Art Party

Art happened, Whiskey Sours were drunk, cakes were eaten. It was a good party.
 

Here's my finished collage.
 

 

Art Party Cake

After the birthday came the Art Party and another reason to make a cake.  Here's the Goober Cake from Vintage Cakes.  Peanut butter cake, chocolate ganache and peanut butter frosting.

I enjoyed frosting this cake because I usually have a level of mild anxiety while frosting. Will I have enough frosting to easily coat the outside of the cake and separate the layers?  But this cake needed no side frosting which meant I just divided everything in three and plopped it on the layers.  Also, this cake was delicious.  The Double Dip Caramel Cake was divine, but this was satisfying in an everyday miracle sort of way.

Birthday Cake!

Would you like to come along as I assemble my birthday cake?  Great!

Here is the first layer of the cake, the caramel frosting and the caramel.
 

The layers are stacked, the caramel has been spread on each layer, as has frosting, and I'm about to put the top coat on.
 

Sentinel is a good helper.  He's always right by my side in the kitchen, eager to assist.
 

And here it is in all its finery.  Double Dip Caramel Cake made from my new favorite cookbook:  Vintage Cakes.
 

Scrap is awesome.

After stopping to purchase finger paints for our Art Party and also some whiskey, we swung by Scrap, which is a fabulous place to inspire creativity.  We aimed to get good stuff for collage and we were not disappointed.

Scrap recycles things and makes them available for people to make art with at very cheap prices.  They also make very funny signs.  You may see these as birth control pill containers, but no!  Scrap has other ideas.
 

Also very funny.
 

Here's a great way to use up all those old bike helmets you have laying around.
 

And who needs a brand new 2013 calendar when you could just use a matching year?
 

We got a box full of good stuff for our party.  Thanks Scrap!
 

We spend our winnings.

As you may recall, we were big winners and received a free meal from Elmer's (including beverage!) as our prize.  First off, let me say that I LOVE that Elmer's lets everyone order off of the senior/children's menu.  That is awesome.
 

Matt went for the most expensive thing on the menu:  a dungeness crab and shrimp omelet with a side of pancakes and blueberries.
 

I got the ham and pear wrap with a side of cottage cheese.  I had been craving cottage cheese and here it was.

It was a good meal.  Thanks Portland Parks and Rec, for our prize.

NWCTC's Othello

We settled in for yet another excellent production by our favorite Shakespeare company.  This production was directed by Bill Alexander, who came to Portland just to work with NWCTC.  The cast was fabulous with WRICK Jones a dogged and growling Othello and Michael Mendelson a deliciously conniving Iago.  But the people who really "brought it" to the production were the women:  Susan Nelle was an excellent Doge of Venice, Clara-Liis Hillier was an electric Bianca (who was also wearing a fabulous dress thanks to costume designer McKenna Twedt.)  Dana Millican was mesmerizing as Emilia, melting under the sway of Iago, collapsing when she realized the extent of her betrayal.  Melissa Whitney was a radiant  Desdemona, full of love, full of confusion and fully betrayed.

The fight scenes were also enjoyable, they seemed just enough out of control that the actors would go tumbling into the audience.  And Matt was delighted to sit next to the seat Iago returned to again and again to recount with glee his devious plans.

We're looking forward to Pericles, which is right around the corner.

Eager bread.

I may have let this bread rise a bit too long.