Living City Plant CSA

For the garden this year, I've bought a share in a plant CSA.  It works a bit like a regular CSA namely that I pay out money upfront and then they set me up with starts and seeds I should be planting at the correct time of the year.  I picked up my first batch today.  It included: a rhubarb crown (very good as mine died a sad death), a couple of walking onions (I've been wanting some for a few years now) and four packets of seeds (arugula, fava beans, snap peas and German chamomile).  I look forward to getting those into the ground.

I also got a list of the rest of the plants and seeds I would receive.  This is all very exciting and I'll report back as to my progress.   

What happens when you don't level your layers.

You have to use a lot of frosting to spackle in the spaces between the layers and then there is nothing left for decoration fun.  Alas.

Mom's birthday cake.

She wanted "that white cake you made that one time, that was so good."  So I pulled out the Joy of Cooking Recipe and made it.  I did use Vintage Cake's Vanilla Bean Buttercream recipe to frost the cake though.
 

Sadly, I did not level my cake layers before I frosted and thus ran out of frosting.
 

Also, I forgot to remove the waxed paper before freezing the layers and had a heck of a time peeling it off of the frozen cake before frosting.
2
It wasn't a pretty cake, but it tasted all right.

New cooking school

We found a new cooking school near us.  SHARP, which features the food and service of the students of the International Culinary School, serves a three-course lunch for $12.00 on Thursdays and Fridays.  What a deal!

Our pre-first-course starter:  an apple slice with blue cheese, honey and walnuts.
 

Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the first course (Eggplant Bruschetta, Winter Squash Soup) and the main course (Macaroni & Cheese with brussles sprouts, Goose leg with spatzel)

But here is dessert:
Key Lime Pie with gingersnap crust.
 

Tasting of Woodblock Chocolates.
 

Matt was also fond of the pear ginger shrub soda.

Sharp was good food at a good price.  I'm sure we will visit again.

Word on the street is we have new games.

Thanks to our game patron, we now have two new games.  Word on the Street bolsters our paltry lack of word games and has the advantage of being an Out of the Box game, meaning you can explain it to new players quickly.  Escape From the Aliens in Outer Space is a cat-and-mouse-type game with the ability to make the game as easy or as complex as your players desire.

NWCTC's Arms and the Man

Matt and I took the MAunts to our favorite theater company's production of Arms & the Man by George Bernard Shaw.

Here are our typical poorly lit pre-show pictures.

Matt sitting by the bed.
We've seen a goodly amount of shows in this tiny theater with beds in them.  This one cleverly folded up to become an outdoor setting.
 

This picture shows the other side of the set.  One confused patron entered the theater and, perhaps confounded at the small size of the theater, took a seat on one of the chairs on stage.  There then passed an uncomfortable moment where I wondered if he was joking around or I should say something.  He looked similarly uncomfortable and after a moment remarked, "Oh, I see how it works" and crossed the stage to take a regular seat on the side.  Phew.

The play itself was a delightfully funny bonbon of a show, perfect for a January afternoon.

Rose City Rollers Season 8 Opener

We'd never been!  And thanks to Laurie and Burt, we went and it was really fun.  I loved how all different body types made for good Roller Derby.  The scoring system is interesting in that one team can be very far behind for most of the bout and then make an amazing comeback and win.  And those women can skate!
 

We weren't allowed to take photos during the bouts, but I snuck a cell phone photo during warm ups.

Then Laurie took one of us together.