The bad news: I am officially one week behind on my posts.

The good news: You get to relive Labor Day all over again!  What an awesome day.  A holiday for the sake of having a holiday… Genius!

The Original Dinerant. Our free day started with a walk about Portland to find a decent breakfast.  On the way, we passed a parking lot filled with converted trailers-turned-counter-style-restaurants.  Every genre of food you can think of is represented in this parking lot, and I wish I’d seen it when it was open.  It was like walking through the Iowa State Fair (if you don’t know, it’s a big deal: http://www.iowastatefair.org/) and not being able to eat anything!

What we found, instead, was The Original Dinerant.  As the name suggests, it’s diner food in a restaurant setting; with 1960s-era furniture design.

I ordered a Breakfast Burrito the size of my forearm, which came loaded with eggs, green chile, braized pork, potatoes, guacamole, cheddar, and queso fresco.

Lea got a honking stack of buttermilk pancakes with bananas.

On the way back I realized I hadn’t taken any pictures of Pioneer Square.  I’m not sure what the significance is of the square, but it’s not like me to not take a picture of it!  For reference, the building in the background is our hotel.

Fly-over. Taken from the plane, obviously.  I’m not sure what that is in the bottom-right, but I imagine it doesn’t smell very good!

Labor Day BBQ. Because it’s such a short flight between PDX and SFO, we still made it in time for Jerry’s backyard BBQ!

On the menu this afternoon:

• Beer can chicken
• BBQ ribs
• Corn salad
• Coleslaw

Here we are with the little birdies.  They’ve been cleaned, rubbed in spices, stuffed with a half-full beer can (note the optimistic perspective ;)), and are now ready for a crispy tan.

Something about this picture just doesn’t feel right.

Sumo-style – that’s better!

Just go ahead and top ’em off for us, Victor.

After 4 hours in the oven, the bones are falling out of the meat, which means it’s time to finish ’em on the grill.

Now we baste them with a kiss of sauce, which carmelizes over the heat.

You can find more details on this rib recipe by checking-out our post from July 5, 2009.

Ribs ‘r done…

Chicken’s done…

Salads were done yesterday…

It’s time to eat!

Carry me home!  After the gigantic breakfast in Portland, and now this feast of a Labor Day BBQ, tomorrow I shall fast. 🙂

Cheers!