Who are they?

Why, they're the Halls, of course. What a silly question.

More specifically, they're Brittney (aka Bitty, the Writer) and Salvatore (aka Sally, the Chef). Just a couple of former Wyomingites who moved to Portland, Oregon to realize two lifelong dreams: 1) to live in Portland, Oregon, and 2) to go to culinary school. (Well that second one was Sal's dream, but being married to a chef can certainly be entered in the "dream" category, too.)

Anyway.

He's a full-fledged chef, now teaching at Oregon Culinary Institute. More precisely, he's the Lead Pastry Chef Instructor teaching Advanced Baking and Pastry. Loved and adored by staff and students alike, he still manages a charming humility even while he totally kicks ass at the art of creating delicious things that make people salivate. That's just how he rolls.

He's also an insufferable (but endearing!) coffee snob and an amateur beer brewer. He rides his bike to and from work -- 9 miles one way -- and has the best laugh of anyone you'll ever meet. And he volunteers to read to little kids once a week at a local elementary school. So, you know...he's a keeper.

She works for a cool and hip development company by day,and is a writer and artist by night. Like a superhero, but without the embarrassing Spandex costume. She's written a book big enough to require a pulley system to lift and may even one day be published if she ever gets her query letter sent out. An avid follower of politics, sustainability, astrononomy, bento-ing, and only the very coolest of fandoms, she geeks out in the 99th percentile of geektastery. And her love of The Decemberists has no equal.

When they're not busy being awesome and/or fabulous, or venturing forth to experience the city they love, traipsing out to the coast for regular beach vacations, or just generally flitting about hither and yon, the Halls keep busy renovating a 1909 Craftsman bungalow in the St. Johns neighborhood of Portland, the best neighborhood in all the land. They have a view of the St. Johns Bridge, an overflowing vegetable garden, and a room that they converted to a library. It's like waking up in a bed & breakfast every day, which is exactly as amazing as you'd think it would be. Work continues on the house, even though it couldn't possibly get any better. And yet, it does. Such is their crazy power for making a former upscale crackhouse (not really) into a cozy house of dreams. You know. It passes the time.