Portland Monthly
Lake lovers still have to wait to rent a boat at Olallie Lake Resort (above), which has a tentative open date for 2021 of July 22, as recovery work continues after last year s wildfires.Â
Photograph by Isaac Lane Koval
Oregon is defined by water, from the mighty Pacific at our western edge to the rivers that separate us from Washington and Idaho. But those arenât our only H
2O treasures. Tucked along Oregonâs mountain spine are countless alpine pools beckoning for summer dips, paddles, or just Doug fir whispers and mountain reflections.Â
Note: Wilderness access can depend on current wildfires, past wildfire recovery, road conditions, pandemic staffing, land management projects, weather, and more. Consult the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center as well as National Forest websites and social media before you set out, check with ranger stations, and carry maps for alternate routes. Stay away from fire areas, and remember that lakes
How do you open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the middle of a pandemicâand thrive? One answer:
Break the paradigm and go co-op, Ã la Mirisata, Portlandâs only Sri Lankan restaurant, which is also vegan and entirely BIPOC- and worker-owned. The SE Belmont spotâs prospective owners prove themselves not with a fat wad of start-up cash, but via a few months of a trial working period. During the height of the pandemic, Mirisata went from pop-up to brick-and-mortar restaurant using small loans from customers and friends.
Another innovation: a buy-in membership program for $40 a year, which includes perks like discounts on orders. So far, Mirisata is Portlandâs only restaurant operating under a co-op model, but its worker-owners say itâs a way forward for those whoâve historically faced barriers, including women and people of color, to gain business ownership in a notoriously brutal industry.
Step aside, muffins, coffee cake, and scones.
The best breakfast pastry in the world is, without a doubt, the chocolate croissant. At least, thatâs my opinion, as well as
PoMo managing editor Margaret Seilerâs. We both discovered our shared fondness for chocolate-stuffed laminated dough after also realizing we share the same birthday. (Shoutout to all the Capricorns!)Â
So one rainy Thursday,
we gathered together a whole crew of chocolate croissant taste testers on a porch: me, Margaret, deputy editor Fiona McCann, and arts director Mike Novak (who also took some glamour shots of the croissants). What we looked for: even layers of flaky dough, neither too dense or bready nor too airy; a good ratio of chocolate to pastry, as well as the quality of the chocolate; a buttery-tasting dough that nails the sweet-salty balance; and layers that crackled and flaked upon biting into them.
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Now that the temps have turned warm enough for me to once again spend hours in my yard fussing over flowers and ripping out weeds with therapeutic glee, I am back on my audiobook game. The first one of the season wasÂ
Supermaker by Jaime Schmidt. Schmidt began as a Portlander with a tiny little homemade beauty company hawking natural deodorant in aÂ
Little House on the Prairie-style bonnet ðat local farmers marketsâseven years later, she sold it as an international company to Unilever for more than $100 million.Â
Supermaker goes through the whole process from first idea to the major acquisition. As someone who writes about local brands for a living and owns a small business myself, I found the details fascinating, but I have a hunch you donât need those prereqs to feel the same way.Â