Portland Street of Dreams

Portland Street of Dreams 

This summer I had the opportunity to attend the Street of Dreams here in Portland, Oregon.  When I tour the houses I'm always looking at the entertaining spaces.  My favorite part of the houses being the outdoor spaces. They are the WOW factor of these houses for me.   I get patio envy whenever I tour the Street of Dreams.  My backyard needs major work and although it will never look like the Street of Dreams backyards, I can get inspiration from them.  Come with me and get some serious patio envy too. 

While a pool to me would be too much upkeep I do love the look of this infinity pool. Come summer your house would be where all your friends would be hanging out.  You can find me in the hot tub relaxing after every one's left the party. 

Swoon!  Here's the funny thing, I don't like cooking. Never have. But every time I see an outdoor kitchen I just know I would be out there cooking all summer.  Our grill gets a lot of use in the summer and I dream of turning our grill into an outdoor kitchen.  If I ever learn masonry skills I'll build one.  Of course a pizza oven would be a must too like the one seen here.

Now this is something I would love.  A party house off the house!! Oh my gosh this would be perfect! A place to keep all the party supplies and you wouldn't have to worry so much about noise.  Our house only has a living room and dining room. No great room, no family room. So if my man's home while I'm throwing a party for my friends he goes to the bedroom. With this party house off the main house he wouldn't feel like he's being sent to his room. Ha ha!

I would live out here in this space whenever the weather was good here in Portland.  What a great entertaining space. Outdoor kitchen, dining, t.v. and a gas fireplace when the sun goes down and a chill is in the air.

If you have kids, dogs or even if you don't have either, your backyard would be THE party spot in the summer with this outdoor pool slide.

Feeling inspired to do a little work on your backyard/patio and make it party worthy?
I know I am.  Tell me about your outdoor space. I'd love to hear about it and how you entertain in your outdoor space.

Blinding Good Sandwich

I take a brown bag lunch to work and I was getting sick of lunch meat sandwiches. But what to take instead? When my summer issue of Celebrate magazine came in the mail, I had my answer.  Grilled Chicken Sandwiches with Spicy Cilantro Aioli.  They looked delicious and easy to make.  Off to the store I went to gather the ingredients I would need. 

The sandwich turned out to be just as delicious as the recipe sounded.  A few tweeks were made.  My husband sprinkled Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy Seasoning on all the chicken breasts and grilled them. This is not what the recipe called for but it made for an extra tasty spicy sandwich. Good call honey.

We enjoyed these sandwiches al fresco in our backyard.  The spicy cilantro aioli added a kick to these sandwiches that I enjoyed. Read all the way to the bottom to find out why these were blinding good. 

Just why were these sandwiches blindingly good ? In the aioli recipe it calls for a jalapeno pepper.  After  prepping the pepper I washed my hands thoroughly with soap and water.  I had an itch near my eye and AHHH, it burns IT BURNS!!! Run to the bathroom to try and wash it out. Nope, no way no how was my eye opening. It was clamped shut!  I finally got enough water in there to wash it out and took out the contact.  Scrubbed my hands, again, with soap and water and went to take out the other contact, AHHH, it burns IT BURNS!!!! rinse and repeat.  I found out the next day that jalapeno oil doesn't really wash off with soap and water. You need milk or a lemon OR if you're smart about it, you'll just wear a glove.