Salt & Straw

I have a few minutes while I wait for the bus to tell you all about my summer job!  Last weekish I accepted a position with Salt & Straw, a young but thriving Portland ice cream shop as a scooper at one of their suburban ice cream carts!

Salt & Straw started about four years ago with a food cart in northeast Portland and now has three shops here, one in LA, the Lake Oswego cart where I work, plus little stalls on a few of the corporate campuses and event centers in the area.  I don't know anything about profits, but the shops constantly have lines out the door!  The ice cream is incredible, and if you come visit we will go.  It's handmade here in Portland, uses Oregon ingredients or ingredients sourced by Oregon companies, has a 17% butterfat content (as high as you can go without being butter), and has all kinds of crazy flavors. My personal favorites are the olive oil and honey lavender flavors, but you really can't go wrong.  They also do monthly seasonal flavors where they get together with Portland chefs, schools, farmers, companies or whoever to come up with weird flavors (this month it's food cart inspired, so think poutine, kimchi, and Thai peanut butter sauce).

My job is just like it sounds - scoop ice cream and be crazy friendly.  Basically, it's like my other customer service jobs except no one has yelled at me!  There are only about seven of us working the cart, so I get quite a few hours and am getting to know my coworkers well.  It's really just a fun, chill way to spend my summer!

Hope you're having a great summer!

The Rose Festival and Other News

I'm mostly posting out of feeling of obligation to you, my adoring fans.  Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of exciting news to share!  

Emmitt and I have settled into our new home well.  We've both lost a little weight and are enjoying the Portland summer.  It's only rained one day since I've been here, and the ten day forecast doesn't show any change.  While it's been nice, there's a lot of concern about forest fires with the lack of rain and few scorching hot days we've had, so a little rain would be much appreciated!  

I'm still on the job hunt and hope to have something soon.  I've had a couple of interviews but no formal offers just yet, so I continue to apply anywhere I can.  I'm still praying the Segway tour guide position comes through, although I'm not getting my hopes up to high.

I did get out of my neighborhood last week and ventured to the Lloyd District on the northeast side of town.  During the month of June Portland celebrates the Portland Rose Festival to kick off the summer and spotlight the flora this area is so well known for, and I took the opportunity to visit the Annual Spring Rose Show held last weekend.  There were thousands of roses on display in every color, size, and variety you can imagine, and it was incredibly beautiful.  The plant life was part of what drew me to this region in the first place, so it was fun to see and smell all the roses the proud Oregon gardeners can grow.  I'll have more on this topic later in the month, but below are a few pictures to give you an idea!

Until next time!

Emmitt making himself at home

Selections from the Annual Spring Rose Show