Our First Wedding Anniversary!

I feel like it was just yesterday that I walked down the aisle to my groom at the beautiful Sodo Park filled with our family and friends. I remember all my bridesmaids looking at me nervous and anxious, asking me if I was really as calm as I looked. And the truth is, I was. I was so excited to start our journey in life together! Having a partner that continually challenges me to grow, while always being kind and patient is something really special, and I can't wait to continue growing and see where this life takes us.

I had originally planning on making a nice little meal for us on our actual anniversary but we had got home a little late from our trip to Vancouver and didn't want to rush a special meal, so we decided to move it out a night. As Kirk put it, "extending our anniversary even longer". Silly boy.

Somehow we had managed to save a couple pieces of frangipane tart and raspberry brownies from our dessert bar at our wedding. At one point during last winter I saw Kirk snacking on a brownie and I was like "whaaaat are you doing!?!?!" -- he clearly had no idea that I had been saving them for this crazy tradition, so I guess we are lucky we had anything left over!

The original from our wedding!

A little rough, a year later

I made us a herb mix salad with some fresh peaches, goat cheese, and blueberry vinaigrette, King crab---one of Kirk's favorite things ever that we rarely get to indulge in, and a darling little chocolate cake with fresh strawberries & unsweetened coconut! We paired it with one of our favorite champagnes by Laetita!

The spread!

One year! :)

A tasty celebration to say the least!

This was just a quick little post but I will be posting about our Vancouver trip sometime this week - till then we just want to say thank you to our dear friends and family that have shown us so much love through our journey this past year! We love YOU!

Our Portland Pilgrimage

By: Kirk

Hold on to your butts people, it’s time for my (Kirk) first blog post on Savor the Sweet! Not sure how I was able to convince Whitney to let me cover such an awesome adventure, but I did, so here we go…

Hands down, one of the best events Whitney and I have ever attended is the Oregon Brewer’s Festival held in Portland. If you are unfamiliar with this glorious festival, let me break it down for you… Over 85 craft breweries, 3 days, riverfront lounging and a maze of tasty food trucks. Sound dumb? Well, I think you’re dumb.

This year was the 25^th annual Oregon Brewer’s Festival and we made the trek with a whole crew of friends. Here are some highlights…

Please excuse the quality of my mobile hipster Instagram photos...

Magical Goodie Bags of Sudstenance +2
(RPG joke for all the nerds out there).

Goodie bags make any adventure better. I bet Frodo Baggins would’ve been way more confident trekking off to Mt. Doom if he’d been equipped with one of Whitney’s precious, glittery breakfast goodie bags. Thankfully Whitney and Katie were kind enough to wake up extra early and quickly assemble these. Each treat bag was equipped with a Sage-Bacon Egg Sandwich, Chocolate Espresso Breakfast Cookies and an energy drink.

In addition to their food,
Pok Pok has some amazing and exotic cocktails.

For our first night in Portland we made reservations at the local favorite Pok Pok, a Thai restaurant from Andy Ricker, 2011’s James Beard winner for Best Chef Northwest. His food is strictly traditional, backed by his commitment to never serve Phad Thai. Our motley crew ordered everything from chicken wings to cat fish to pork belly to boar collar. Every dish was phenomenal and deeply flavored. Every dish was devoured. The combination of incredible food, cocktails and friends catapulted this meal atop my list of all-time favorites.

The original, famous Chicken Schnitzelwich.

    Did you know that Portland is Spanish for, The Land of a Thousand Food Trucks? Well, now you know. It’s incredibly easy to wander from any downtown hotel and stumble upon some amazing street style grub. While we were excited to finally score a sandwich from Schnitzelwitch, the show stealer was the pulled pork sandwich with tostones from a little Cuban food truck named "El Cubo de Cuba" … succulent, succulent meat. If you’re hoping to experience Food Truck Xanadu, we recommend going on a weekday. This will ensure a more robust variety of options since many trucks are closed on the weekend.

  

These are our beer-snob faces. We've been practicing.

Saturday was our official Brew Fest day. Our group drank the gambit from traditional Red Ales, IPAs and Pilsners, to more exotic beers like Peach Trippel Ale, Honey Basil Ale, and Raspberry Sour Ales. We did our best to stay responsible and spread this beer banquet out over the course of the day. If you love craft beer and hanging out in the sun, put the Oregon Brewer’s Festival on your bucket list.

Aw, look how beautiful she is whilst enjoying a Raspberry Crush Ale!

~ THE END ~