Peat and Prose

Artisan Hot Chocolate for Every Taste

Jennifer Coughlin — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 17:16:32 +0000

It’s that time of year when we Portlanders need to look on the BRIGHT side, despite the gloom that is overtaking our skies. I’m as sad as the next person that fall is slowly succumbing to winter, but I know that with the cold comes a fabulous excuse to indulge in a warm treat—hot chocolate!

There are many reasons for loving this city, but let me add artisan hot chocolate to the list. Is that a real term? I don’t know. What I do know is that there are lots of people in Portland who have raised hot chocolate to an artform.

Whether you’re in the mood for a decadent chocolate indulgence, everyday hot cocoa or a vegan hot chocolate, you’re sure to find a favorite on this list.

To read this story in its entirety, please visit Neighborhood Notes.

Auld Lang Syne

Jennifer Coughlin — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:09:29 +0000

It was more than 20 years ago that I last haunted the halls (or smoked in the stairwells) of Raritan High School. Recently, a large portion of my class headed to the Jersey shore for a monumental reunion. Twenty years. How did that happen?

I’ve never been one of those people to lament the end of high school; never thought of them as my “glory days,” but I certainly didn’t hate it, either. I was looking forward to catching up, though since the dawning of Facebook, a lot of catching up has already taken place. I booked a flight, found a dress that hid what’s changed, and accentuated what’s held up alright, and headed east.

It turned out to be a lot less like catching up and simply more like picking up where we’d left off. Aside from the obvious physical changes (“Stop staring at my bald head!” one old friend yelled as I went in for a hug), the room that night was filled with a bunch of goofy 17 year-olds who happened to be walking around in bodies nearing middle age.

Snippets of personal stories since graduation emerged, but no one seemed very interested in talking about the things that make life hard sometimes, the trials we have all been through, how the ravages of time affected us. We just wanted to laugh, to dance, to be right there in that surreal moment where it could have just as easily been 1990, for the way we carried on.

For me, and I think for many in attendance, time has only made the memories of high school sweeter. Truly, we had no idea how good we had it. Young, fearless, not yet disillusioned by much of anything at all, we laughed heartily, we challenged ourselves mightily, we loved fiercely. Seeing the people with whom I shared those experiences brought back the intensity of it all – things I’d forgotten or had downplayed in my mind over time.

I returned home to the west coast tired, happy, and sad that it couldn’t have lasted just a little longer. Would I want to be 17 again? Not a chance. But sharing an evening with those with whom I knew before I had aches, responsibilities, wrinkles? I really hope we get to do that again. A twenty-fifth anyone?

Nine Years

Jennifer Coughlin — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:42:02 +0000

All of my animals are taking refuge from the heat. The chickens have scratched up the plants that separated them from the cool soil beneath and lay on their sides, each flapping dust through their exposed wing. The cat has roamed through the garden, running from the sun, all day. First beneath the butterfly bush, then amid the tall feathery love-in-a-mist, then beneath the cool cloak of the Cecil Bruner growing along the fence. He finally gave up and retired to the day bed on the porch.

It is 80 degrees. Sunny. A slight breeze. It is perfect. It was a day very much like this, nine years ago, that we lost Michele. It was just about this time – 3:30 in the afternoon – a sunny, glorious day that seemed to take no notice that she was slipping away. In the hospital, I had no knowledge of a change in the weather, but Charlotte, at home in Cream Ridge, said that about the same time Michele died a wind blew up and dark clouds rolled in. A violent storm ensued, banging the shutters against the house in angry protest. I had felt that same way – raging against the injustice – before that moment and for a very long time afterward. In the EXACT moment, though, I felt something else. A letting go. I knew I had to let her go. We told Marie, “Tell her to go to her father.” Marie said it, though it was undoubtedly the hardest thing she’s ever done, and then her only daughter passed away. She knew that we had finally realized that she was really only sticking around for our benefit. In that tired, ruined body. She must have been so relieved. Enough of this, she must have thought. I am so tired.

That moment and the frantic weeks that preceeded it (“What are her counts today? If we can get them to this, she might turn a corner.”) changed me. Defined my life. I could have gone through it – from birth til death – making half-assed decisions, taking the easy way out. I could have let myself be led around like a wobbly toddler. But because of that beautiful woman, that horrific struggle I witnessed, my life, with all of its twists and turns, is mine. I have done a lot more work to get it this way than I may have had it not been for that day.

I drove through a canyon once – its walls so high I could barely see the sun. It turned so much I could see only a few feet ahead. I was tiny, even in my pick up truck, in comparison. I felt swallowed by a giant. The calls of birds that echoed on the walls were laughter at my folly. Where I was heading, I really wasn’t sure. Just away – from home, the past, from the images of Michele dying that I tried to drive away by tapping my breast bone harder and harder and harder. But in that canyon I knew – being scared was good. It made sense to be scared. But not moving forward because of it was not an option. She was there in that canyon. She would be my guide.

Nine years. The bad memories have been pretty effectively filed away under TOO PAINFUL. They come when I let them, and I take as much as I can before I put them back. I spend much more time categorizing her parts, making sure I don’t forget. Her great voice, rich and throaty. Her infectious laugh. The expressiveness of her face – with her huge smile and perfect teeth, impossibly high cheek bones, beautiful almond shaped blue eyes. Her hilarious wit. Her bottomless compassion. Her ability to forgive.

