A little introduction...

My name is Allison and as a little girl I always loved the arts. Now, I realize "the arts" is a very general term. In this blog, I am going to focus on a few types of art that I love---that are my main interests.  We are going to delve into food, restaurants, movies, and book reviews, as well as DIY tips, and scrap-book loves.

In this day and age we are bombarded with reality TV.  I try to stay away from most of it however, I have gotten  hooked into a few different shows.  While living in Australia, I ran across a new show Masterchef. I fell in love straight away....what's not to love about a cooking competition from people who are just like me! (except Australian). Well, to my delight, the next Summer America came out with their own version of Masterchef---and again I love it, who doesn't love Gordon Ramsey?  As I watch the show I become more and more obsessed with good food.  Not just the box of Mac'n'cheese that mom threw on the stove for dinner but, items like savory, gooey, cheesy, rich, Baked Truffle Macaroni and Cheese.  Yum!  

My love for cooking reality competitions has brought a whole new world to light.  I've become driven to create my own (beginner) gourmet food from scratch. With this new goal (which my family loves)  I've become more of a, for a lack of a better word, SNOB about food.  I now know how food should or could taste and I expect quality when I am out.  Which leads to my husband and my new goal... we want to try out all the restaurants of interest from the www.portlandfoodmap.com.

Now what could be more classic then dinner and a movie date night?  This is one of Nic (my husband) and my favorite dates. We all have our first impressions when we step into a restaurant.  We know what others have told us, we look at the street display, the lighting, the table step up, flowers, the menu, the bar... the second we step in we either get that little thrill of excitement that encourages us to order a drink or an appetizer that we weren't budgeted for and get ready for a great night.  OR, we quickly order a water and go straight for the entree and head out in a cloud of disappointing. First Impressions are everything.
That means, after we go out and taste all the delicious food and be entertained by the newest movies in theaters I want to give you my thoughts and add in my husband's review too!  I want to tell you about those first impressions and how it all looked retrospectively.