That Portland Life

Portland Lifestyle and Real Estate

Contact Us!

Portland's Best

Portland’s Best Donuts 2.0

by Leave a Comment

Portland is known for so many exciting things. One of those things is donuts. Usually the first question I get when someone asks where I am from is, “Have you been  to “blank” donut shop?” Honestly I have been to many Portland donuts shops and not all of them live up to the hype they have been given. About a year ago we searched Portland for our favorite donuts at that time, but as we all know so much changes in a year! This week we decided to set out to find where Portland’s great donuts are now. In no particular order here are our Portland’s best donuts 2.0.

Doe Donuts

4110 NE Sandy Blvd Portland, OR 97232
Monday – Thursday 8am – 4pm Friday – Saturday 7am – 8pm

Our favorites: Salted Vanilla bean, Muddy Buddy (seasonal)
Menu Here

NOLA Doughnuts

110 NW 10th Ave Portland, OR 97209
Thursday – Sunday 8am – 3pm
They also offer laminated doughnuts. Think half croissant half donut!

Our favorites: Lemon poppyseed, Mini beignets
Menu Here

Coco Donuts

Several Portland locations
709 SW 17th Ave Portland, OR 97205
Monday – Saturday 7am – 2pm

Our favorites: Lavender raised, Mochi blueberry crumb
Menu Here

Delicious Donuts

12 SE Grand Ave Portland, OR 97214
Mon – Sat 5am – 1pm
You can customize your own with 24 Hrs notice

Our Favorites: Chocolate peanut, Cinnamon roll
Menu Here

Annie’s Donuts

3449 NE 72nd Ave, Portland, OR, 97213
Tue – Thurs 7am – 1pm & 6pm – 10pm,  Fri 5am – 1pm & 6pm – 10pm Sat – Sun 7am – 1pm

Our favorites: Cream cheese flips, Raspberry fritter

Pips Original Doughnuts

4759 NE Fremont St, Portland OR 97213
Thurs – Mon 8am – 2pm
They give our free donuts on your birthday

Our favorites: Candied bacon maple, cinnamon sugar

Donuts don’t have to be only a guilty pleasure. Start one of your mornings off right this week and grab a donut or 12. As you may have noticed, there is a wide variety of flavors out there to try. Some of these shops even offer savory donuts. If you didn’t see your favorite shop on our Portland’s Best Donuts 2.0 list please leave it down in the comments and we will try to check them out. We also have other great Hot Spots Here

Portland’s Best Florists

by Leave a Comment

Valentine’s Day is coming up! I love this holiday because it gives me an extra reason to celebrate my loved ones. I try and start each day with a thankful heart. And my heart is exploding with love for this amazing community, and all our local vendors. Whether you celebrate the holiday or not a good florist is always a nice thing to have. Sometimes it is nice just to surprise someone with flowers. Especially these days! This week we searched the city to find some of Portland’s best florists. In no particular order, here are a couple that we loved!

Solabee Flowers and Botanicals

801 N Killingsworth St, Portland OR 97217
Open Monday – Saturday 10 am – 4 pm
Pickup or delivery available
Website Here

Botanica Floral Design

3318 Ne Wasco St, Portland OR 97232
Open Monday – Friday 9 am – 5 pm
Saturday 9 am – 4 pm
Pickup available
Website Here

Old Town Florist

old town florist

404 NW 10th Ave LL1, Portland OR 97209
Open Monday – Friday 8 am – 5 pm
Pickup or delivery available
Website Here

Sellwood Flower Company

8215 SE 13th Ave suite A, Portland OR 97202
Open Monday – Saturday 8:30 am – 5:30 pm
Pickup or delivery available
Website Here

Goose Hollow Flowers

1219 SW 19th Ave, Portland, OR 97205
Open Monday – Friday 9 am – 5:30 pm
Saturday 10 am – 2 pm
Pickup and delivery available
Website Here

Starflower

3564 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR 97214
Open 7 days a week 11 am – 6 pm
Pickup or delivery available
Website Here

Are you ready to pick out your perfect bouquet yet? If flowers aren’t quite what you’re looking for we have a lot of other suggestions around town for you. Just go Here and you might find that something special that you’ve been looking for. If you have any favorite places that we missed please leave us a comment and we will try to add them to our list.

