
glass of liquid gold. I had to use a wine glass for it, so the next day I got
some tumblers to do the drink more justice.
Wednesday morning I thought I got up at 7 am,
since my phone was still on Chicago time it turned out to be 5 am. There is
that jetlag again. The run the day before felt really good and I thought it
would be a good idea to continue down this path. Healthy Jelle all the way,
since I also quit smoking. Jeff took me to the MAC. Not to get a nice juicey
quarter pounder with cheese (also known as a royal with cheese because of the
metric system), but to go and work out.
The MAC
stands for Multnoma Athletic Centre. It is an enormous almost gigantic facility
where you can pretty much do anything that has to with sports and fitness. The
top few floors overlook the Portland Timbers soccer stadium. There are several
fitness areas, a few basketball courts, racquetball (squash) fields, tennis
courts, Pilates classes, an indoor climbing wall, 2 Olympic size swimming
pools, stretching rooms and much much more. I was glad I had Jeff with or would
have gotten lost in there for sure. I’m pretty sure I saw the remains of an old
tennis player who lost his map and failed to find his way back out. After
shooting some basketball and lifting some weights I wen t for a swim. It had
been since curacao since I last was in the water and it felt good. It
definitely had me craving for more in water activities and longing for turquoise
waters to submerge myself in.
That night
Jeff made some killer ribs. Here is a quick guide in how to go about making and
eating killer ribs
Step 1:
remove the membrane from he ribs and apply a dry rub of herbs and spices.
Step 2: fire
up the bbq and grill on both side for about 6 to 8 minutes.
Step 3:
cover in bbq sauce and put them in the oven for about 2 hours
Step 4: for
the last 30 minutes put the oven on broil (just the top heater) and apply more
bbq sauce so it can caramelize.
Step 5: make
sure that before you start eating you have absolutely nothing else to so that
evening since eating those ribs pretty much incapacitate you for the remainder
of the day.
Step 6:
stuff you face with ribs and mashed potatoes until incapacitated.
Enjoy!
Thursday
morning Jeff and I wen for a hike in the Columbia River gorge. We went to check
out Multnoma Falls first. A very impressive 150 mtr high waterfall. The water
came down a tall rock face in which you could see all the layers that build up
over time. At the bottom the water smashed down in a small pool with a really
big tree trunk that had washed down many years ago from the looks of it.
We back
tracked a little bit to the trail head of the trail that would lead us to Angel’s
rest. A natural look out point elevated about 600 mtr above the river. It was
only a 2,5 mile hike, but the trail was quite steep. Since Jeff and I kept a
good pace it turned out to be quite a work out. At the top we were greeted by
chipmunks and a stunning view of the Columbia River gorge. On the other side of
the river you could see the state Washington which greeted us with steep rock
faces in between rolling hills. It was quite the sight. It was raining on and
off so we didn't linger at the top very long and made our way down to the car
and returned home.
It was
Thursday, but not just any Thursday. It was Last Thursday! Every last Thursday
of the month there is a street fair called Last Thursday. A long street,
Alberta, gets closed off and people come out to party and be weird. Which is
very fitting, since the unofficial motto of Portland is, keep Portland weird.
Nikki stayed
at home with Zoey and Jeff and I met up with some more people near Alberta. We
visited the house of John and Maliya (if not spelled correctly please forgive
me). I’ve had met them on Curacao too and it was nice to see them again.
In a group
of about 12 people we head to where the party was. As soon as we arrived, Me,
Jeff and Nick lost everybody else. The first weird thing we came across was a
jousting competition. 21st century knights on little children’s
bikes armed with brooms covered with pillows were charging at each other in the
pursuit of eternal glory and the hand of any drunk fair maiden that was willing
to go home with them.
I don’t quite remember exactly what happened
that evening but I do remember this:
A PBR is a
poor man’s beer and absolutely the nastiest beer I’ve ever had. So whenever you
come across someone who offers you a PBR, stop what you’re doing and run. I
also remember that tequila shots infused with jalapeño are really tasty but
should be consumed with moderation.
The best
thing of the whole evening was probably the moment I ordered a drink at the bar
called The Station. I noticed a bottle of Bushmills Irish whisky half way up a
wall filled with all sorts of liquor. To my (Dutch) standards it had about 2 to
3 glasses in there still. I ordered a Bushmills with ice and the bartender
apologized that there was barely enough left in the bottle for just one drink!
I was amazed. Not just the food is big here, but also the drinks. I felt like I
was in heaven and heaven was cheap too. That definitely appealed to my Dutch
nature, getting trice the drink for half the money. Since ‘R’body in the club
was getting tipsy’ we took a cab back to the house and called it a day.
The next
morning the jet lag was gone only to be replaced by a gnarly hang over. Nikki
went back to work that day so Jeff and I looked after little Zoey. It was a lot
of fun playing with her. She is such a good baby, hardly ever cries and makes
funny noises and smiles a lot. Luckily she liked that weird Dutch guy hovering
over her and even started laughing when I spoke Dutch to her. So wise for her
age, knowing that Dutch is a pretty silly language.
Dinner plans
turned out to be a bbq at Jeff his father’s house. A big house with a huge garden.
It came with a very friendly dog called Chuck. Jeff’s stepbrother Ben and his
wife Kate would look after Zoey as we went out. It was Nikki’s first night out
away from her baby and she found it hard to let her go. We would stay the night
at Jeff’s dad’s house so mommy and daughter would be reunited shortly after
party time.
J&N and
some friends took me to 21st street. An area with a lot of bars and
were people would go to have a good time. We went to a bar called The Silver
Dollar. It looked like a sports bar and above the bar and along the wall nearly
30 big screen TVs were put up. For some reason the found it necessary to have
so many TV screens although they only showed 4 different channels. We chilled
outside watching weirdos pass by as we chatted and sipped our drinks. Since I didn't write down much of what happened that night in my journal this paragraph
won’t be that long. Simply because I can’t remember a lot save for the familiar
hang over the next morning while waking up the most comfortable bed I might
have ever been in and meeting Jeff’s dad and his step mom Julie who had returned
that night from a trip to Hawaii.
It was a
very good first week where, while exercising and being touristy, I seamlessly
turned a jet lag into a hangover. Another adventure was already knocking at my
door and it sounded magical. But that is different story.
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