Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

Asking which garden in Portland, Oregon, is better: Japanese or Chinese, is like asking whether one prefers Japanese food over Chinese food or sunrise over sunset. Each has unique qualities.

A welcome element during our visit to Portland is the abundance and variety of public transportation available. You don't need a car, and both gardens  are easily accessible from a downtown hotel.

The Japanese garden is the largest. It's located near the Oregon Zoo, covers 5.5 acres and consists of 5 distinct gardens: flat garden, strolling pond garden, tea garden, natural garden, and the sand and stone garden.

Portland became in 1958 a sister city to Sapporo, Japan. The Japanese Garden opened in 1967. It's peaceful, tranquil and spiritual. A shuttle bus from the Oregon Zoo dropped us at the foot of the gardens and, although there is another shuttle to take to the top, we decided to walk up the long and step path. Here are a few photos from the Portland Japanese Garden:

The Portland Classical Chinese Garden is located across town from the Japanese Garden. Light rail dropped us in Old Town Chinatown. This Ming Dynasty scholar's garden was once considered the largest outside of China, but Pasadena, California, has a larger one, I hear. Like the Japanese Garden, all plants, flowers, trees, stones and pathways are in harmony with nature.

A guide related the story of 2 men sitting in the garden observing pond fish. One man suggested the fish were happy. The other said, "How do you know if the fish are happy? You are not a fish."

The second man replied, "How do you know if I know if the fish are happy, because you are not me." Gardeners put 40 small fish into the pond, which has since mushroomed to more than 500 fish. They sound happy to me.

And for the next hour, I did not think about Sacramento short sales once. Here are photos from the Portland Classical Chinese Garden:

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

The Short Sale Savior,by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.

Photographs: Elizabeth Weintraub

They get first choice of the best cuts of steak available from Portland vendors. If your bread cools to the touch, a waiter will immediately replace your basket of bread. Flaming meals are prepared table-side. It's the best restaurant in Portland. My husband and I were listening to Collin, a waiter serving us at the The Nine's 12th floor Club Lounge, describe his second place of employment, El Gaucho restaurant on Broadway. We asked him to reserve us table.

That he did very well. We arrived at 6:30, which is a bit early for dinner, but the restaurant was already pumped, primed and full. Dimly lit, dark paneling, open kitchen at the back, lots of white linen tables in the center and puffy, red, half-circle booths along opposing walls. Formally attired waiters, not quite old enough for Social Security but well past the age of mouth-breathers, dotted the room. The experienced waiters snapped to attention when summoned by guests. With one hand behind his back, our waiter presented Harry from Seattle a flaming sword laced with steak.

Customers were dressed much like I was -- denim pants, t-shirts, sandals, and some wore cut-offs. Very casual attire. Others wore more suitable attire for an evening out but overall the crowd was relaxed.

Collin had indeed reserved us a great table. If you have a choice between a booth on the right or a booth on the left, choose the right. It has less glaring lighting overhead and is much more intimate. In fact, if you were planning to break up with somebody and wanted to do it in public, this is probably the place to do it. Or propose, take your pick.

I couldn't decide if the background music was flamenco or tango, but it was decidedly Argentinian. The passion stirred depends on one's mood, I suppose. One could leap on the table to belt out Don't Cry for Me, Argentina or . . . stab a bull.

Our waiter brought complementary appetizers, lightly breaded Dungeness crab cakes. Magnificent. Melted in our mouths. Because this was our first trip to Portland, and we like to sample local fare, we tried to order a sparkling wine from the Willamette Valley. Our waiter returned from the cellar to say they were out. Did I want to try an Italian sparkling wine or French champagne? He brought me a small glass of each to try. The Zefrio Prosecco Brut, at $12 a glass, was interesting, but not nearly as fabulous as the Perrier Jouet Grand Brut Champagne Epernay, at $30 a glass.

I paused to think about a couple of Sacramento short sales that are closing escrow this week -- 2 particularly tough short sales to negotiate, both with external and internal sets of problems: difficult buyer's agents, out-of-state sellers, time-sensitive bank deadlines, dashing to the finish line with moments to spare -- and I announced to our waiter that I would have the French champagne.

Not only that, but I'd also take the Russian King Crab legs. Now, I have no idea whether it was Sarah Palin-inspired crab legs because I don't really know where the line is drawn between Russia and Alaska, and they might even be the same king crab legs for all I know. But I do know that it's rare I dine at a place that serves king crab at all, so whether it's Russian or Alaskan, bring it on.

