What We Ate

Country House, Toledo, Washington: “I want to stop at the EAT, you know the one? Plus, for ages, I have wanted to take a picture of that dilapidated ice cream cone thing. You know?”

If you drive up and down I5 in Washington, you know exactly the place I mean. Well, blinded by hunger, we couldn’t figure out how to get to the EAT, plus, tragically, the ice cream cone is gone. We did stop at Country House, though, where I had Breakfast All Day and J had the meatloaf sandwich. Wow, that was some brown food on his plate. Yikes. We’re not rushing back there, but we do know how to get to the EAT now. That’s all that matters.

Total for two, with coffee : 20.46

Cafe Marche, Eugene, Oregon: Our goal was to go to somewhere called Off the Waffle, but sadly, that place is closed from 1-8pm, causing us all to wonder what the waffle guys do during the key snacking hours. Instead, we had coffee and cookies at Cafe Marche in 5th Street Market. Yeah, it was fine. It wasn’t what we were hoping for.

Coffee, tea, two cookies: 8.25

Country Grains, Wilsonville, Oregon: We have to stop in Wilsonville all the time because there’s a Fry’s Electronics there and hello, no sales tax! I had been scouring retail establishments for a Wii (what, I can’t want a Wii?) to no avail, so there we were, yet again, at Fry’s for that and a hard drive, of course. But that morning, I’d checked the web for lunch options and found Country Grains. The place was hopping and here’s why: They make a damn fine sandwich. J conceded that it might have been the best tuna melt he’d ever had and our companions were beyond satisfied with the Reuben. I’m grateful to find good eats at this stop on the freeway — now there’s another incentive beyond cheap computer parts. Yum.

Tuna melt, big enough for two: 6.95 FYI, a half sandwich is only a buck less. Get the whole, bring a friend and share.

Papa Haydn, Portland Oregon: Regular readers will know that we are serious about cake, no, I mean REALLY serious. So we were keen to experience the offerings at Papa Haydn, a fancy pants cake place in Portland. We were four, we ordered four different types of cake. I was vanquished by the huge portions — at 8 bucks a slice it’s not cheap but the it’s really enough for two on the plate. Thing is, we had to sample lots of different things. It’s the first time I’ve taken my dessert to go. J found the baking a little too heavy on the butter fat. I liked the complicated combination but really, that’s just too much cake. Baroque as hell, gorgeous, kind of expensive desserts? Yes please.

Cake and coffee for four: 44.25

The car had to eat too. Fuel for the 300 mile drive to Eugene and back: ~60.00.  A bargain at the per passenger rate since we were four on the Portland>Eugene leg.