Orenco Station Grill: Hit + 5. Miss -1

So instead of keeping a separate food blog, personal blog, and professional blog I decided to just combine the personal and food blog together. Every so often I will incorporate restaurant reviews and some of my favorite recipes amongst the everyday monotony of my life.

I'll talk about the Orenco Station Grill, a small restaurant in Hillsboro. This dinner choice was a last minute thing, as I had spent a good two hours browsing coupons, freebies, and eventually ended up on www.restaurant.com where we bought a $25 gift certificate to the restaurant for only $17.50. Now, though we still saved some money, be wary on restaurant.com. They have a lot of loops that you'll need to be aware of when buying gift certificates.

We arrived at the restaurant at 9:20 and they closed at 10:00p.m., which instantly made me feel bad. I remembered those days of food service work where I would curse the people who showed up just before closing. However, the waitress was very friendly and professional and didn't show her frustration in the slightest.

The restaurant had a nice classy look and the ending of a live jazz performance which I'm sure would have been pretty good if we had arrived earlier. The booths were comfortable and there were no over the top tacky decorations, which is always a plus in my book.

We started off the meal with their bacon wrapped scallops appetizer, a strawberry lemonade for the minor (me), and a red headed sister for the boyfriend. The scallops came quickly, which I was expecting considering how close to closing we were. They were cooked very nicely, rich in flavor and drizzled with a honey sauce that had a little bit of zest to it. The flavors were complex yet they blended together nicely into a light, refreshing appetizer.

The drinks were great too. There is nothing more disappointing than a too sugary, syrupy

Our main entrees also arrived pretty quickly. I had ordered a spicy chicken sandwich with fries and a side of ranch. Mouse ordered a stuffed salmon with fries and vegetables. My dish was pretty disappointing. Though the chicken had been flattened, breaded, and fried the way I like it, the spice was bland and overpowering. By bland I mean that it was a generic spice, nothing too exciting, that was used waaaaayyy to much. I couldn't taste much else, despite attempting to drown my bites in ranch.

Mouse' dish, however, was absolutely amazing! The salmon was so fresh tasting and the seafood stuffing was rich and creamy. It was topped with a lemon aioli that blended the flavors together perfectly. The dish was small, which was perfectly okay because the flavors were so incredibly rich. It was really a great dish.

The french fries were pretty generic, not bad but nothing to brag about. However, the overall meal (minus the dish I ordered) was very good, especially for the price we paid. I would definitely go back, but if I was in the mood for something real special and different, I would look elsewhere.

Final score: 6.5/10

Introverted

It's weird, but college has made me realize something about myself. I'm a complete introvert, despite believing the opposite during high school. This doesn't mean that I cant be extroverted in some situations (such as work, school, etc). A lot of people think that being introverted means you're shy as well, that's definitely not the case here.

Simply put, I'm just not a very social person. I'd much rather go home and read a book than go to a party. In fact, party situations really make me uncomfortable. I've tried several times to get over this but I always still feel that bit of discomfort that makes the entire evening really weird for me. I know this is a quality that people don't understand, and it puts this big distance between myself and people who enjoy these kind of things.

I do like to go out, don't get me wrong, but I only like to be around people I know and usually doing things that doesn't involve large crowds of people I've never seen before or know only as acquaintances. It doesn't help that I don't really like to drink either.

Being introverted makes other things uncomfortable for me as well...and for some reason, the biggest one I have trouble with is talking on the phone. I can do it no problem, but I get really anxious about it, like I'm going to say something weird that the other person might misinterpret and get mad about. It's a silly kind of anxiety but it always blossoms up, right before I answer or dial....sometimes it makes me even chicken out and not pick up the phone. I don't actually know if this is directly related to being an introverted person, but it makes sense to categorize it as such.

Just because I don't like to go out and party (or be in large crowds) or talk on the phone doesn't mean that I don't like to hang out or talk. I'll email/text you all day, back and forth, and have just as rich a conversation as we would on the telephone. If you want to come over for a movie night or go out and see a movie, come over for games, go grab dinner, anything like that...I'm definitely down for that. It's just a matter of what you would rather do or what you're more comfortable with as a person.

