Keep Portland Weird

You’ve got to love a city that worships weird, brews great beer and looks out for the environment.

Portland, Oregon is a unique patch of America where bacon topped maple bars and multiple choices flushes are the norm.

This is a city sporting backyard gardens with egg laying hens and blooming artichokes. Even Starbucks goes green in Portland keeping customers’ compost heaps caffeinated with free bags of used coffee grounds.

Gourmands rejoice, Portland is a food lovers Shangri-La. From accessible favorites like the cinnamon sugar elephant ear to local vines of Pinot Noir, the dedication to everything fresh and local is palatable.

Don’t get confused, just because Portland is the microbrew capitol of the U.S. with generous beer samplers gracing menu after menu and a reputation for gourmet streets carts, doesn’t mean residents sit around fat and happy. This is city with an active spirit that makes you want to jump on a bike to take in some green.

Read more about this fabulous wacky city from the people who live there.

http://foodcartsportland.com/

http://blog.traveloregon.com/

http://pdxguyinc.com/around-portland/

http://www.uniquely-portland-oregon.com/portland-oregon-blog.html

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Fill Up on Shantaram

Escaping to India after a prison break, Gregory David Roberts shares his true-life story thick with mafia dons, affable slums, and revenge. Like a spicy curry, the pages of this book transport you to steamy Bombay.

Shantaram is a whopping 933 pages, but details of roti breakfasts, black market medications and Bollywood movies make it a true page turner.

Spanning ten years, this book will make a speedy reader feel a bi-polar cocktail of emotions that range from pride to disgust. Though Roberts comes off arrogant, his honesty when sharing shame, fear and weakness is admirable.

Shantaram is the memoir of a recovering heroin addict on the run. It is full of violence, love, death and loyalty. By the end you will feel the weariness and wisdom gained from a trip abroad and have a taste for Indian food resting on your tongue.

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