oh portland, oregon. why must you tempt me so? for years now, i've been hearing about how awesome you are from friends who live there, reading about your bounty of food carts, dreaming of the benefits of your progressive transit system. at one point a few years back, i was even set on moving to you. you're really far from the east coast though, so i never made the plunge & still have yet to, but i'm still young, so you're still on my short list of "places to eventually settle down." sit tight.

as i mentioned a few weeks back, one of my childhood friends (mr chris dorin) came to visit me from portland & when he came, he brought a viking's load of portland-area vegan snacks along for me to sample. in honor of these snacks & my faraway outsider obsession with portland, over the next week or so i'll be bringing you a four-part series devoted to the snacks & "the city of roses." in it, i'll be peppering you with all sorts of knowledge about the city, mostly based on stuff i've heard & things i've discovered via the power of the google & partially based on stuff i made up. it'll be like a mini, slightly-fictional travel guide from someone who has only visited the city for a few hours in the early part of last decade. TOTALLY professional.