Kann

by 2 Comments

This week we are featuring a truly unique hot spot experience with Kann Winter Kitchen. This winter, American Express and Resy teamed up with some amazing chefs around the nation to create pop-up restaurants located in yurt clusters. Luckily, we got one in Portland and the chosen chef was none other than Gregory Gourdet, who created a memorable and transporting menu of traditional and creative takes on Haitian cuisine.

The Yurts

Kann Winter Village is the perfect description for what we walked into. The cluster of quaint and cozy yurts, complete with pine boughs and twinkly lights, delighted us immediately. The yurts are heated and outfitted with spare utensils, plus a lazy Susan so that the wonderful staff can safely deliver your food while remaining properly distanced.

The Food

Our first course of the evening was a Ripe Plantain and Squash salad. Full disclosure, I thought this sounded like the least exciting part of the menu. I was SO wrong. I have no idea what the chefs did to make that squash easily the most tender and delicious I have ever tasted, but I certainly want to. There were also wilted greens that were outstanding, bright pops of tart pomegranate, and plantains two ways. I think of salads as being often mundane, but this was a fully conceptualized and balanced vegetable side, and I adored every bite.

Our second course there was a split. For the omnivore menu, a Twice-Cooked Pork Belly and for the pescatarians, a shrimp Creole. Both were delicious, but the tender, crispy, rich, and spicy pork belly had our hearts. Third course was the Soup Joumou, which had a bone-in chicken drumstick for the omnis that was absent in the pescatarian. This soup was incredibly hearty, and could have acted as a filling meal in itself.

As an extra treat to ourselves we did add on the 1/2 Peking duck, which arrived next. We were already starting to feel quite full at this point, so we just had a little taste and took the rest home for an epic leftovers feast the following day. What a taste it was! The duck was meltingly tender and the sauce was highly spiced and complex. It was served with plantain crepes, Haitian cornmeal, and spicy pikliz. Again, I could have eaten an entire meal of just this and been pleased as punch.

Next, we had another division. Braised Beef Short Ribs with Habanero and Thyme for the omnivores and an Epis Marinated Sea Bass for the pescatarians. Once more, while both were lovely dishes, I have to side with the omnivores on this one. I LOVE short ribs and would say I may eat them more regularly than most. These were some of the best I have ever enjoyed. And mind you, at this point I was stuffed, and yet I could not resist eating a slightly excessive amount of these delectable creations.

Finally, somewhat bursting at the seams, we enjoyed dessert. A lovely Upside Down Banana Cake, topped with warm coconut cream and with a caramelized burnt crust. I’m not quite sure how I managed to find the room, but I finished every bite. As a bonus treat (did we need more?) we added a bottle of the first of the wines from the pairings (our favorite!) a pinot noir rose bubbles. We finished every drop of that one too.

If you also would like to make it to Kann, check out more info Here. Where should we go next? Let us know in the comments!

No Context

by Leave a Comment

The holidays are coming up quickly, so rather than feature a Hot Spot this week, we are featuring a Hot Gift Idea of the week! No Context is a fun and family-friendly game made by awesome local Portland game designer Kory McDow. Trust me when I say that someone you know will be delighted to find it under the tree or near the menorah or kinara!

No Context is really easy to play. In the basic game form, teams of two compete to show that they know each other better than their competitors. Drawing cards that present two ‘no context’ choices, both teammates must guess each other’s answers correctly in order to get the point. The lack of context often presents some very surprising results! For example, ‘Gas or Electric’ in a recent game of ours was taken in three completely different ways by different team members. Are we talking about cooking? Types of cars? No Context!

One of my favorite things about the game is that often complete strangers will do better at it than a team who has known each other for years. There are always many shouts of, “You thought I’d say WHAAAATT???” Plus, you get to learn things about your friends or family that you may have never before thought to ask. Does your mom prefer ‘Whales or Dolphins’? Would your friend pick ‘Public or Private’? There are surprises in every game.

No Context is a particularly perfect gift for this holiday season, as it can easily be played while social distancing or even over Zoom, Facetime, or Skype. Check it out here.

What fun games or gifts will you be giving this season? Let us know in the comments!

Christmas Tree Farms

by Leave a Comment

Ah the holidays, the time of year when we can all eat too much food, drink too many drinks, and decorate our houses with little twinkling lights. Regardless of how you celebrate, one of the high points of the holidays is having the smell of fresh pine take over your home. Luckily, we have tons of great tree farms right here in the Portland Metro area! Here are a list of some of our favorites!