I am no longer incredulous about the fact that the weather is almost unfailingly gorgeous every June 23rd. Why shouldn’t it be? The world is so lucky to have her, just as we were so lucky to have had her. But life does not go on unchanged now that she no longer walks among us. Everything is different because of her life and her death.

Man, do I miss you. Nine years, girl. Sweet, sweet girl.

Portland’s Cannabis Café Closes. NORML to Woodlawn Neighbors: ‘We Should Have Listened’

Jennifer Coughlin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:47:11 +0000

A quiet battle is being waged, virtually unknown to those outside of the medical marijuana community. After just six months in business, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law (NORML), closed the doors of its Cannabis Café on Northeast Dekum Street. Their quiet departure was a far cry from the uproar that accompanied the opening last fall, when members of the Woodlawn community expressed their concerns regarding the café. As reported by Neighborhood Notes, the community’s beef dealt much more with the business practices of Rumpspankers’ owners Eric and Shelley Solomon, than with the fact that the café would be serving medical marijuana.

To read this story in its entirety, please visit Neighborhood Notes.

City Repair’s Village Building Convergence: A Peek at Four Projects in Portland Neighborhoods

Jennifer Coughlin — Wed, 26 May 2010 17:41:16 +0000

Last year, I was introduced to City Repair and its Village Building Convergence (VBC). I fell in love immediately with both the organization and the event. City Repair has some lofty ideals—but they have the strength, ingenuity, and know-how to back them up. Their Village Building Convergence is pretty inspiring; with quiet guidance the VBC teaches groups and individuals to think and act like a community and how to create a sense of place. I took a closer look at four of this year’s VBC projects, and learned a bit about what motivates the people who’ve undertaken them.

To read this story in its entirety, please visit Neighborhood Notes.

Gluten-Free Cupcakes: Which Portland Bakeries Take the Cake?

Jennifer Coughlin — Sat, 22 May 2010 17:25:06 +0000

Whether you’ve gone gluten-free because of a sensitivity to wheat or because you suffer from Celiac’s Disease (like me), giving up gluten can be tough, especially when it comes to saying no to sweets. And when it comes to sweets there is nothing more droolworthy and hard to resist than a cupcake. Fortunately, there are many Portland bakeries that offer gluten-free (and, often, vegan) cupcakes. Whether you’re a fan of frosting, cake or both—you’ll be sweet on at least one of these six options.

To read this story in its entirety, please visit Neighborhood Notes.

Portland’s Passion For Peonies

Jennifer Coughlin — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:07:46 +0000

Portland boasts a long and fruitful growing season. Our wet, mild winters and warm summers create the perfect climate for a huge variety of plants and flowers, but few inspire as much passion as the beautiful and fragrant Peony. Peonies are one of the oldest cultivated flowers in the world, and Portlanders have embraced its form and fragrance in their gardens, in print, for consumption, and even on their skin. Here is a look at this magnificent flower, and how it is celebrated in the City of Roses.

To read about this story in its entirety, please visit Neighborhood Notes.

Woodlawn School Hopes to Find a Principal with Passion, Experience, and an Understanding of Diversity

Jennifer Coughlin — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:40:55 +0000

Woodlawn Elementary School, in the Northeast neighborhood of Woodlawn, is in the market for a new principal. The current principal, Lemil Speed, will finish this school year, but the process for finding his replacement is already underway. On Wednesday, April 28th, Cynthia Gilliam, Director of Administrative Hiring and Performance Management for Portland Public Schools, led a community meeting to discuss what parents, teachers, community members, and even kids wanted to see in a new principal.

To read this story in its entirety, please visit Neighborhood Notes.

Rise in Portland Sewing Studios Answers Growing Interest in Art and Business of Making Clothes

Jennifer Coughlin — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:14:30 +0000

Portland is the kind of city that embraces movements—big and little shifts that enrich our lives and connect us to new skills, to the past or future, and most of all, to each other. The newest such movement seems to be sewing—people of all walks of life coming together with machines and threads and really sharp scissors. They come for different reasons—to be more self-sufficient, to express their creativity, or to embark on a new career—but more and more Portlanders are seeking out a place where they can explore the art and business of making clothes. And sewing studios are popping up around town to answer their call.

To Read this story in its entirety, please visit Neighborhood Notes.

Downscale Dining in Portland: Good Eats that Taste Anything but Cheap

Jennifer Coughlin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:36:25 +0000

The downturned economy has Portlanders tightening their belts, and cutting out many luxuries. Local businesses large and small have had to make adjustments, and restaurants are no exception.

Portland is a city of food lovers, and our chefs and restaurateurs have worked hard during these lean times to bring us the quality food we expect at prices we can swallow. Many notable chefs have embraced the downscale dining trend by opening new restaurants that offer upscale food at affordable prices, and by offering neighborhood-centric companion restaurants to their higher end establishments.

The result? Good eats that taste anything but cheap.

To read this story in its entirety, please visit Neighborhood Notes.