EverOut is The Mercury's new website devoted to things to do in Portland and across the Pacific Northwest. It has all the same things you're used to seeing from Mercury EverOut, just in a new spot!
The first week of the year has already attempted to match its predecessor with chaos at the Capitol and a Trump Twitter Facebook ban, but there are still things to look forward to this weekend to take your mind off the madness for a short while. We've rounded up our suggestions for socially distanced and at-home activities below, from novelty vending machines to feed some dollars into (like one with Nancy Drew paperbacks at Donnie Vegas) to ways to celebrate David Bowie's birthday (like a virtual Golden Years dance party and a Straight from New York pizza special), and from places to watch this weekend's Blazers game to a new thrift store to visit. For even more options, read our guides to the best online events this week, the best movies to watch this week, and the best things to do all month long.
FOOD & DRINK
Try vegan specials. If your New Year's resolution involves reevaluating your meat and/or dairy consumption, adopting a vegan diet, or going plant-based for the annual "Veganuary" challenge, you've got plenty of delicious options to ease you through the transition. As per yearly tradition, Salt & Straw is offering their "Vegandulgence" series with five flavors that prove plant-based can be just as decadent, including banana avocado sorbet, peanut butter strawberry crumble, bourbon and caramelized honeycomb, coconut rice pudding, and chocolate hazelnut cookies and cream. Plus, three local vegan pop-ups that became smash hits in 2020 have recently launched full-fledged brick-and-mortar joints: The Vietnamese pop-up Mama Đút and the Sri Lankan pop-up Mirisata both cropped up during the pandemic and spawned permanent locations last fall, and the vegan comfort food sensation Plant Based Papi opened a restaurant in late December.
