It was one of those gloomy, rainy days here in Portland. I went over the post office a block over to mail a Christmas present to my daughter. Joan and I went downtown to the REI to buy some presents for her kids. There was another REI at the Clackamas Mall down the Interstate, and the parking would've been better down there, but who wants to do all that driving on a gloomy, rainy day?
On the way home I started getting peckish, so we went over to Podnah's Pit, a Texas-style barbeque place out on Killingsworth. No sooner had we sat down than police cars started zooming down the street. Police cars, undercover cars, SWAT armored vehicles. I commented to Joan that all the cops' cars made the place more authentic.
We had their ribs. Oh my! I think I've found my favorite rib place in Portland. And the menu looks great for their weekend brunches (hmmm, grits!). And Thursdays that have smoked lamb ribs. We've been to several other bbq places, but the ribs here were great. Lots of meat on the bones, cooked so the meat was moist and fell off the bone. They had a selection of different sauces at the table but, really, the ribs were fine without sauce. There was a Carolina vinegar sauce we both liked. The sides were good, and like most places in Portland, they had lots of different good beers.
We were stuffed and brought half of the ribs home in a doggy bag. Well, our dogs aren't gonna get these ribs. On the way home yet another police car zoomed past us.
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So what was all the hullabaloo over? Someone dressed in camouflage, with a mask and body armor and an assault rifle, had gone to the Clackamas Mall, right next to the REI store we didn't go to, and began shooting. That's where all the cops cars were going. So far: two victims dead, another rushed to the closest trauma center. The shooter has been "neutralized".
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