Where was I ? What was I eating?

Well, I tried and tried to post and post while I was away, but all things got in my way. All things.

I was in Portland, Oregon from January 5th - 10th. My radio project, Neighborhood Public Radio, was visiting as part of the Ghosttown Festival up there. It was great fun and the people of Ghosttown and wider Portland are truly warm-hearted, generous, fun-loving people.

They're not much for snacking, however.

Well, not at first glance. Here now, I will provide a glimpse of my snack-a-licious adventures in Oregon.

On Thursday, we arrived to a gallery hosted by a Kris, Kim, Scott, and Noelle. They spoke of a fantasy cupcake shop, "just around the corner," in which I could get all varieties of cupcakes to satisfy my sweetest of teeth. Dear reader, let it be known, that I searched day and night for this mythic cupcake shop, and to no avail. After the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet died, Venerable Tibetan Monks from Lhasa ventured across the expansive land of Tibet to find clues leading them to His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. Suffice it to say, my journey for the Buddhadharma Cupcake Temple made these humble, saffron-robed Tibetan trekkers look like lazy chumps. I have come to believe that this Cupcake Temple may mirror the experience of satori; this land of immeasurable cupcakes may only exist in the mind, perhaps in only fleeting moments of deepest mental clarity and focus.

On Friday, Saturday, and Tuesday I ate lunch at the finest sandwich shop I've ever visited. Ford's on 5th makes high-quality, flavorful, savory steak sandwiches. I'm not a big fan of the Philly Cheese-Steak sandwich usually, mostly because they're so greasy and they make my stomach murky. The sandwiches at Ford's on 5th are made with Angus beef, fresh-from-the-market onions, and fresh baked bread. Not technically a snack, but now a deeply resonant part of my life (and by "deeply resonant" I mean "another-2-belly-inches").

I'll post again in the future about various convenience stores and their role in my depression. Portland's Plaid Pantry is a fine, well-stocked convenience store in which I found a new treat called Overload. Overload is a package of three peanut-butter-cups. Each one has a different psychotic candy topping: Butterfinger topping, M&M topping, and Nestle Crunch topping. I bought this candy and waited until I was at the airport to eat it. It wasn't very good, though the Butterfinger topping was the most interesting combination with the peanut-butter-cup. Unfortunately, the actual peanut-butter-cup wasn't as delicious as the Reese's brand, and had a kinda chalky aftertaste. Worst of all, when you take the package out of the bag, it just looks nasty (nastier than it sounds). I was quick to begin calling the candy "Overlord," in honor of the British codename for the June 6, 1944 Allied D-Day invasion of Normandy.