This past week I got to spread my birthday celebration across three days and enjoyed some wonderful meals and fun wine tasting, to boot. First, daughter Jenny treated me to a dinner out at Sasquatch Brewing Co. in the Portland neighborhood of Hillsdale on Sunday evening. We started with the artisanal cheese plate and a pomegranate hard cider for her and a house amber ale for me. Sasquatch prides itself in menus built around locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, so one can find new items monthly in addition to some standard favorites — along with a slew of local brews and a generous wine list of domestic (mostly Pacific Northwest and California wines) and imported options. I enjoyed a moist, pleasantly spicy beer-can chicken with summer squash and Swiss chard and masa dumplings in a chipotle sauce and lime crema. Jenny savored her house-made goat cheese gnocchi; and since we were celebrating a birthday, we of course had to order dessert. I loved my hazelnut torte, but Jenny was kind enough to allow me to also sample her chocolate cherry brownie ice cream sandwich topped with candied orange peel — to die for!

My actual birthday dinner on Tuesday was celebrated with my husband, Harry, at a wonderful Italian restaurant in downtown Beaverton just west of Portland: Decarli’s. Harry brought a special bottle of wine (1998 Woodward Canyon Artists Series Cabernet Sauvignon; still luscious with rich dark cherry and plum flavors) that went beautifully with our food. We started with fabulous mini meatballs (beef and pork) in a marinara sauce, then Harry chose the mushroom risotto with fennel sausage while I devoured the beef shortribs, served in a dark, rich espresso and dried prune sauce over creamy spaetzle. Once again, I found dessert to be irresistible: a chocolate brownie sundae with malt gelato, sprinkles of hazelnut brittle, caramel sauce and amarena cherries.

To finish off the grand celebration, we spent a gorgeous, warm, sunny Wednesday afternoon at a trio of tasting rooms in the Yamhill Valley. We started at Archery Summit, which makes Pinot Noir wines exclusively, enjoying the amazing view from the patio high above the steeply sloped vineyards. We moved on to Soter Vineyards at Mineral Springs Ranch, sharing a tasting with three ladies from the East Coast visiting Portland for a convention who were spending a free day with a knowledgeable driver touring the Oregon countryside and a few select wineries. We relaxed at a large table in the airy tasting room, wide glass barn doors slid open on both sides to provide breezes and fabulous views of grapevines, ripening wheat fields and oak and fir groves stretching to hazy blue foothills in the distance.

We ended the day in the tiny town of Dayton at the Joel Palmer House. Fourth-generation chef Christopher Czarnecki carries on the family tradition of fine dining with a focus on wild mushrooms. We sat in the garden of the 1850s farmhouse and made our leisurely way through three courses: a rich and creamy mushroom soup for Harry, a three mushroom tart for me; entrées of beef stroganoff with wild mushrooms over rice and rack of lamb with black trumpets; and a candy cap mushroom crème brûlée and chocolate malted mousse for dessert. It was the perfect conclusion for a trio of wonderful birthday celebrations, shared with loved ones on three exquisite Oregon summer days.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor