I went away to visit a friend this weekend and I had a spectacular time. Aside from exploring new places, enjoying other cultures, sampling unique foods, et. al., traveling really makes me appreciate my adopted home of Portland.

Since Mike and I were really busy the week before I left we made a date to have dinner with each other when I flew back into town Sunday. It turned out to be a perfect summer evening spent with my favorite person and had all the little quirky earmarks that make Portland such a great place to live.

We live in Southeast Portland in the Richmond neighborhood, but everyone refers to our location within Richmond as the Hawthorne district. We live smack in the middle of two busy streets – Hawthorne and Division. There is no shortage of shops and restaurants and services available on Hawthorne, but over the last year Division has started to become our “go-to” street for dining, drinking, shopping, etc. Some really wonderful restaurants in particular have popped up a handful of blocks away. Last night we finally tried Wafu.

It. Was. Spectacular.

A while back our favorite restaurant was a place called Fin. Every bite of food that went into our mouths we analyzed and discussed like obnoxious little idiots, but it was THAT AMAZING. When Fin closed it was a dark day for us. But Fin’s chef, Trent Pierce, decided to open Wafu, and last night while we were crying tears of joy over the delicious food and feeling like we had our beloved Fin back, he informed us that he was actually opening another restaurant in the back room of Wafu that would be much like Fin. Sobs of joy. You can read more about it here. As much as I love to cook I’m considering never cooking again and eating only at Wafu and its back room.*

After dinner Mike and I walked through our neighborhood to the grocery store to buy some ice cream. While I was away a mass of strawberries ripened and we decided to serve them over some ice cream. We took our time and strolled through our neighborhood, admired the houses and beautiful plants and flowers, ogled the community garden, cut through the park, and generally enjoyed the charm of South East Portland. Here are some pictorial highlights. Sorry about the crappy photography. I’ll do something about that one day.

The Strawberry Haul

The “Ice Cream”

The whole shebang.

The walk through the park which includes a kickball game in progress.

This lovely outfielder paired her uniform with a tulle tutu.

On the walk home is the lending tree.

And some peaches I harvested too.

*by the way, Wafu – like Fin – is wonderful about making modifications for food allergies. Most of the menu can be made gluten free and they accommodate dairy free and garlic free when needed too.