Laurelhurst Theater (2735 E. Burnside)

Everytime I see one of my friends, he asks me what movies I have seen lately. He thinks that because I am a movie buff and have seen a lot of movies in the past, that I go to the cinema a couple of times a week. Well, it just isn't so, as much as I would like it to be. Time, as well as the price of movies keeps me out of the cinema on a super regular basis.

One movie that I have been eluding for a while is The Last King of Scotland. For the past couple of months, every time I see my friend, he says, "Have you done your action item yet?" My action item - to see The Last King of Scotland. I was waiting to be in a really up mood before I took on a serious drama.

The Laurelhurst Theater was showing The Last King of Scotland a couple of weeks ago and my roommate and I decided to brave the Ugandan coup and see what Forest Whitaker won so many awards for.

It's a $3 admission price for any movie at the Laurelhurst. The smell of cheese, fresh baked crust and pepperoni overcomes me every time I walk in the doors and it's almost as if I'm on auto pilot to go stand in the sometimes very long pizza line. The pizza is about $3-4 a slice, depending on what kind you get. They also have a wide variety of tea, soda and beer that you can order and a water cooler available to everyone at the end of the counter.

The artistic chalkboards over the entrances to the theaters tell you which movies are playing in which theater and reminds me of when we were kids and I used to have movie night for the family, with fake tickets, a fake marquee (made out of a chalkboard) and fake theater seats (folding chairs with pillows and blankets on them). However, these seats are probably more comfortable than the ones I made as a child. The Laurelhurst even has tables in front of the seats for the back half of each theater, so that you can eat your dinner while you watch the movie.

We got there too late for a table, but had plenty of room to stow our plates at our feet after we were done eating. I, for one, was glad I finished eating before the movie started, since it was pretty violent and gory and I might have had a bit of gag reflex problem had I tried to multi-task eating and watching The Last King of Scotland. Forest Whitaker deserved the awards he got. And Portland deserves an award for the most awesome movie theater concept around. Pizza. $3 movies. Dinner and a movie for $6, $12 if you are paying for your date. Bargain.

P.S. Don't forget your ID when you go to the Laurelhurst - it's strictly 21+.

Sweet Masterpieces (922 NW Davis St.)

My friend Roni introduced me to this place on NW Davis after happy hour at Jimmy Mak's. It was pretty much empty, but the display cases were filled with seemingly millions of chocolates. When we finally salivated our way over to the dessert case, we settled on the white chocolate carrot cake.

Now, white chocolate carrot cake is one of my favorites. I usually buy it from Zupan's, when they get a stash in from Joseph's. That is one divine cake.

But I have to say, that this white chocolate carrot cake was twice as good as Joseph's. It was so moist and chocolate-y and absolutely perfect. It was $8.00 for one piece. But I would say it was totally worth it.

I've heard a rumor that Sweet Masterpieces has divine drinking chocolate AND they are open until 11pm daily, which means that when you have a chocolate emergency towards the end of the day, you now have a source for chocolate first aid. Just in case.

Write Around Portland (917 SW Oak St.)

Write Around Portland gets my vote for the best non-profit in Portland. Of course I'm biased. When I first heard about them, from the mouth of my favorite author, I was excited that volunteering could include something as exciting and freeing as creative writing.

Write Around Portland provides free creative writing workshops, in a safe environment, to low-income, socially isolated individuals and others who would not ordinarily have the resources to participate in a writing workshop. At the end of the 10-week workshops, an anthology is published that includes writing from each one of the participants. It is sold in local bookstores around the city. When an anthology is published, Write Around Portland holds a public reading, where the participants read from their work.

Write Around Portland participants have gone on to win scholarships, publish magazine articles and poetry, and even facilitate other Write Around Portland workshops. This is a true marker of successful program.

I started volunteering back in 2003, tabling events, providing childcare at the workshops and then moving on to facilitate workshops for incarcerated women and survivors of domestic violence. I love this organization. It has changed my life in so many ways. The people I have met, the stories I have heard - all essential in creating the person that I want to become.