The service was slow. It wasn't the fact that salads take much time to prepare, our waiter explained, as it was that they didn't have enough salad carts to go around. My husband ordered a salad with the same green mix as mine but his had candied walnuts and minced pear, while mine was tossed with large bay shrimp and Roquefort dressing . . . and an unripe tomato wedge. I asked the waiter about the tomato. It seemed strange to do everything else so well and leave one item unattended, to overlook the lonely tomato. It's not like Portland is that far from Sacramento or they couldn't order cherry tomatoes, which are almost always in season.

Our waiter said his boss has been in business for more than 30 years and he's not about to change his ways. Tomatoes are, apparently, unimportant to him. Pity.

After dinner, our waiter brought us a big platter of fruit, nuts and cheese. It looked suspiciously similar to the platter he had previously delivered to the booth in front of us, which was rejected by the customers in favor of El Gaucho's trademark desserts prepared table-side: Cherries Jubilee or Bananas' Foster. My husband stabbed the pear and sliced it. It was not very ripe. But the cheese was room temperature and good.

By the time we rolled our big fat stomachs out of El Gaucho, we had spent twice as much for dinner as we did the night before at Fenouil. It was an experience to dine at El Gaucho, and I'm not sorry we tried it.

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

The Short Sale Savior,by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.

Photographs: Elizabeth Weintraub

I do believe it; I do believe it's true.

The guidebook says there are 200-some cloudy days in Portland, Oregon, and yesterday was one of those days. We decided to hop the light rail at Pioneer Square and go to the Oregon Zoo. It was a fairly short ride, but I was not prepared for the train to plunge into the West Hills of Portland, and barrel along at such a high speed in darkness.

It dropped us at a station 220-feet below street level. This station is the deepest underground in the country. Then, an elevator transported us to the surface. Made me feel all Star Trekky-like.

Portland is environmentally conscious. Because we took public transportation to the Zoo, that entitled us to a discount on our tickets, which I immediately blew on popcorn.

Below are photos from the Oregon Zoo:

 Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

The Short Sale Savior,by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.

Photographs: Elizabeth Weintraub

Did you know that pioneer wagons traveling to Portland, Oregon, in the early 1800s did not use the trail blazed by Lewis and Clark? It was considered too treacherous. Instead, an explorer who followed Lewis & Clark, Robert Stuart, discovered by accident a much easier way to get there. The history of Portland, Oregon, is fascinating.

My husband and I decided to take a mini break (no cellphones, no screaming cats, no email dinging) and grab Southwest's unbelievable roundtrip fares for a quick getaway. I've never been to Portland. And I've been curious to see it as city leaders in Sacramento often point to Portland as an example to follow. It's a progressive city. Public transportation is phenomenal. Street cars and light rail everywhere.

There is a free zone encompassing part of downtown Portland and its historic Pearl District where one can hop on the street car without paying a fare. I see lots of sensible shoes on the feet of women in the tourist areas. It's overcast. Alternating between chilly and warm.

Lots of dogs, too. A great dane greeted us on the light rail from the airport to downtown. I don't think he was supposed to be on the light rail. I saw an advertisement overhead that emphasized transporting your pet in a carrier. But the great dane owner's let me pet the dog, so I wasn't about to squeal.

On our way to the French restaurant Fenouil at Jamison Square last night, I spotted another dog with its owner on the street car. The dog sniffed my hand. Wagged its tail at me, and I was just about to pet her when this guy in the wheelchair, a guy with Gulf War Veteran stamped on his baseball cap, snarled at me, "service dog." he spit out the words. Then he repeated himself in the event I didn't know how to speak English.

Yeah, he was rude, but I can see where this sort of behavior would wear thin. Sometimes when agents call me about my short sale listings, I don't spend a lot of time on the pleasantries of conversation and instead say, "22 offers, highest sent to bank." As few words as possible.

Dogs seem very welcome in Portland. As we gorged on seared fois gras, scallops and halibut at Fenouil, listening to some French guy over in the square playing Bob Marley, I noticed an inconspicuous bowl on the sidewalk, next to my table. It was a water bowl for a dog. Tucked under tables, near bushes, I spotted more dog water bowls. I like this city.

Here are more photos from Portland, Oregon:

Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Sacramento Short Sale Agent, Elizabeth Weintraub, has the answers to your Sacramento short sale questions.