*many farms have changed how they are doing things because of the pandemic so please check their websites for updated information*

Furrow Farms

furrow farms
  • Hours: Monday – Friday 10-5
    • Saturday – Sunday 9-5
  • 25877 NW West Union Rd.
  • Hillsboro, OR. 97124

Thornton’s Treeland

thorntons treeland
  • Hours: Monday – Friday 10-5
    • Saturday – Sunday 9-5
  • 7617 NE 119th St
  • Vancouver, WA 9866

Helvetia Christmas Tree Farm

helvetia tree farm

Christmas Mountain Choose and Cut

christmas mountain choose and cut
  • Hours: Monday – Friday 10-4:30
    • Saturday – Sunday 9-4:30
  • 25470 NW Dixie Mountain Rd.
  • Scappoose, OR 97056

503-621-3169

online: www.christmasmountaintrees.com

Lee Farms

lee farms, tree
  • Hours: Monday – Friday 10-4
    • Saturday – Sunday 9-4
  • 21975 SW 65th Ave 
  • Tualatin  OR 97062

(503) 638-1869

online: www.leefarmsoregon.com/christmas-trees

Sauvie Island Farms

  • Hours: Nov. 27th-28th, Dec. 4th-5th, Dec. 11th-12th
  • 10am-5pm
  • 19818 NW Sauvie Island Rd 
  • Portland, OR 97231

503-621-3988

online: http://www.sauvieislandfarms.com/

Loch Lolly Christmas Forest

  • Hours: Monday – Friday 9-5
    • Saturday – Sunday 9-5
  • 28366 NW Dorland Rd 
  • North Plains, Oregon 97133

503-647-2619

online: http://www.lochlollychristmasforest.com

Washougal River Christmas Trees

christmas tree - washougal river
  • Hours: Monday – Friday 9-5
    • Saturday – Sunday 9-5
  • 39336 NE Washougal River rd
  • Washougal, WA 98671

Enjoy the smell of fresh cut pine in your home this year! We certainly will, and happy holidays to you and your family!

5 & Dime

by Leave a Comment

Our hot spot of the week this week is my favorite patio in FoPo, the 5 & Dime! It’s been almost 2 years since this rad neighborhood spot opened. I am still as excited about it today as I was on opening day! The drinks are cold and the service is warm. What more could you ask for??

First off, I love the decor in this place. From the Anthony Bourdain portrait to the Blazers art and neon signs, everything in here feels hip and effortless. Currently, you will only be able to see it on the way to the bathroom with your mask on, but I applaud the owners for the efforts they have put in to keep everyone safe! They have expanded their outdoor seating area so that there are more tables. All of them have proper spacing and sanitizer as well.

The Seating

The cocktail menu at 5 & Dime is always rotating, and always fabulous. With different themes for each like ‘High School Reading List’ or ‘American Gods’. The seasonal list right now is music-based, and I have been loving the Mary J Blige nod to the Aperol Spritz. If I’m feeling less bubbly (as if) I tend towards their delicious draft Negroni.

While current restrictions mean that their delightful snack boards are on hold for the time being, you can still order some pizza or knots from Atlas pizza next door to soak up all of those tasty libations.

My favorite thing about the 5 & Dime is that they have something for everyone. You can get a cheap beer or a finely-tuned cocktail, a dive bar aesthetic that’s elevated just the right amount, great service with a sense of humor, and most of all, a friendly neighborhood welcome!

Check them out here!

What is your favorite neighborhood haunt? Let us know in the comments!

Disaster Movies

by 1 Comment

Continuing on with our Quarantine activities, this week we bring you Disaster Movies! From zombies to natural disasters, and engineering failures to viruses, we have you covered on this list. While there is a good amount of movies on here to simply entertain you while you kill a couple hours, there are also some tearjerkers, comedies, and critically acclaimed movies. In no particular order, here are some of our favorites!

Zombie Movies

28 Days Later

Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.

Streaming on Hulu

Train to Busan

While a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.

Streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime

Shaun of the Dead

A man’s uneventful life is disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.

Streaming on Hulu or Starz

Zombieland

A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting tough guy trying to find the last Twinkie, and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America.

Streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime

Little Monsters

A washed-up musician teams up with a teacher and a kids show personality to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies.

Streaming on Hulu

Natural Disaster Movies

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

A washed-up musician teams up with a teacher As an asteroid nears Earth, a man finds himself alone after his wife leaves in a panic. He decides to take a road trip to reunite with his high school sweetheart. Accompanying him is a neighbor who inadvertently puts a wrench in his plan.