I am starting another workshop in a few weeks and am very excited to have another character-defining experience. If there is one organization in Portland that deserves your time and money, this is it. If you want to find out what Write Around Portland is all about, you should attend the upcoming reading:

Anthology Release & Reading May 24

Mark your calendar now for the release of our newest anthology, Called to Speak Stories, featuring spring workshop participants reading their works. Thursday, May 24th from 6:30 - 8:30 at the First Congregational Church at SW Park & Madison in downtown Portland.

The reading is free, ADA-accessible and everyone is welcome. Light snacks will be provided. We will be collecting donations of new journals for writers in our summer workshops, and anthologies will be available for purchase.

Write Around Portland's motto is: Respect. Writing. Community. Three things that everyone can do and participate in, no matter who you are. You are invited!

Bread and Ink Cafe (3610 SE Hawthorne Blvd)

A couple of weeks ago I went to Bread and Ink Cafe for breakfast. I had two giant whole wheat blueberry pancakes. They tasted like the whole wheat pancakes my mom used to make, with all whole wheat flour, not very sweet- but tangy, with buttermilk.

I went back with a friend this past Saturday and was immediately impressed with their special of the day: Monte Cristo French Toast. That is: Bolo bread, stuffed with ham and Gruyere cheese, soaked in spiced custard and grilled to perfection. Served with Rhubarb Red Onion Marmalade and fruit kabob. Of course that's what I ordered.

I also ordered a glass of grapefruit juice, which was perfectly fresh squeezed, no sugar or color added. Totally worth the $3.95 price.

The french toast was SO good, the cheese was just enough without being overpowering. It was grilled to perfection, exactly as their menu said. And the Rhubarb Red Onion Marmalade was the perfect complement.

I love this place. It's not too crowded, has excellent food and the walls are decorated with lovely prints like this:

I will definitely go back again to try out their other specials... and their regular menu items. Yum!

Jimmy Mak's (221 NW 10th Ave)

Happy hour with friends. Stephanie Schneiderman performing. At the same time. I know - stop! I am getting overwhelmed. It's not often cheap food, good company and good entertainment come together to make beautiful music. Wow that was cheesy.

Food was good. The menu said that their curly fries were the best in Portland. But I'm pretty sure that they're the same curly fries that I cooked when I worked in the grill on my college campus. They were good, just not outstanding. Pizza was good. Lemonade was a little bitter and not quite sweet enough.

Stephanie Schneiderman was great. She plays happy hour at Jimmy Mak's on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month. You should check out her music. Jimmy Mak's seems like a good place to be on the weekends. I'll have to go back to try dinner.

North 45 Pub (517 NW 21st Avenue)

Here's the thing: I was going to wait and post this later, but I am so excited about what I ate tonight that I simply cannot withhold my enthusiasm any longer. I am not a seafood person. I have just recently begun to eat prawns, crab, and tonight - mussels. I am so proud. I am 34 and yet my palette is not fully formed. I can still add appetite likes and dislikes to my brain. So cool.

North 45 Pub is a tiny place on NW 21st that has a casual feel. Maps line the walls - a perfect complement to the marble-ish tables and comfy booths. It's busy, but not overwhelmingly so. They specialize in mussels. Which I had never eaten before tonight. But they sounded so damn good that I could not hold back. This is what I ordered: Mussels with Chorizo sausage, tomatoes, toasted cumin, and garlic with chili-lime frites. I know. Delicious, huh?

