Mother's, The Movies, and Second Wednesday

     Romaine had originally planned for us to spend Wednesday walking around the sculpture park at Lake Oswego, a Portland suburb.
     But once again, the weather was a tad too cold for my delicate sensibilities, so we decided instead to head downtown  for brunch and a movie.
     We had brunch at a great spot called Mother's,

...where it took me not very long to decide,

...on the French toast, which turned out to be the very best French toast  I've ever had, and quite possibly the best on the planet:

...thick slices of challah coated with crushed corn flakes and topped with powdered sugar then served with sides of syrup and whipped cream.  Absolutely heavenly!

      Romaine ordered the Migas, a veggie omelet served with salsa and chipotle sauce which she likewise declared out of this world.

    After brunch we walk a few blocks,

...to the Fox Tower Regal Cinema,

...where we saw "The Danish Girl",  the moving and thought-provoking film about Lile Elbe, the first transgender woman to undergo sex-reassignment surgery, and the complicated relationship between Lile and her wife, Gerda Wenger. 

      The story was so compelling , the acting so captivating, and the scenery so beautiful that  I was riveted to the screen, from the opening scene to the end credits.
​      After the movie, as the sun had come out and the afternoon weather had warmed up a bit, we walked around downtown Portland for a while,

…before heading back to Romaine’s house, where we hung out until it was time to leave again for dinner.
      We had a dinner date with Romaine’s Portland Posse, a group of her friends who call themselves Second Wednesday because they all get together every second Wednesday for dinner, taking turns picking out a restaurant, preferably someplace new and interesting.
       Now, technically, this past Wednesday wasn’t the second Wednesday of the month, but since I was in town Romaine asked the other Second Wednesday members who could make it if they’d mind making an exception this month, which nobody did.
      As it was Romaine’s turn to pick the restaurant she picked a place that she’d been to one time before, a great little ramen place near downtown called Boke Bowl.

....where we met up with Second Wednesday, a great group of gals, most of whom I already knew from past visits to Portland.

     The food was really good.  I had the pork dashi (I believe "dashi" is another name for ramen), which was awesome.

   Among the other delicious dishes sampled by the Second Wednesday members were:

...seafood miso dashi,

...carmelized fennel dashi,

...roasted brussels sprouts and cauliflower with seasonal fruit,

...and beef, pork, miso mushroom and fried chicken steam buns.

     Among the steam bun varieties was a peanut butter and jelly steam bun which, in truth, I just couldn't stop thinking about.  I imagined a soft, warm bunful of peanut butter and jelly all melted together and just oozing deliciousness. I finally had to order one.

    Though not quite as amazing as I'd imagined , still my peanut butter and jelly steam bun was quite good ( and a little messy), as peanut butter and jelly tends to be by nature, and I was glad I'd ordered one, otherwise I would have gone through life wishing I had.
    Sometimes you just have to go for it.