Deep fried chicken legs for the soul

The issues with the sporadic wi-fi signal continue and often the only way I can get a solid connection is by perching my netbook on my knees and typing very, very carefully. It's quite a trivial thing to complain about all things considered, so I'm just going to stop. Instead of complaining I'm going to use this next sentence to suggest you consider making a donation to the Red Cross' relief efforts in Chile, where there was a massive earthquake this weekend.

So, no more complaining. I have it pretty freaking good and despite a few minor bouts of homesickness I'm feeling increasingly settled back into my life here in Geneva. I haven't taken many pictures, nor have I gathered many stories to tell you except to say that I like this city, I like my job and I'm feeling pretty grateful.

I'm going to step into my time machine for a minute and whisk you back a month to February 1st when Sean and I travelled to Portland for some belated-birthday celebrations and a little mini-break. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that I love Portland here on this blog more than once. Let me say it again : I LOVE PORTLAND!

I love its neighborhoods, neon, restaurants, small arthouse theatre chains, Powells!, record stores and flexible street parking. I'm always at ease when I visit this city and I feel like I could settle down and make a life there. Fortunately Sean shares this sentiment and should a dream job ever appear there I would definitely consider the move. Until then (if ever) I will just keep visiting and lapping it up.

We ate at some of our favourite places, The Original Pancake House and Cha Cha Cha Taqueria. We also ate huge deli sandwiches with Sailor at Kenny & Zuke's.

And we were introduced to Miss Delta by our friend Torrence, who went from being awesome to being super awesome for suggesting southern food for dinner.

Yum! I especially enjoyed the macaroni and cheese. We drank Old Fashioneds with our meals and they were a pleasant accompaniment indeed. We visited Powells locations around the city, making purchases that were necessary and probably not so necessary.

While record shopping in the Hawthorne area we were tipped off to an in-store by Pierced Arrows to celebrate the launch of their new album. I haven't listened to them much, but Sean is a big fan of that band and its many incarnations so we hopped in the car and went to check them out. The sight-lines weren't the best, but it was unexpected and fun. We also managed to pick up some records while we were there.

I'm so glad that we had a chance to visit Portland together before I had to head back to Geneva. It was a fun trip and a good excuse to relax and have fun just me and Sean. I'm looking forward to getting back there again at some point in the future---who knows when---and eating some of that macaroni!