Eat Mobile: Portland's Food Cart Festival

2013 was our second year to experience Eat Mobile, Portland's annual food cart fest that brings together 50 of the city's best carts who give out some of their tastiest samples and compete for the coveted Carty Award. You pay for your admission bracelet weeks in advance (because the event sells out) and then all the samples are free. You only pay for alcoholic beverages or bottled water, though Vitamin Water is free, since they are a sponsor  of the event. Not only is this festival fun to go to because we love to eat, but it is also cheaper than going to a restaurant, you get to try a ton of different kinds of food and figure out where your favorite carts are located in the city. 

As you know, food carts are a great way to save money on dining out, both at home and when you travel. You can also learn more about the event here, in case you're interested in visiting Portland in late April next year to check it out. There are quite a few vegetarian carts and/or vegetarian options at regular carts. We are lucky not only to live in Portland with such a fantastic choice of food carts and food in general, but we are also a leader in vegetarian food in the city.

Eric started out hardcore with both chocolate mini cupcake and salted caramel ice cream  from Scoops. I wanted to enjoy my first pick: Thai ice tea ice cream. Yum! (I promise it was better than my face suggests.)

Spicy hummus and chickpea fries

I think this may be yet another salted caramel bite. Chocolate brownie with caramel drizzle and light salt flakes.

Look! I found Carlton Banks all grown up! Just kidding. This dude from Chez Dodo was a good sport, smiling for the camera while also dishing up inside out veggie samosas. Totally delicious.

Garcelon's Soup & Grilled Cheese was dishing up spicy crab chowder which made me want to rush home and learn to make chowder myself...or buy a whole bucket to take home and freeze.

Car2Go was handing out yummy cupcake poppers while folks were waiting in line for - wait for it - cupcakes! These dessert goodies below from Hungry Heart Cupcakes.

Here's a close up of one of their delicacies: chocolate maple bacon

There was a totally long line at a cart called Cheese and Crack (not a typo) which serves up locally made cheese, crackers, jam, meats and chocolate. The line was actually way shorter than you would expect after you tried their samples.

Worth it! While in line we traded off grabbing samples from other carts we pasted, included Hungry Heart, but also Kind Bar was giving away full-size bars and Moberi Smoothies had a very inventive cart where they used people-powered blenders to serve up smoothie shots to samplers.

My favorite waffle cart was at Eat Mobile. Gaufre Gourmet makes liege waffles with fun toppings. The ham and cheese waffle is so good. here they were serving something called the spicy goat, with salami and goat cheese, and also strawberry lemonade waffles that had a lemon glaze and topped with strawberry slices.

Another totally awesome part of Eat Mobile is that they are eco-conscious. Instead of giving out tiny utensils at each cart, they gave out these adorable Bambu sporks, it and everything that food was served in and on were compostable and the whole event was solar powered, including the demonstration kitchen/stage and DJ cranking out fun tunes to make the event that much more fun.

Do you frequent any food carts? If so, what do they specialize in?

Infographic: Monterey Bay Aquarium Joins CityPASS

Has anyone thought about planning a trip to the Bay Area this summer? If you have, yet another reason to go is to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They just joined the CityPASS program, giving you an even better deal on your San Francisco trip. If you aren't familiar with CityPASS, you can learn more about it from my review. Basically, you buy one card per traveler, skip the ticket lines and go straight to the entry gate at participating merchants. It saves you time, but because you are buying a multi-ticket card, it also saves you money. Your CityPASS is valid for 9 days from first use, which is a perfect amount of time if you are visiting a city for one or two weeks.

Your San Francisco CityPASS includes entry to the following attractions:

• California Academy of Sciences
• Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise
• If you'd rather visit Alcatraz instead of taking a Bay Cruise, you can do this by calling and purchasing your CityPASS PLUS directly. Click here for more info.
• Aquarium of the Bay OR Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Exploratorium OR De Young Museum
• + 7-day passport on MUNI transport and the famous San Francisco Cable Car

If this trip sounds like a great time to you, learn more about the Monterey Bay Aquarium below and click on the infographic to go straight to CityPASS and buy your PASSes today. You can also see some of the other cool things to do in the city with this 48 hours post.

Review: Bluff Works Travel Pants for Men

Packing isn’t always the easiest thing to do, especially when you are trying to get everything you need into a carry-on. Add into the mix a variety of activities on your trip and it can be hard to figure out how all the clothes you need to bring can mix and match. Well, for guys, Bluff Works has the item of clothing that can save you some serious space and help you pack more quickly and with less stress. They make travel pants great for work and play.

Women have their little black dress that can take them from sightseeing to fancy dinners and now men have Bluff Works that do the same thing. These great-looking pants are breathable, wrinkle resistant and have a flattering flat front. Eric was thrilled to try these pants out, because he loves a multi-purpose piece. He also almost exclusively wears dress pants, even when not going to work. He just isn’t a jeans guy, which is tough when he needs to do yard work or something equally physical. With this in mind, we picked a variety of situations to test these pants out in.

When the Bluff Works package arrived and I opened it, I was impressed that they came as you would pack them in your suitcase: rolled up. Next, we loved that they are made with breathable and lightweight polyester, but the weave makes it feel silky and look like linen. The pockets aren’t slash pockets like in many dress pants, so they don’t bulge out awkwardly, but fit flat against the body, even with a wallet and cell phone in them. The back pockets are also attractive and the backside of the pants have a flattering cut and don’t ride up too high or down too low, which means they also don’t sag!

As you can see, these pants look great with a dress shirt and also a polo shirt. They are going be the most amazing piece of clothing for travel, because they stretch enough to let the wearer have enough range to go hiking, biking or tromping through the forest, but also sharp enough to wear sightseeing, a business meeting or the theater. In fact, Eric wore them out to brunch, to the movies and then immediately came home and started digging in the dirt for a new raised bed he was putting in for me. After the whole day, they were still wrinkle-free, still smelled good and really looked as if he had just put them on.

What I liked most about this brand is that they say that they are so sturdy that you could wear them every day for a year and they won’t fray. Not only that, but if they don’t work out – for any reason – they will take them back. No questions asked. With a promise like that, how can you go wrong? With a man who is as hard on his clothes as mine is, that’s a pretty important feature in any purchase. And since they are quick drying and moisture-wicking, you can get by on vacation with just two pair and a variety of shirts, because they look good with just about everything. Now, if only they can make these in shorts, because we’d be adding those to our travel bag as well.

I love that Bluffs started with a dream of the ultimate pair of pants and it was achieved through hard work and a Kickstarter campaign. We’re so happy that Stefan Loble’s dream came true and he was able to bring us an amazing product that is going to be a fantastic addition to any man’s travel wardrobe. Look put together whether taking your girl out dancing or paddling around in a canoe. They are truly versatile and you’ll be glad you took a chance on them. You probably didn’t know that Stefan’s dream pants were yours, too!

Eric's size: Eric is 5' 10" and is wearing Khaki Bluffs in 42/30.

More information

Where you can buy them: BluffWorks online

Other colors they come in: brown, grey, dark grey

How much they cost: $80

Fabric: specially-woven polyester 

Follow Bluff Works: Facebook | Twitter

Disclaimer: We were provided with a pair of Bluffs for the purpose of this review, but all options are my own and Eric's.