Great balls of fire

After a while you get fed up with jet lags and hang overs. Life goes back to its normal routine and so it did the last few days I was in Portland. Nikki went back to work so Jeff and I looked after Zoey while running errands. We did not have a whole lot to do, but driving from this part of town to the other can take up quite some time.

The first week started of great with lots of exercising and ended in whisky fueled couch slouching, so it was time for another run on Tuesday morning. With Zoey in the stroller Jeff and I went for a 5 mile run to burn of some Mellow Mushroom pizza and to quiet the screams of guilt in the back of our heads. Nikki was off from work Tuesday afternoon and we decides to have lunch at this floating restaurant called Newport Bay. (To undo the run we did that morning). The weather was beautiful, 80f/27c with clear blue skies and a powerful sun throwing its rays at us with a surprising punch. It resulted in the first sunburn of the year. Which was quite painful and satisfying at the same time.

At the Newport Bay we had a great view of the city and overlooked the Columbia River. It was a beautiful site to see the white capped Mount Hood in the distance as the sun played on the water. The taste of summer was in the air and people ventured out onto the water in speedboats, kayaks and even paddle boards.

We enjoyed a delicious lunch which Jeff and Nikki would finally let me pay for. I was glad they did. I am not a rich man, but I don’t like leeching of off others.

The rest of the day we chilled at the house and had a tasty turkey burger for dinner.

The last full day of this leg of my trip had finally arrived. I thought it was quite the miracle Jeff and Nikki weren't fed up with me yet. I’m pretty sure they are glad to have some more privacy now and not feel obligated to entertain the Dutchie on the couch. I myself grew a bit restless and was getting ready to continue my journey.

But not before I visited the Oregon Zoo. Not a very large zoo but pretty cool one none the less. They had black bears, polar bears, tigers and lions, a very cute baby elephant named Lilly and cougars (I mean the big cats, not the ones my twin brother is familiar with). One horny giraffe that tried to mount a female. She was quite reluctant and although we didn’t waited for x-rated giraffe interaction, the one who persists will prevail. Orangutans, gibbons and small monkeys I don’t know the name to but can be found in zoos around the globe. The timing for visiting the zoo was a bit off since the park was filled with small children on school outings. I have definitely taken a liking to kids over the past few years, but a horde of screaming little brats is still too much. It resulted in us avoiding indoor enclosures where the screams of said brats would bounce of the walls and reach decibel levels unheard off. Which is quite a weird expression since the noise was probably loud enough to carry a 100 miles in any direction.

After about 2 hours our eardrums could take no more and we used Zoey’s milk break as a good excuse to get out of there.

Now we get to the part where I get to explain the title of this article. There is this weird (keep Portland weird) restaurant called Salvador Molly’s. The have food from all over the world and they serve it in a colorful restaurant with a laid back atmosphere. I had the Jambalaya. A rice dish from Louisiana with chicken and shrimp in a spicy creole sauce. It was delicious. It is a well-known restaurant in Portland and they are famous for their Balls of Fire challenge. The challenge consists out of eating 5 Habanero (Madame Jeneatte) balls in a habanero sauce. I did not go for the challenge since I’m very fond of my taste buds. But I did try one ball of fire. These things live up to their name. I actually start sweating all over again while writing this. The flavor is pretty good for the first 20 seconds after that it just like a fire a blaze which keeps building up and building up. It a good 20 minutes, some dry rice, 2 glasses of water, some corn bread, a corona and multiple ice cubes before I felt anything close to normal again. That little sucker knocked the wind right out of me and unfortunately I was unable to finish my Jambalaya. I still have trouble believing someone could five of these including all the sauce to complete the challenge and live to tell the tale. Jeff warned that if it’s hot going in it will be the same coming out. Luckily I didn’t have to worry about that yet.

Before we called it a night (everyone had to get up early, Jeff and Nikki to work and I to catch my flight), we visited Ben and Kate. Jeff’s stepbrother and his wife. The live in a very cool house on stilts on a steep hill. They are remodeling and the downstairs still only consisted of wooden framework waiting for some sheetrock to turn it into rooms and a livable area. They did finish the deck out back which looked great. Right in between the canapé. It was close to a road but the branches and leaves muffled the sound and gave it a very private ‘cabin in the woods’ feel.

The next day we all got up early and I got unpleasantly reminded of the Ball of Fire I had the day prior. The melody of the song ‘Girl on fire’ by Alicia Keys started playing in my head. Only the lyrics had changed slightly. I’m sure everyone is able to fill in the blanks.

Time to leave. We said our goodbyes, Jeff went to work and Nikki dropped me off at the airport on the way to her work. Now it was only a 5,5 hour flight between me and Hawaii.

It has been a great 9 days with the Barkers. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. I missed hanging with my buddies from curacao and loved meeting their daughter. Also Jeff´s impression of me never gets old. I got to know Portland and it is definitely on my ‘to go back to’-list. Very mellow, very green, very cool. I will be back to help keep Portland weird.