Streaming on Hulu and Starz

Armageddon

After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep-core drillers to save the planet.

Streaming on Hulu and HBO

Day After Tomorrow

Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist, must make a daring trek from Washington, D.C. to New York City to reach his son, trapped in the cross-hairs of a sudden international storm which plunges the planet into a new Ice Age.

Streaming on Hulu and HBO

Twister

Bill and Jo Harding, advanced storm chasers on the brink of divorce, must join together to create an advanced weather alert system by putting themselves in the cross-hairs of extremely violent tornadoes.

Rent on Amazon Prime

The Impossible

The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

Streaming on Hulu or Showtime

Engineering Disaster Movies

Titanic

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

Available to rent on Amazon

Deepwater Horizon

A dramatization of the disaster in April 2010, when the offshore drilling rig called the Deepwater Horizon exploded, resulting in the worst oil spill in American history.

Available to rent on Amazon

Finest Hours

The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.

Streaming on Disney+ to rent on Amazon

Towering Inferno

At the opening party of a colossal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it.

Streaming on Hulu or Cinemax

Airplane!

A man afraid to fly must ensure that a plane lands safely after the pilots become sick.

Streaming on Tubi

Viral Disaster Movies

Outbreak

Army doctors struggle to find a cure for a deadly virus spreading throughout a California town that was brought to America by an African monkey.

Streaming on Netflix

Contagion

Healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people find themselves in the midst of a pandemic as the CDC works to find a cure.

Streaming on Hulu or Cinemax

Blindness

A city is ravaged by an epidemic of instant white blindness.

Streaming on Hulu or Cinemax

Flu

Chaos ensues when a lethal, airborne virus infects the population of a South Korean city less than 20 kilometers from Seoul.

Streaming on Amazon Prime

12 Monkeys

In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

Streaming on Showtime, or to rent on Amazon

Hopefully you enjoy some of the movies on this list! We will be back next week with another great list to help you stay entertained at home. If you have something specific you’d like us to cover let us know! You can also check out all the other lists we have do so far Here. Have a great day!

Board Games

by 2 Comments

Social distancing doesn’t have to be boring, and it also doesn’t have to involve only screen time! Board games are a fantastic way to while away a few enjoyable hours with your family or friends and can be done in person with your household or over the internet. Board gaming has become a pretty prominent hobby in recent years, so go ahead and pitch your battered copy of Monopoly and pick up one of these (much more interesting) gems.

Family Fun

Dixit

A beautifully illustrated guessing game, similar to Apples to Apples but with surreal dream-like imagery.

Kingdomino

Draft domino-style tiles of different landscapes to build the most well-planned and valuable kingdom.

The Grimm Forest

Compete to build 3 houses of straw, wood, or brick with the help of your favorite fairy tale friends. Get it here.

Gizmos

Build gizmos and gadgets using energy marbles and building schematics. Layer the effects to be the science fair winner!

Good for Two

Code Names Duet

Try and get your partner to guess a variety of cards with a single word for a clue. Be careful to avoid the assassins!

Multiuniversum

Who can use the scientific tools at their disposal to close the most portals before aliens from a slew of weird dimensions take over the planet?!?!

7 Wonders Duel

Build the best civilization by carefully developing your science, military, culture, and commerce.

Cooperative Games

Unlock! Adventures

Basically an escape room in a box, you have an hour to solve a bunch of fun puzzles within different narrative themes. Rated 1-3 padlocks for difficulty.

Mysterium

Mysterium is like Clue, if Clue had psychics who were receiving surreal dream image communications from the ghost of the muder victim.

Forbidden Island

Try to reclaim the sacred treasures from a beautiful and mysterious island before the whole thing sinks into the ocean with you along for the ride.

Over the Interweb

Jackbox

Jackbox has a ton of different party packs with different styles of games. You all connect to one party room and then use your own mobile device to participate. Check it out here.

Just One

Help the guesser figure out a secret word by writing just one related word for them to see. Don’t be too obvious though, as any overlaps are erased!

Tabletopia

Play hundreds of different board games with friends using this very cool tabletop board game simulator on Steam. Check it out here.

There are so so so many amazing board games out there right now, and these are just a few. We definitely recommend that you support your local game store or the developers of these games directly when purchasing. A few of my favorite Portland game shops that are doing curbside pick-up right now are Guardian Games and Rainy Day Games, and you can order many of these great games from Powell’s as well!

Did we miss your favorite board game? Let us know in the comments!