My fiancee and I just returned from Portland, Oregon, where we spent the long weekend visiting my sister and her husband. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Hawthorne Fish House: Known for their fish & chips, this casual seafood joint on trendy Hawthorne Street also had amazingly cheap eats. I opted for a half-portion of their Chile-Fried Catfish- four reasonably sized pieces of fish served with french fries – for only $5.25.  Their Crab Pepper Cheese soup, a favorite of my sister, was also super delicious. Sadly, my fiancee got food poisoning from what he thinks was a bad oyster here.

Yarnia: Since I live in a city with not too many yarn stores, I always feel the need to stock up on my stash when I come to Portland. Yarnia boasts itself as Portland’s only DIY yarn store. You can choose from shelves of wool, cotton, acrylic, rayon, nylon, etc. in a variety of colors, and have one of the store employees spin it together to create your own one-of-a-kind yarn. Or you can choose from their pre-spun yarn blends in beautiful color combos and select from their bargain bins. Another Portland establishment with very reasonable prices. I bought enough yarn to make a cardigan for only $16.

Wine Tasting in Newberg & Dundee: This seems to be a family tradition almost every time I visit Portland. My favorite tasting room this time was hands-down Winderlea, a relatively new winery to the Wilamette Valley. While the wines at this boutique winery are on the higher end, they had a pretty tasty selection, and their tasting fee goes to support health insurance for Oregon’s vineyard workers. It was a tough decision which wine we liked best, their 2007 Chardonnay or their 2007 Estate Pinot Noir. If you do make the trek to Newberg to go wine tasting, I recommend first making a stop at the Chehalem Valley Chamber of Commerce, as they hooked us up with some free wine tasting passes.

Wong’s King Chinese Restaurant: We met an old friend from grad school and her husband here for a Labor Day brunch of Dim Sum. Voted one of the top 100 Chinese restaurants in the country, the restaurant was packed, but the 30 minute wait was well worth it. We sampled shrimp dumplings, stuffed eggplant, sesame balls, and coconut moshi. For the more adventurous, they serve delicacies such as chicken feet and interesting seafood combinations. For the not-so-adventurous, they have standard fare like fried rice and spring rolls.