#7 A Return to the Status Quo
An urban summer in my hometown of Portland and how I'm feeling about my return to the suburbs
Bored in the Suburbs is a weekly newsletter sharing topical recipes, home design moments, and recommendations for curing boredom.
Rather than my usual recipe-testing in the suburbs, this issue (after two months away from the suburbs) will pay homage to the best things I ate in Israel, France, and Portland, while traveling, and the inspired salads I made when I got home.
Grilled Lebanese Bread with Pureed Tomato, Herb Sauce, Sour Cream and Honey: We consumed so many beautiful and delicious new-to-us foods while in Israel but this was one of my favorite items. We stayed in Jaffa, the old Arab quarter of Tel Aviv and walked through the lovely flea market area, lined with wine bars, designer boutiques and inventive restaurants. We stopped at Puaa, honestly because it was cute, we knew nothing about it. The waiter advised us to order a sweet, grilled Lebanese bread served with dips I would never think to eat with bread. It was truly divine and I’ve been dreaming of it ever since. I have no idea how to make this bread and all my Google searches for Lebanese bread result in photos of flatbread but at least I have some new dip ideas.
Tart Frozen Yogurt with Cherries, Honey, Kiwis, and Crunchy Almond Chocolate Sauce: Just off Rothschild Blvd is an adorable frozen yogurt shop called Anita with the best selection of fresh toppings I have ever seen. This was the perfect afternoon treat in the dusty, sweltering heat of Tel Aviv and I began thinking of fun dessert ideas for our next dinner party - crunchy almond chocolate sauce on ice cream, anyone?!
Mezze at Old Man in the Sea: This is a well-known, touristy spot that I probably wouldn’t return to but the Mezze is legendary so we had to try it. Upon sitting down, they bring you plate after plate of hummus, baba ghanoush, falafel, chickpea salad, various flavored tahinis, pickled vegetables, and more. I loved the little salads and inhaled as much hummus and eggplant dips as possible but was stuffed when the entrees came.
Trout and Labneh with Fresh Herbs: In France, we ate so many delicious things but this might have been my favorite - a light, whipped labneh with cured trout and an artful smattering of sesame seeds, herbs, citrus and oils.
Israeli-Inspired Salads in Portland: I flew directly back to Portland and stayed for over a month (I would have stayed longer if my husband did not need to come back to DC for work) and immediately got to work creating some of the salads we had eaten in Israel and France. I used Ottolenghi recipes to ensure accurate ingredients and spices. Pictured above (and all highly recommended): Grilled bread, fig arugula salad, tomatoes with sumac onions and pine nuts, baby gems with burnt aubergine, smashed cucumber and shatta. A note on Ottolenghi recipes: Many of his recipes call for obscure ingredients. Rather than running to the Middle Eastern grocery store, I usually google a substitute and use that (i.e., for shatta I used harissa).
The shopping in Tel Aviv was fun with many independent, affordable designer shops and home goods stores. I found several unique ceramicists and ended up with two similar, but slightly different cups for tea and coffee that I have been using on repeat since I came home.
As soon as we moved to the DC suburbs, I began lamenting to my partner that we needed to spend our summers in Portland, where the dry, sun-drenched days offer unlimited activities compared to the thicker, wetter and oppressive DC summers spent fighting mosquitos. It took a few years but after a particularly horrible summer of consistent thunderstorms and relentless bug bites in 2022, he agreed. He flew out to Portland with the dog and I met them en route back from Europe. We settled in at my parents home, then moved to a friends to house sit for two weeks and play house in a beautiful English Tudor in the neighborhood I grew up in. It’s no secret to my readers that I am pining for a move to the west coast but I’m not sure we realized how different our lives are when in Portland. It certainly got me thinking more seriously about the move, and how soon we want to make that happen. Below are some observations on urban Portland life vs. quiet, suburban Virginia and who does what better… in my opinion.
Urban walking and biking: Portland. Portland is a biker’s dream as my husband will tell you. He spent much of the summer biking along the Columbia and Willamette rivers, exploring diverse terrains and elevations, and coasting down endless biker-friendly city streets with friends, getting in over 200 miles of biking, which far exceeds his mileage when he is in Virginia. This primarily has to do with access. In Portland, Ryan can begin biking as soon as he leaves our front door and immediately be on a road that is safe and picturesque. In Virginia, we are surrounded by busy roads with few biker lanes and have to drive to a trail for safer riding, which is fairly monotonous in elevation and terrain. `
Early mornings: DC Suburbs. This is more a function of our work schedules and that we work for east cost companies but my mornings are much better when I’m in DC. I can wake up for 6 or 7 AM workout classes, make a coffee, journal, complete some to-dos and leisurely make my way to my desk at 9 AM, feeling far more prepared for the day. In Portland, I am always chasing the work day from the moment I get up, setting my alarm for 5:45 to get started on 6 AM calls (which is really 9 AM for all my colleagues). I barely have a chance to make a coffee, sometimes I was even starting calls without a coffee (!!) and will muddle through the first few hours before finally getting a chance to put something in my stomach.
Social activities: Portland. I don’t really know what happened to my social life in DC, but when we came out of COVID, things were different. Before the pandemic, we always had weekend plans and I regularly met girlfriends for happy hour. After the pandemic when things started to open up, I felt a new kind of introversion I hadn’t known before. Social gatherings exhausted me. Many of our friends had started having children and were no longer readily available. The group we had often gotten together with for larger functions had dispersed. Then we moved to the suburbs and I was even less inclined to seek out social gatherings, having decided that it was just too much work. I certainly have a few good friends here but when I look at my calendar in DC, almost every evening and weekend is open. In contrast, spending a summer in Portland translated to evening plans almost every night with my best friends and their partners - meeting up for casual golf matches, grabbing beers, hosting a pizza party, going to a baseball game, or hanging out with family friends at their pool. While I was semi-exhausted during our Portland haul, I loved the stimulation and felt like we took full advantage of summer while there.
Safety: DC Suburbs. I kind of hate to put this one here and it’s not something I actively think about, but where I live in Virginia has very low crime. We live in a neighborhood that is almost hidden off the main road and our house is situated in a cul-de-sac that you might not be able to find if you didn’t know it was there. It’s incredibly rare to hear of a burglary or car break-in. In Portland, we are instructed to set the alarm every time we leave the house. My parents have a secure process for locking the doors, gates, and garage so that an intruder would need to pass through three entrances before actually being in their home. Their neighborhood is right in the middle of the city and is often a target, and that’s just the reality of being in an urban area.
Access to Outdoors and Environmental Beauty: Portland. I mean… DC is a concrete jungle and I knew that when I moved here. I have always loved the energy of DC but when I arrived from the Bay Area, I quickly realized I missed the access to beautiful Golden Gate Park, Napa, the Presidio, and all the other breathtaking beauties of San Francisco. I have also come to realize that that access is really important to me and offers endless weekend activities. The Mid-Atlantic region is just different. It’s very green with lower elevation and some coastal access, but real outdoor options are primarily concentrated in Shenandoah, which is an hour and a half away, compared with several minutes away in west coast cities.
Community: Portland. This is in many ways an unfair comparison to DC and the suburban neighborhood we have lived in for only two years. Community takes years to build and I have deep roots on the west coast and in my hometown. Nevertheless, at the age of 34, I feel at ease, at home, and surrounded by support when I am in Portland, in a way that I haven’t yet been able to recreate in DC. Maybe if I were to stay here for 10 years I would forge my own path, moving back into a more urban area, and investing time in seeking out friend groups or pursuing deeper relationships with acquaintances. All of those things are definitely possible but I haven’t found them yet.