It was surprisingly filling and the broth that the mussels were steamed in was especially tasty, with chunks of tomatoes and garlic. And the chili-lime frites were delicious as well. For every type of mussel they have, they have a matching type of frite. Here are some of the other choices of mussels:

PROVENCAL – Diced tomato concasse, garlic, fresh lemon, and herbs de Provence with sea salt herb frites

GREEN ONION CARDAMOM – Scallion, chive, toasted cardamom, and clam broth with old bay frites

COCONUT LEMONGRASS – Coconut milk, garlic, smashed lemongrass, ginger, and lime juice with curry frites

CRISPY PANCETTA AND ROASTED SHALLOTS – Cured pancetta ham, oven-roasted shallots, and garlic white wine butter with sea salt herb frites

LEMON PARSLEY CAPER – Fresh lemon juice, Italian parsley, toasted garlic, and crispy capers with old bay frites

STOUT – Stout beer, pan roasted garlic, fresh thyme, and bitter cocoa with sea salt herb frites

COGNAC CREAM – Toasted garlic, thyme, fresh cream, finished in butter and cognac with old bay frites

Can you imagine how many times you could go back and try something so completely different? And I'm just talking about the mussels, here - not even mentioning the portabello mushroom sandwich, the spinach salad or the fish and chips.

We sat and talked for a while - they played great music, loud enough to sing along, but still able to converse without shouting. Postal Service, Jack Johnson, Moby, Pink Martini and Silver Sun Pickups. I'm not sure if it was the mussels, the atmosphere or the music, but that was the most enjoyable dinner I've had in a long time.

Brazil Grill (1201 SW 12th Ave)

This year for my company's goals, we set a theme of The Amazing Race. For each goal that we accomplish each quarter, we get a certain number of miles to get to our quarterly destination. (I know what you are thinking and we thought of it before The Office did.) Our first destination was Rio de Janiero. Since we accomplished our first quarter goals, we planned a Brazilian party for our employees with music and Brazilian-ish food. This was my first encounter with Brazil Grill.

Their website says that they do catering. Perfect. I called to find out the specifics. A lunch. In Canby. For 80-90 people. Sample menu? No. You have to tell us what food you want. And it's going to be expensive, he said. At LEAST $28.95 a head, just as if you came to the restaurant. Well, could you give me some ideas of what kind of food you could serve? No. Look at our website or come in for dinner, then you tell us what you want. And we don't have people to come around with the meat like they do in the restaurant. It would be in serving dishes. Well I kind of expected that. After 10 minutes of going around with the "catering" (and I use that term loosely) person, who clearly was not into catering to his customer, I called it quits and told him thanks anyway. Thriftway did a great job for us.

My friend Tina's birthday was on Tuesday, May 1st and her choice of celebration was Brazil Grill. I was excited to see what the $28.95 flat price for dinner would get us. They open at five. We got there around 6:30. The salad bar looked good from afar, but as I got closer, saw that everything had been sitting out for a while - it all had that slightly darker film on top that comes from not being covered or stirred for at least several hours. I took some caesar salad and some black beans. The beans were actually pretty good.

The gregarious servers brought around rounds of meat - a lot at first. Bacon wrapped chicken, bacon wrapped filet mignon, ham, sausage, chicken hearts. Then after about 20 minutes, the so called unlimited meat stopped. Are you serving the mustard beef tonight? One of my friends asked of two different servers. Yes, they assured us, we'll send some right out. We never saw it.

The roasted pineapple was good. I asked the server what was on the pineapple. He said cinnamon and brown sugar and then told me that I couldn't prepare it at home, unless my oven got up to 750 degrees and unless I could continuously rotate the pineapple while it was cooking. Is that a dare?

I'm really not sure where the evening went. By the time we left, it was 9:30. The service was excruciatingly slow. It took 20-30 minutes for our desserts to come out. The waitress refilled our water glasses only a couple of times and never asked me if I wanted a refill on my soda. The restaurant was not that busy. Half full at most. But the waitresses and servers could not keep up a good standard of service.

The food was okay, but by the time we paid for dinner and a couple of desserts, it ended up being $38 a person, including tip. The food was not $40 food. I don't even know if it was $20 food. With service that bad and a crusty salad bar, I would estimate the value at being a $10 all you can eat buffet. Izzy's? Maybe just one step up from that. Old Country Buffet. Yes, I think that's a match.