Portland

Parking at PDX

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So I have a bone to pick. Each time I come back from a trip and park at the Portland Airport, I get frustrated. Here is my recent dilemma:

I parked on Saturday, March 15 at 9:15 am and returned to pick up my car on March 17, at 11:46 am. This would be a total of 26.5 hours. I was charged $30, or $10 a day. Standard Parking (the vendor for parking for the Economy Lot at the Portland Airport) states on their website that it is $10 a day. However as you leave the lot there is a sign that states rates by the hour, yet their website does not state their hourly rate. Other websites show that the Economy Lot (where we park) is $3 an hour. If I was there 2 days + an extra 2 hours then my fee for parking should be $26 not $30. Now let me tell you I am not complaining about $4, I am wanting to paint a picture of what $4 adds up to if you think of all the spaces in just the Economy Lot.

If there are 7900 parking spaces in the Economy lot, and they each stayed the exact amount of time I stayed, that would be an extra $4 they are charging for each car. 7900 times $4 equals $31,600 a day. That is a TON of money. My gut says that the parking company is hoping that folks are not thinking about the small overage they are charging to each customer. Over time $31,600 a day, equals $211,200 a week or an extra $11,502,400 in profits for a parking lot company. Now that is a gross generalization because not all spots are going to rollover like that, and not all of them are going to be under their daily amount. However it does feel like they are stealing from each of us.

The last time we had a stay and this same situation happened, we sent an email to Standard Parking and got an unhelpful response. What frustrates me further is there is no signage that says that after x # of hours, you will be charged for the full day rate. What is this world coming to if companies can sift, bleed, and steal from customers? It just feels wrong to me.

I am curious what you think.

High heels, sore feet, and kids with books

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On Friday, we had the opportunity to go to the “2014 SMART Gala: Dinner, Auction and ‘Make a Difference’ Paddle Raise.” There were a few reasons I was interested in going. One, we never dress up. Last October, Chris purchased his first suit ever in the decade + we have been married, and I purchased a sassy dress, and gulp: high heels. I am not a high heel kind of woman. I think there was a time in my life when I might have gone down that yellow brick road, but that time has long passed. I can manage in high heels for a few hours, but the end of that night means a foot massage is due. I seriously do not know how Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda did it for so many years, especially in New York City. My own experience concludes that a city block in New York is much longer than a city block in Portland.

I digress. The dressing-up part was fun, and I was hoping to end up with some glamorous photos of me and my better half, but the lighting sucked. So here is a so/so photo. So back to the Gala. The second reason I was interested in going is the charity event itself. SMART stands for Start Making A Reader Today, here is an excerpt from their website:

“One child at a time. One volunteer at a time. One book at a time. Since 1992, SMART has been pairing caring, adult volunteers with children in need of reading support and books to take home and keep. SMART volunteers read one-on-one with students weekly during the school year, modeling a love of reading and building children’s reading skills and self-confidence in a positive, child-driven environment.”

The event included a silent auction, raffle, and live auction, and at the end of the night they had estimated that we raised over $400,000! I was impressed with the span of ages, and the amount of money that was dropped in the name of literacy. One couple gave $25,000 and offered to match another $25,000 if enough folks contributed during that auction — and they did. Timber Joey (the Portland Timbers mascot) was in attendance, and was part of the live auction. The prize? Timber Joey and one of the players would come and read at the school of your choice.

Such fun. I am grateful for all the individuals that donated money to support children, books, and reading. A cause near and dear to my heart.

Cheap White Napkins?

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Over the weekend we had dinner with friends at a local restaurant. As I put my napkin on my lap, I looked down and thought gratefully that they had nice, soft, brown cloth napkins. I know, a strange thing to be grateful for at a restaurant. It is something that bothers me though. My pet peeve: going to a nice restaurant where they have white cloth napkins, enjoying your dinner, and then you walk out of the restaurant with remnants of napkins on your jeans or black pants. Ugh. What would I prefer? A white napkin that stays intact, or a black or brown cloth napkins that do not leave white particles on you. Heck, I have been to some nice restaurants that still give you paper napkins. I would take a paper napkin to the white remnant type.

The white napkins pill onto your clothing, and leaves the diner thinking “cheap.” Why do I care? I have had to take a lint roller to my pants, even after washing and drying to get the remainder of said restaurant off my pants. There are times that you are going out to dinner, and then have plans afterwards and you do not want to show the world the restaurant dandruff left behind on your bottom half. After some Internet searching I found it was a common theme on food discussion forums (for example: Chowhound.com, Foodmayheim.com). Many individuals shared how a nice restaurant would notice that you are wearing dark pants and ask if you would like a dark napkin. So, why not just offer them to all guests? Maybe I will be completely annoying and start asking for a dark napkin when I find I have been given a piling white one. Ah, they will love me (ha!).

I know, these are first world problems, but the thought crossed my mind, and sometimes it is the little things that make us smile, or make us feel appreciated. This last weekend, that little thing was a soft, brown napkin on my lap, a great dinner (inclusive of french fries), good friends, great conversation, smiles and laughter. No cranky Tami with white napkin dandruff left behind.

A little baby goodness and some damn good strata

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This past weekend my sister came to visit for her last trip before she has a sweet baby girl. We had a baby shower with my sister’s friends that live in my local area. It was a fun time. I always enjoy a group of women who get together and bond, even if 75% of the conversation is about babies. Even so women can be very sassy!

My sister is gluten-free. When the mom-to-be does not eat gluten, you make sure you have food just for her. For each item I had a gluten-free option. Cupcakes, scones, macaroons, and Eggs Benedict strata. What I want to tell you about is the Eggs Benedict strata. We took this recipe from the Taste and Tell blog, and made one pan that was exact to this recipe + red peppers. We then went to a local market and purchased gluten-free English muffins and substituted them for the regular english muffins to make a gluten-free option. Um. It. was. damn. good.

My apologies as I was caught up in the moment and never took a photo of the strata so you will have to go to the Taste and Tell blog to see their version (it looks exactly like it turns out). This is the perfect dish that you can prep and make the night before, and then bake just before your guests arrive. I am actually a bit excited for the next time we make it. I could not have enough. I even liked the gluten-free version!

For those of you that hate to make poached eggs, this might be the perfect brunch option to make at home. The hollandaise sauce is superb, and just the right added touch to this dish (it better be with all the butter it contains). I definitely suggest adding the red peppers. It gave it just the extra bite that was needed. Enjoy this quick and amazing recipe:

EGGS BENEDICT STRATA
  • 6 whole English muffins
  • 6 oz Canadian-style bacon, chopped
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups milk
  • salt and pepper
HOLLANDAISE SAUCE
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • dash of hot sauce
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted and very hot

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Spray an 8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Cut the English muffins into 1-inch cubes. Place half of the cubes in the prepared baking dish, then sprinkle with half of the Canadian bacon. Top with the remaining English muffin cubes and then the remaining Canadian bacon.
  2. Whisk together the eggs and the milk. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the top of the bread. Use your hands to press down the bread to make sure that it has all been soaked with the mixture. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350F. Remove the strata from the oven and let it sit on the counter while the oven comes up to temperature. Bake, uncovered, until puffed and golden and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.
  4. When the strata is almost finished baking, prepare the hollandaise sauce. Place the egg yolks, Dijon, lemon juice and hot sauce in a blender. Blend for several seconds. Very slowly, stream the hot butter into the sauce, keeping the blender on the entire time. Blend until the sauce is thick.
  5. Serve the strata warm with the hollandaise poured over the top.