On the road again: Portland, day 1

I was up in the sixes after very few hours in bed, not the best way to return to work from vacation, but the way it worked out for me. 

Travel went reasonably smoothly, with an upgrade on the first flight and a quick Red Mango snack in DFW.  I spent every second I could working on email, trying to catch up.  (I'm still not caught up but am finally crashing after having been up over 21 hours.) 

After I hit the hotel, I went for a long walk to get some exercise and clear my tired head.  The long walk turned into a stroll of about four and a half miles, a nice treat. 

While walking, I stopped for a snack at the Kargi Gogo food truck, which features food from the country of Georgia. 

Click an image to see a larger version.

I ordered the Khinkali, which as the menu

explains are "juicy bundles of joy".  I opted for the meat-filled ones.

They were indeed juicy and also very tasty.  I look forward to trying more Georgian food.

After some hours of further email work, we headed to dinner at Andy Ricker's Thai noodle house, Sen Yai.  Wow, was its food delicious!  The Khai Mangkawn, or Dragon Egg, was basically a sort of Scotch egg, served in slices. 

Good on its own, it was even better dipped in the sauce that came with it. 

My main course was the Phat Sii Eew, a noodles and pork dish that was simply lovely.

I definitely recommend Sen Yai and look forward to returning there.

Though Sen Yai did offer some interesting desserts, we chose instead to walk across the street and down a few doors to a nearby Salt & Straw, a superb ice cream shop I've recommended many times before.  The evening's specials all involved Oregon berries of various types, and I sampled four of the five special flavors.  Each was delicious.

From there I returned to work, and then to blog, and now to crash.