![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.110pounds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/lunch8.jpg\" "\\"lunch\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nAll McMenamin’s are unique and kooky in their own way. The Blue Moon is in NW Portland (a yuppy area) where there’s high end boutiques, fancy restaurants, and no parking. \ud83d\ude42 But McMenamin’s is pretty low-key and down to earth. We sat by the fireplace to have lunch. It was nice and quiet, romantic and the fire smelled wonderful.<\/p>\n
Lunch<\/p><\/div>\n I’d had a nasty headache all day that would not go away. \ud83d\ude41 After lunch we went back to the house to take a nap. That didn’t help my headache, unfortunately, but I went out to the party anyways. Dinner with the girls was at Castagna Cafe<\/a> in SE Portland. I ordered a Vodka tonic.<\/p>\n Appetizer<\/p><\/div>\n For the entree, I ordered the pork cheeks braised in white wine and sage with carrots, pearl onions and polenta. It was absolutely delicious! The pork was so soft and it melted in my mouth. I didn’t need a knife to cut it, that’s how fantastic it was. I’d never had polenta in this form before, and it was surprisingly good too.<\/p>\n Dinner<\/p><\/div>\n Even though I was pretty full, I really wanted to get dessert. The rhubarb, strawberry and almond crisp with vanilla ice cream was calling to me. I hadn’t had rhubarb anything since I was a kid and it was just as sweet and crunchy as I remember!<\/p>\n Rhubarb Crisp<\/p><\/div>\n My friend Erika got the Cocoa nib panna cotta and I had a bite of that. It was like eating pudding.<\/p>\n Panna Cotta<\/p><\/div>\n She opened some presents:<\/p>\n Girl Stuff<\/p><\/div>\n And then we headed to the Slingshot Lounge to meet up with the boys. Michael and I played a few rounds of pool.<\/p>\n<\/a>Since it was pretty late and I was going out for dinner with the girls, I got a half curry tuna sandwich and a side salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. The sandwich was interesting…more curry and chutney than I was expecting!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>I nibbled on some bread and butter. And I ate one of the “arancini: fried risotto balls filled with fontina”. It was good!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>