Scallops. Giant duck.

I spent a wonderful day yesterday with my mom, Lisa, in Portland.  We began with lunch at the Oregon Culinary Institute in downtown which consists of a three-course meal that allows you to choose one item from each course (three choices in every category), salad, entree, and dessert.  Throughout the meal we sipped on iced tea and coffee.  I started with the romaine salad with crispy bacon and shaved red onion with smoky bleu cheese dressing.  Mom enjoyed the butter lettuce salad with marcona almonds, goat cheese and Oregon strawberry vinaigrette.  The salads were followed by our chosen entrees.

Above: Mom chose pan-seared scallops with succotash and herb butter.

Above: I chose the potato gnocchi with mushroom-chive fondue and grilled asparagus.

Above: We both chose to finish with a chocolate dream torte!  All of the courses were phenomenal.  I would recommend this restaurant to anybody visiting Portland.

Above: After lunch we made the short drive from the restaurant to 23rd avenue, a trendy place to shop and eat!

This picture was taken outside Twist, a fabulous store with hand crafted jewelry and art.

On me: bag: Banana Republic, cardigan: H&M, shirt: Nordstrom, skirt: Nordstrom, sandals: Steve Madden, sunnies: borrowed from boyfriend (not planning on returning them!)