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Restaurant News and Information For Portland Oregon Area Restaurants and Bars

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Memorials to friends from my life who have passed on

Every so often, someone I have spent time with during my life passes on. The list includes celebrities like Lauren Bacall and Joan Rivers, and even my sister and my dog. Most of them tell stories about the people and meals around our friendship.

This is Mason’s chair – a Dog Story

September 17, 2016 by PDX Food Dude

Typewriter writing

Two quick notes. This story has nothing to do with food, but as always, I memorialize the important things in my life on these pages. You will enjoy this story most if you have ever loved and lost an animal.When Mason was found in a forest in Utah, he had mange and was covered with ticks and fleas. At the age of nine, abandoned by hunters, his useful life as a bird dog … [Read more...] about This is Mason’s chair – a Dog Story

The Backlot Dims: Remembering Joan Rivers

September 5, 2014 by PDX Food Dude

Newspaper Icon

A story about one of the most memorable celebrities I have ever met - Joan Rivers. So, picture this: late 1970s. I’m bartending at a fern bar. Remember those? Boston ferns in macramé, fake antiques, everyone in polyester so slick you could slide right off the barstool.I’d been there maybe three months. Just long enough to know that in Hollywood, nobody wants a beer. They … [Read more...] about The Backlot Dims: Remembering Joan Rivers

Sunday Dinner with Betty – A Memorial to Lauren Bacall

August 13, 2014 by PDX Food Dude

In the mid-1990s, I was living in Sonoma County California. The AIDS crisis was in full fury, and I spent time working in a hospice - counseling patients, walking their dogs, cooking, cleaning their houses, arranging memorials... whatever I could do. It was a fulfilling yet mentally exhausting job sharing the last days with patients, many of whom became my friends during their … [Read more...] about Sunday Dinner with Betty – A Memorial to Lauren Bacall

If I Should Fall Behind – A Memorial

July 12, 2013 by PDX Food Dude

Rose

I don't do a lot of personal writing here anymore, but in this case, I'm making an exception with a tribute to my sister, who recently died from cancer.Pam was a quintessential Berkeley hippie. A free spirit, child of the 60s, early commune resident, fanatical about alternative medicine, and as far left as you could go - a fervent believer in every government conspiracy. … [Read more...] about If I Should Fall Behind – A Memorial

Ode to Mr. Glen Bell

January 19, 2010 by PDX Food Dude

Taco Bell Founder

Glen Bell Jr., the founder of Taco Bell, died yesterday. I thought it appropriate to re-run this post from 2005.When I first left home for college, I ended up living in student housing directly next to a Taco Bell. My residence was on the third floor, and early every morning when they started cooking for the day, the smell of simmering beef and refried beans would waft … [Read more...] about Ode to Mr. Glen Bell

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