Author: stenaros

Easter Egg Cake

Never again will I make a cake that requires me to crumble cake and mix it with frosting then mold it into a shape. Never. Again.

The Easter Egg Cake from Serious Eats came out much better than mine did. I would have been better off making the cake that site links to, which has better layers.

The problem started when I didn’t cut the layers correctly, leaving a big gap between the back and front halves of the cake. I ended up cutting the circumference of the back half and mushing up that part of the cake to make some cake spackle to bridge the difference between the high and the low.

Here’s the finished product. I ended up running short on frosting (blame the cake/frosting spackle?) and by the time I got all the crumbs moderately covered, I just sprinkled the sanding sugar on top rather than make a pretty design. I was done.

It didn’t cut nicely in layers, which makes sense as much of it wasn’t a layer but was cake spackle, but it did taste good. Especially with Rick’s homemade ice cream.

Type 1, Gone Forever

Type 1s were one of two of the the Max train cars in use when I moved to Portland. They weren’t very ADA friendly; there were steps to climb up. The Type 2s with their flat entry were the other type.

Reading the TriMet newsletter, I sadly realized that I would not be in Portland for the Type 1 sendoff.

I ordered a Type 1 pin in lieu of going to the sendoff and signing my name on the exterior.

Books Read in March 2026

*read for book group | bolded means favorite

Picture Books

*Shabbat Shalom: Let’s Rest and Reset by Suzy Ultman

Middle Grade

*Where Only Storms Grow by Alyssa Colman
*Hungry Bones by Louise Hung
*Neshama by Marcella Pixley
*Tall Water by S.J. Sindu and Dion MBD

Young Adult

*The Rebel Girls of Rome by Jordyn Taylor
*He’s So Possessed with Me by Corey Liu
*Tall Water by S.J. Sindu and Dion MBD

Grownup Fiction

Do Admit: The Mitford Sisters and Me by Mimi Pond

I would have liked more of Mimi Pond; her interludes drop off mid-book. But there is a lot to cover with six sisters, so I get it. I loved the color palette.

Lizard Boy at PCS

Lizard Boy has been kicking around the Pacific Northwest, since 2015, but today was my first viewing.

I am a fan! I’m kind of mad that I didn’t find this musical until now. It’s three actors who carry the whole musical with the normal singing and acting that musical theater people do. But they also provided all the music! And some of the music is provided by a cello. All three (Milo Marami, Lo Steele, and Benjamin Tissell) were incredible.

I will be looking out for other stagings of this one. It didn’t seem to sell well. All remaining tickets were half price the final weekend, which isn’t a good sign, but maybe that deal got a few more people in the doors.

I previously enjoyed Benjamin Tissell’s performance as Andrew in Recent Tragic Events at Third Rail Rep.

No Kings Day, March 2026

Our day started at the corner of 39th and Hawthorne, where Matt was a corner captain. I held a sign made by the Indivisible D2 art team.

There was a really good turnout at all four corners. More than two hundred people on each corner.

This lady had my favorite wordy sign.

From there, Matt took the bus down to the waterfront, and I drove the car home, had some lunch, and then took the train down to the waterfront.

I met up with Matt who had the signs, and we caught up with the puppets. There were three puppets in our group: Stephen Miller:

Trump (front):

Trump (back):

And RFK Jr., who I was mostly walking nearby and didn’t get a picture of until the end.

Our signs were playing cards with different members of the administration on the. You can see a few of them in the pictures with the puppets.

Because I was carrying a sign, I had fewer hands free to take photos. But this yellow sign was my favorite graphic protest sign:

I also like that the woman with a huge camera is looking straight at my camera.

I’m always on the lookout for good protest fashion and this was the best outfit I saw. I love the hat, the casual skirt and blouse, the knee socks and the comfortable shoes. Well done, random protester.

It was a gorgeous day for a protest.

Our Masquerade Mystery Invite Has Arrived!

Friends Greg and Renee are throwing a masquerade mystery party for Renee’s fortieth birthday, and we have been invited! Greg and Renee are precision people and thus this is not the first invitation we received. In January, we got an electronic invitation that made us promise to show up if we RSVP’d yes. Everyone has to come in order for the mystery to work!

So now we are officially invited and have our characters. Matt: The stallion! Me: the mouse.

While I’m not super feeling the mouse character, I am super excited to assemble my mouse costume. My goals are: (1) cheap to obtain the materials and (2) as much of it as rewearable as possible and (3) mostly made by me.

I’ve already got some ideas and am excited to get started.

The Academy Awards at the Kiggins

Laurie, Kelly and I had another great time at the Kiggins while watching the Academy Awards. For the second year in a row both Laurie and I won something, while Kelly was shut out.

Laurie won improv tickets, and I won a Kiggins popcorn bowl for having the KPop Demon Hunters card for best animated feature. Plus, I also won a $10 Kiggins gift card for shouting “cell” faster than anyone else trying to answer the question about the traditional form of animation.

The ceremony had a lot of really good speeches, and some very good wins. (Though Sean Penn winning best supporting over Benicio Del Toro? Nuh-uh!)

Linda’s 74th Birthday

Eagle-eyed readers will note right away the error in cake decorating. I did the math wrong. But my QA person also did not catch that his mother was not turning 76.

We went out for delicious Chinese food and then back to Rick and Linda’s place for cake and ice cream.

Linda voted to have the cake now, rather than freezing to wait two years until she was actually 76.