Unfortunately I'm also at a point in life where a lot of people are into drinking and partying. 

I think the social norm in our society is to be extroverted, which makes it hard for people to understand an introvert. In fact, I didn't understand any of it until being hired for ASOSU and going through communication trainings. I wish they had classes for those kind of things, so that everyone can learn the differences between the way people interact with other people.

This was kind of long winded but I just wanted to express something I've been thinking about for a really long time. It seems that in college I haven't made the connections with people that I was able to make in high school and I think that this has a lot to do with it. 

Shimmy and Shake

So, while my legs are so sore today (PAC Weight Training: Circuits) that I'm hobbling around like I'm 30 years older than I actually am, I was able to fit easily into a pair of jeans that I had to squeeze myself into last month.

I would say they are actually almost too big, which makes the hobbling around campus SO WORTH IT...and the no eating dairy thing. So while students behind me in the halls might get a little frustrated with the slow pace of movement I'm utilizing today, I'll feel good knowing I didn't have to wrestle to put on my clothes this morning.

Not eating any dairy products is hard! I didn't realize until I cut it out that dairy was a part of every meal I ate! No more yogurt (which I'm missing the most...LOVE it), cheese, milk, etc. It's hard to eat at the dining centers on campus and keep aware that I can't order anything with cheese. A couple of times I ordered something and didn't realize it had cheese until after I got it...and then I took it back, which made me feel bad...I always hated that when I worked in food service.

On the flip side, my stomach aches and nausea have been significantly reduced since dairy left my world....which pretty much confirms the Lactose Intolerance theory. It's worth it not to spend half the day feeling like I'm going to throw up.

So basically...I feel good. I turn 21 in July and am spending it in Vegas with my boyfriend and best friend and I'm going to look damn good doing it. It's going to be a fun trip and a last hurrah! to the place I grew up in. Finally I will be able to experience the things that make Vegas fun for everyone, since I'm of the opinion it's one big hell hole.

BAM!

It's been awhile...

And I mean a long while. I've gotten back on the grind and am on top of my homework, grades, school, work etc.
I'm entering some new chapters in my life. I added Women Studies as my second major at the end of spring term last year.

I really like the classes and the theory behind women studies...it's so different than what society portrays it as. This term I'm taking a Gender & Science class and while I'm not a big fan of science, when I think back to my grade school biology/chemistry days...did I EVER learn about female scientists? No.

I'm still doing New Media Communications as well, which I love. I've branched off from print journalism and am now entering the unknown waters of TV journalism. Yesterday I went to the beginning of the term Student Media Meeting and instead of signing up for the Barometer as I usually do, I signed up instead for KBVR (Tv Station) and more specifically Beaver News.

Maybe if I stick to my rigorous New Year's Eve Resolution and lose enough weight to be back down to my high school size (size 9 by the way and thank you very much), I can even start to learn what it takes to become a successful news anchor. I added a PAC class this term which had me working out like I hadn't since my athletic days in hs. It was hard but I couldn't deny that I felt good afterwards.

That, coupled with the realization that I just might be lactose intolerant (which has changed my diet considerably) is enough to make me start dropping pounds. I got a head start on my resolution during break, where thanks to depression (R.I.P Rebel) I was able to lose about five or six pounds.

Let me put this into perspective for you. I will never be skinny (I'm a curvy girl, sorry Media World) and it's not that I hate myself...it's that I want to be more confident and comfortable than I already am....plus losing weight will make clothes shopping not such a hassle anymore.

And I want to be healthy. End of story.

So as I enter the next part of my life, the part where I turn 21 but still recognize where my efforts shall still lay, the part where I become media literate in ALL aspects of media, the part where I gain awesome internships in both my majors, I hope to keep on top of the social media, and keep all of you entertained with my (interesting? maybe...) life.

Love!