Food and New Friends - Portland, Oregon

So, being on the road, traveling to show our film "a woman like that" - we are also trying to make the time to explore the different cities we find ourselves in, particularly their food culture - specifically restaurants and markets. Melissa is adroit at sourcing out the best food.

We drove 3 hours in a dark downpour to get from Seattle to Portland. We had arranged to have dinner with Professor Jesse Locker and his wife Laura at a restaurant called Bar Avignon.

The food was delicious and probably half the price from what it would cost to eat similar food in NYC. I'm sorry I don't have photos of the food.

Some of the things we had were: arugula salad, fuyu persimmon, spanish cheese (mandolined persimmon slices have since become my favorite addition to salad), autumn vegetables with chanterelles & fig-walnut salsa, cassoulet: duck, pork belly, shell beans, kale, bread crumbs and dry aged new york steak, potato-celery root gratin, chicories.

I'm probably forgetting something - but it was all delicious. We did share a dessert but I think we roundly agreed it did not rise to the level of the other courses.

One of the reasons for driving that rainy night was so we could get to the Portland Saturday Market, which Melissa had assured me I was going to find totally to my liking. So bright and early, (of course after hitting the gym and having some coffee) we trotted over there.

And of course Melissa was right - it was fantastic!

Mushrooms, for the second time we found local Northwest truffles. I had no idea - they are definitely milder than the Italian ones but also a fraction of the cost.

A plethora of apples, many varieties that were new to me - including these with red interiors. Wow - they would make a beautiful apple strudel.

Beets, rainbow hued.

Multitudes of greens

Enormous rutabagas and the largest leaves I have ever seen (I know this photo provides no perspective but you'll have to take my word for how big they were.

Different from our home town farmer's market in Union Square, Portland's market has amazing prepared foods - from ice cream to sandwiches, tamales to biscuits. Here's Melissa in front of Pine State Biscuits. I'm told it is famous - this picture is for Melissa's son Alex,

who likes their biscuits. We ended up sharing a breakfast egg on biscuit sandwich - it was pretty good.

On the Road

Since September we've been on the road screening "a woman like that" . . . and it has been an exhilarating ride - but I/we have not taken the time to catch up and fill everyone in on what has been happening, all the places we've been, the wonderful people we've met and the fantastic reception that has greeted the film.

So in a typically non-linear fashion - here are some of the highlights of our journey so far.

While we've had a slew of successful screenings, our most recent - at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon - was our largest venue yet. We hoped the word had gotten out - we hoped we would fill the house. This was a big test of our DIY - social networking strategy! We were very relieved to see people waiting to get in before the doors to the theater opened.

And as the theater started to fill . . .

I did some quick iphone video interviews (sorry for the poor sound quality) to see what had brought people out and what they were expecting.

The screening was scheduled for Saturday afternoon at 1pm and as people continued to straggle in - we began a little late.

Obviously our hosts - Dana Katz from Reed College and Jesse Locker from Portland State -

along with the Portland Bologna Sister City Association did a really amazing job of getting the word out. They filled the house - we counted 350!

The film was presented as "An Afternoon with Artemisia Gentileschi: Film and Conversation." Dana Katz introduced the event and then Jesse Locker, who is writing a new book about Artemisia, gave a really great 10 minute introduction to Artemisia and her work. He then placed our film in a context of all the biographical works; fiction and non-fiction books and movies; that preceded "a woman like that." That was especially gratifying!

The audience was rambunctiously appreciative, and most stayed for the following Q&A. Their comments were warm and emotional - their questions pointed and poignant.

We really appreciate the grand effort of Jesse and Dana. We are grateful for their enthusiasm, support, kind words and of course the after screening drinks and great conversation - cheers all around!

We added a lot more names to our mailing list, too.