A couple of weeks ago I was treated to lunch at West Café (http://westcafepdx.com/blog/about/ ). Located on the corner of SW 12^th & Jefferson, I’ve driven by countless times and now could kick myself for not stopping in sooner. The food is absolutely delicious and we loved the atmosphere, sophisticated but very comfortable. Quiet too!  1201 SW Jefferson, 503.227.8189
It might be too late to order the best pie in town for Thanksgiving but you might file this away for Christmas – Random Order’s Vanilla Salted
Caramel Apple Pie – unbelievable!!!  (http://www.randomordercoffee.com/ )   1800 NE Alberta  971.340.6995
A few years ago my dear friend Babs insisted we take a flower arranging class together (I have such a brown thumb – the Garden Club would not touch me with a 10 foot pole!). That was when I discovered Jennie Greene. Jennie has since moved from her tiny studio into a wonderful space at 708 SW Alder (not far from the Mercantile). Think about giving her a call for your Thanksgiving centerpiece – wait until you see what she does.  ( www.jenniegreenedesigns.com )   Artis+Greene    708 SW Alder, 503.957.9567
Every year over the long Thanksgiving weekend I purposely don’t go out shopping because I don’t want to buy into the big box store shopping frenzy. Check out Little Boxes PDX.  Portland businesses have gotten together to encourage us to shop local. Some of
my favorite stores are participating – Mabel & Zora, Woonwinkel, Modern Domestic, Frock  – I could go on and on. (http://www.littleboxespdx.com/littleboxstores.html

Finally – a few Real Estate tidbits. Last week two wonderful houses came on the market.  Check them out:

Stunning Mediterranean in Portland Heights – 1626 SW Elizabeth Street -  $865,000

(http://betsyrickles.com/listing/OR/Portland/1626-Sw-Elizabeth-St-97201/11217969?refer=map )
New construction in NW Portland – very green & energy efficient – great style  2830 NW Savier – $759,000

(http://betsyrickles.com/listing/OR/Portland/2830-Nw-Savier-St-97210/11217802?refer=map )

Watch out for my new Wednesday blog after the first of the year on my website www.betsyrickles.com.  Tamra and I will tell you about what we’ve seen on tour that week and highlight our favorite new listings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Betsy

I love Portland – despite our funky weather this summer there is no place I would rather be.  This is a great time to plan ahead for those rainy days that will soon be upon us – take care of your gutters and  your roof.

In last Thursday’s NY Times there is a timely article about assessing the health of your roof – (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/08/garden/fixing-the-roof-the-pragmatist.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=roofs&st=cse). “Most consumers don’t pay attention to the roof until there’s a problem…..but you should really look at it closely once a year.” The article continues with suggestions for doing your own visual inspection (with binoculars!).  If in fact you do note areas of concern, this is the time to call your friendly roofer. Let me know if you need any recommendations.

It has been a rather busy summer for my clients with purchases and sales of homes and part of the process inevitably involves a thorough home inspection.  I would like to suggest to any homeowner to think about having an inspection regardless of whether or not you intend to sell your home – issues that could become big problems down the road are brought to light.  Call me if you want to talk about why I think this is important – I will also share my list of preferred inspectors.

So on to the fun stuff!

36 Hours in Portland – even for home grown Portlanders it is fun to see what the NY Times recommends to visitors. Check out their recent recommendation from the Aug. 25^th Travel Section. Great suggestions – particularly the rails to trails cycling trip in Banks!(http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/travel/36-hours-in-portland-ore.html?scp=1&sq=36%20hours%20in%20Portland&st=cse)

Have I mentioned where to buy the best pie in town? Random Order Coffee House (http://www.randomordercoffee.com/), 1800 NE Alberta. Now you must know that I am married to the BEST pie baker in the city but even Norm agrees that the pies found at Random Order are
incredible. We’ve been known to stop by on a Friday night and actually take home 4 or 5 different pieces!! I’d like to say we enjoy them over the course of the weekend but they’re usually gone by Saturday afternoon.

There was a great write up on Cocette Bar & Bistro in the Oregonian. Cocette is one of about 4 restaurants on NE 30^th & Killingsworth that we frequent –the others are Autentica, DOC & Beast. Each of them is wonderful!

Cheers to a lovely Autumn!

Betsy