"And now please rise for our opening hymn, uhh, "In the Garden of Eden" by I. Ron Butterfly"
*actual quote from the episode "Bart Sells His Soul"
Simpsons creator and Portland native, Matt Groening named this character after Lovejoy Street, which was named after one of the founders of Portland.
(photo courtesy of jayselley's flickr; I don't know him but used his image from a search on "Lovejoy")
Of course, I had to look up what this dude looked like...
Behold, Asa Lovejoy
From wikipedia's entry on "Asa Lovejoy":
"Asa Lawrence Lovejoy (March 14, 1808 – September 10, 1882) was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of Oregon. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of Portland, Oregon...
He was an attorney in Boston, Massachusetts before traveling by land to Oregon; he was a legislator in the Provisional Government of Oregon, mayor of Oregon City, and a general during the Cayuse War that followed the Whitman massacre in 1847. He was also a candidate for Provisional Governor in 1847, before the Oregon Territory was founded, but lost that election.
Lovejoy continued his political career during territorial period as a member of both chambers of the Oregon Territorial Legislature; he served as the first Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives in 1849. He was also a delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention held in 1857 that paved the way for Oregon's entry into the Union. He was part owner of the Oregon Telegraph newspaper, and worked on railroad development in the Willamette Valley after leaving politics....
In his later years he was involved in a variety of business ventures in Oregon, including as a major shareholder in theOregon Telegraph newspaper and vice-president of theWillamette Steam Navigation Company...
Lovejoy Street in Northwest Portland and the Lovejoy Fountain inDowntown Portland are named in his honor."They forgot to mention Lovejoy Bakery which was our meeting destination!
This bakery was quite the happening place. Crowded everywhere but luckily we were able to find a seat off to the side. It smelled so good in here!
The Salted Caramel (dark) Chocolate Tart was calling my name...
More of their offerings:
We started off with a flaky chocolate croissant...
I could get a croissant like this for $1.00 at K Sandwiches. Seriously, this was pretty good, but overpriced in my opinion.
Here's our sandwiches...
This was Bert's Reuben -filled with cornedbeef and sauerkraut) with a side of coleslaw. He hadn't had a Reuben in a while and really enjoyed this version.
This looks like Ham and Cheese. This must have been TC's. She found the artisanal bread to be "too hard".
This must have been mine then. Gosh, it's hard to remember since this was way back in April of last year. I believe this was the Roast Turkey with avocado, bacon, mascarpone, and housemade cranberry chutney.
Like TC, I wasn't a fan of the bread; the crusty top made it difficult to eat gracefully. It was good bread though, don't get me wrong.
This photo was taken later...after we got back to our suite. My friend was gracious enough to drive us back so we wouldn't have to walk in the rain. She made a tempting offer to give us a car tour of the fancy neighborhood in the hills, but we already had plans to drive up to Washington state.
Before we headed out to Washington, we had a few bites of the Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart that my friend so generously gifted us with. In fact, she bought TWO!
O.M.G. This has it all! A buttery shortbread crust. A smooth salted caramel layer. Topped with a thick layer of dark chocolate ganache and a sprinkling of sea salt! Too bad they don't do mail orders for this! I've been tempted many times to ask my friend to mail me this tart!
Lovejoy Bakers
939 NW 10th Ave
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 208-3113
Lovejoybakers.com
Here's a cute and short video about Lovejoy's Ciabatta:
It was so nice seeing my friend again. Even though we didn't work at the same schools, she was always so helpful to me over the years whenever I had called her with questions. It was so cool hearing her stories of her work as an extra on "Leverage". Such a big change up from being a counselor! After our lunch here, she took us on a mini tour on the way to her condo...
After seeing that photo of that salted caramel tart again, I'm totally craving it. I'm going to have to learn how to make the damn thing so I can stop dreaming about it!
No comments:
Post a Comment