Diet Coke

While watching American Idol tonight I noticed Diet Coke's new slogan: Just for the taste of it. Anyone alive in the late 80's/early 90's remembers that this is a retro slogan they've repurposed. I personally love the recall of old taglines...especially when accompanied by old jingles (no guarantee of that happening in Diet Coke's case). But, an interesting American Idol, old-Diet-Coke-campaign connection is none other than Miss Paula Abdul. According to YouTube, she did this ad in 1991. Besides being fun and random, it's also a really cool advertisement. I don't know if it was originally a Super Bowl commercial, but if not, it's almost worthy of it.

Tasty Memories

They say that scent is the sense most closely linked to memory, and I definitely believe it. I once found some candles at Pier 1 that smelled exactly like my great-grandma's house. It was very surreal, especially since it had been more than a decade since she died. Anyway, lately I've been thinking about how closely taste can link to memory as well. I specifically began thinking about this because I've just started watching the TV show "NCIS". At the same time I started watching "NCIS", I also made a habit of snacking on microwave popcorn with white cheddar popcorn salt. (It's delicious!)Now, this food is forever linked with this TV show in my mind, and it isn't the first time this has happened. Laughing Cow cheese and Wheat Thins? "Quantum Leap" and "Arrested Development"; Early Summer 2008. Swanson TV Dinners? "Golden Girls"; 2001-2002ish. And, in an extremely ironic way (I'm not sure if it's the true since of irony or just the Alannis Morrisette version), those little chocolate-frosted donuts while watching the Beijing Olympics. Does this blog entry indicate I spend too much time enjoying both food and television? Perhaps.

Portland

Goodness gracious, am I ever slacking in the blogging department! I barely got in one post for December, and now it's nearly the end of January! But my Portland trip is definitely worth blogging about. Sara, Margaret, Paul and I made the long road trip southwest, fueled on Subway, "Mix Tapes" (or their 2009 equivalent), and pondering things you don't want to hear a surgeon or a truck driver say. We arrived in Vancouver (where our accommodations were) at about 1:25 a.m., then stopped at Shari's. I had some delicious stuffed hashbrowns (the only redeeming feature of Shari's as a non-Coca-Cola establishment) that surely had a calorie content meant for people on the Michael Phelps diet. We arrived at our hotel (aka Margaret's house) at about 2:30 a.m.

Saturday morning we met our great friends Sean and KB Sullivan at Lloyd's Center Mall in Portland. But this was only a means to get our cars parked in the same place. Our real destination was Voodoo Donut. Mmm. I'd never been to any donut shop like it. I especially loved the Bacon Maple Bar. I enjoy the occasional donut, but they always lack protein. Plus, maple and bacon are an excellent flavor combination.

Other highlights included the Trailblazer (cinnamon pastry with orange sprinkles) and a donut I tactfully refer to as the Old Dirty Fellow (it's original name indicated that it was of illegitimate birth, if you know what I mean). This fellow was chocolate frosted, drizzled with peanut butter, and liberally sprinkled with Oreos. Again, I say: Mmm.

After this tasty excursion, and a brief stop at Starbucks, we returned to Lloyd's Center so I could get a Coke and we could meet our friend Christene for lunch. Once Chris arrived, we walked to the famous Powell's City of Books (Did I mention that it was dazzlingly sunny outside? It was absolutely gorgeous, albeit cold). Powell's is the Smithsonian of bookstores. Spending nearly two hours there was about as good as spending an afternoon at the Smithsonian: Every moment was delightful, but time constraints reduced me to rushing from room to room gawking...and I'd even been there once before! I'd like to plan another trip to Portland where one entire day is devoted to the bookstore...and perhaps a donut break.

Sean's twin brother, Patrick, lives nearby, so he joined us at Powell's. The eight of us then went to Winco (another novelty to me... like across between a Safeway and a Costco!) to purchase ingredients for tacos. After a wonderful dinner (which was so much fun to cook because we all did it together! And also because of a peppering of "That's What She Said" jokes) we played two of my games: Boxers or Briefs and Partini. Then we played a game at Patrick's suggestion called "Pictionary in the Round", basically a visual version of telephone. We couldn't stop laughing at our bungled stories, and I don't think any of us will look at Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower the same way again :-)

Even after the Sullivans left and most of the house was asleep, I was still on a tremendous "people high"... that feeling I get when surrounded by great friends and/or when I make new ones, both of which were the case that evening. If I was a Sim, my "social bar" would be off-the-charts green.

Wow, this post is getting really long... I'll try to boil Sunday down to the essentials:

Tried Burgerville in Vancouver. The food was really great, especially the freshness of the fries. Not as good as In-And-Out, but then, nothing is.

Met Sean and KB for lunch at Gustav's, a German restaurant. Our waitress was not very nice, but we played more Pictionary in the Round and celebrated Sara and Margaret's upcoming birthdays with free dessert.

After saying goodbye to Sean and KB, the remaining five of us shopped at Trader Joe's... a place sorely missed in eastern Washington. We also window shopped at Whole Foods.

We finished our evening watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" at Cinetopia in Vancouver. My favorite feature was the machine that dispensed garlic butter to go with my white cheddar popcorn salt. Definitely some of the best popcorn I've ever had, anywhere. The movie was good, too.

Martin Luther King Day found us driving back home bright and early, stopping in Kennewick for breakfast at Denny's and a visit to the Rite Aid with extremely large center aisles. Paul has a picture of Margaret and I standing in the middle of it. It was fun and less out of the way than going to see the Biggest Ball of Yarn :-)