Once Grungy, Now Chic

On meeting up with old friends, birthdays and talent shows

Boke Bowl in SE Portland.

The sunshine we’ve been having took a detour on Saturday, but nonetheless, I got myself into the car and drove to the southeast industrial side to meet up with my friend Sheri at Boke Bowl for our yearly lunch date, something I’ve been looking forward to very much.

Boke Bowl and I go way back. Years ago, when my daughter was barely a toddler, I took her to the Pearl district in Portland to hang out. Perhaps driven by curiosity or by the weather, we went inside Boke’s NW location, where I ordered a ‘Bambino,’ their kid-sized ramen bowl and a regular sized one for myself.

Wow, would you look at those buns…

We sat at a corner table, where I watched people and my daughter and took photos. From where I sat, I could see their open concept kitchen, where the chefs milled about, the smell of fried onions and simmering broth and crispy pork belly wafting through the air. It smelled so, so good that I had to tell my husband about it. Since that day in 2017 (?) we’ve been there several times without the kids.

Now, if you’ve never been to the SE industrial side of Portland, it’s worth a visit for its unique ‘once grungy, now chic’ vibe, filled with excellent restaurants, bars and cafes. For you book lovers: there’s even a new independent bookstore around the corner and a few vintage shops.

As for Sheri…she’s probably the only person besides my husband whom I can say whatever’s on my mind without worrying that she’ll judge me. We do, in fact, share the same birthday, so I feel like we were destined to be like-minded, even though we are different ages. We met while we both worked at the same university eight years ago and I’m so glad we did.

The food was just as good as I remembered it. On this day, we shared a trio of buns—one pork belly, one chicken and one mushroom. While I don’t generally like to use absolute statements, I am absolutely 100% convinced that Boke has the best buns in town. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever eaten before—they’re these soft, pillowy mounds of goodness that you want to sink your teeth into immediately because it is that good. It’s like plopping down on hotel quality sheets and down pillows after sleeping on a 10-year-old mattress with an old afghan blanket that you got at a thrift store years ago, when you were broke and couldn’t afford 600 count sheets.

On Monday, we celebrated my husband’s 39th—no, 29th birthday (!) at home with a chocolate olive oil cake I made in the morning, vanilla ice cream and corn dogs for dinner—all very uncommon affairs in our household. (His last two birthdays were spent in motion, either on a train or on a plane 😂). I resisted the urge to add to his ‘Best Dad Ever’ T-shirt collection, and so I gifted him a “my dog thinks I’m cool” shirt and a “I’ll be in the garage” shirt instead, both of which are very true statements. I think he approved 😍

We capped off our mid-week with James playing piano at his school’s first-ever talent show. He did pretty good, if I do say so myself. Canon in D is not easy to master but he has been practicing a lot and when it came to showtime, he certainly delivered.

Thanks for reading, friends. I’ll be back next week, where I plan on resuming my baking spree (I’m only pausing this week because people in my household think we have too many cookies) and will report on my kitchen adventures then.

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Delightful Discoveries of the Week

Top 4 parenting mistakes - Dan Pink

I’m going to try my best not to commit this parenting mistake but I suppose I won’t know until my kids are full-grown 🙂 (P.S. Dan Pink does really good, short videos that are also insightful so I highly recommend checking out his other ones).

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue

My online friend Marg Moon raved about this book in 2023 so I don’t know why it took me so long to finally read it, but I have. Not done yet but it is definitely one of my favorites thus far this year. What’s surprising to me is that this is just a coming-of-age story but it’s written in a sharp, insightful tone. I love books about the joys and challenges of growing up and this one fits the bill perfectly.

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