Category: All (-ish)

Vintage Cakes: Gingerbread Icebox Cake with Mascarpone Mousse

Or make that “mascarpone” mousse as I had plans to make my own mascarpone, but the shop that sells the cultures was closed due to snow.  I needed a pound of mascarpone, which would have cost me $10.00 at New Seasons, so I went with the Internet cheat of cream cheese, a bit of sour cream and a bit of whipped cream.  Viola!  “Mascarpone”
I made the cookies on the Friday of the snow and the party was moved from Sunday (because of ice) to Monday.  So Monday I assembled.  Ten layers of gingerbread cookies with the mousse dividing them.

“But how will you cut this cake?” every single person at the birthday party asked me individually.  The plan was that the mousse would soften the cookies and it would be easy to slice.

And it was!  Isn’t it fun?

Delicious too!

Wardrobe Architect: Proportions and Silhouettes

I hated this exercise.  It involved spending a ton of time clicking through images and not finding what I wanted.  It’s everything I hate about shopping, but with no actual clothing to wear in the end.  Plus, my pictures are very large and I want them to be smaller.  Alas.  Onward we must go.

Let’s start with the names I gave to each picture.  They were something like Winter 1, Fall/Winter 2 etc. But really, when you get right down to it, in Portland for about 51 weeks of the year I can wear the exact same thing.  I don’t wear shorts, so the dresses and skirts and short sleeves get augmented by tights and cardigans and the sandals switch out for shoes with socks or boots and there you have it, a 51 week wardrobe.  There are four days in the summer where you wear the super strappy dress and there are three days in the winter when you have no clothing for the incredibly cold temperatures, but other than that, it’s the same thing year round.  So ignore the Winter/Fall/Summer designations I gave.

Here’s my first combo.  Bright dress, (and why the back view, I have no idea) tights (though not in summer,) black shoes I can walk in.  I like bright colors, or fun prints in dresses.  Dresses need to be at least knee-length, should be fitted through the bodice and flared through the skirt.

This is the usual weekend thing.  Jeans (or pants,) fitted shirt, black shoes I can walk in.  The shirt can have most any neckline, the sleeves need to be long for winter, but shorter for summer.  I like stripes a lot, but solid, bright colors are good too.

Here was something I remembered while doing this.  I like FUN clothes.  I particularly like plaid pants.  So this outfit is the “oh yeah, I like fun things” reminder.  The shirt has fun detail, the pants are a fun print.  Again the shoes are black and I can walk in them.

Here’s the dress in the summer variety.  Fun print, good color, black shoes I can walk in.

Here’s my last one.  Black skirt (but with fun detail) bright shirt, which gets tights and a cardigan in the winter, black shoes I  can walk in.

So that’s it.  I know I like fitted uppers, with flaring skirts, that I can do straight pants with fitted tops.  That I like fun clothing and black shoes I can walk in.  There’s probably more, but I’m tapped out.

Today’s snow walk theme: signs.

I hearkened on the theme as I passed by the DMV.  I was pretty sure what all those orange sign said, but decided to take a closer look. Then, as I passed by the businesses in the neighborhood, I made note of their signs.

DMV. Rather apocalyptic in its repetitiveness and color.

Pizza Fino.  We Portlanders have to be reminded of proper etiquette concerning snow.

Liquor Store.  The Liquor Store in Kenton reminded us of the snow etiquette too.  But then they just gave up and closed due to snow.

“Glass” shop.  You can guess by the quotes and the bars on the window what kind of glass they sell.  The sign says:  Noon to 6pm Snow Hours

Po’Shines.  Notice the change from 3:30 to 3:00.  It was really coming down yesterday afternoon.

Lambeth Tag.  A prophylactic sign.

Panda Express.

Perfect Look Hair Salon.  I love the hand written sign, the parenthetical asides (snow) and the incorrect date.

US Bank (located inside the open Fred Meyer store)

Revived Cellular.  I like how they just shut it all down on the first day of the snow.

Sweet Science Boxing Lab. They are open, but you have to be careful.

Bike Shop.  I can’t find evidence of their name on the Internet.  Regardless, I like the instructions to “Go Play.”

Early morning walk

The meditation and the 8:00 a.m. gym class were cancelled so I headed out for another walk through the snow.
It seems the neighbor cat peeked around the corner before retreating back to her side of the building.

The library was yarn bombed in the summer and the bombs still remain, now capped with snow.

Snow on this yarn bomb bike staple.

I need to go back and check to see what is usually under this cone of snow.

I’m guessing it is decorative grass.  It’s so very conical.
Here’s some sewer work that was interrupted by the snow.

At the Interstate/Lombard intersection there was trouble with this truck.  Other cars had to back up and a passerby directed traffic, so he could make his turn.

His chains were not quite affixed.

Birds were out and about.

More drifting snow.

Walking in the snow.

I got up early for a walk in the snow.  Here’s the view from just down the road.  As you can see, there have been few cars, a few people and one bike out and about before me.

Walk sign covered with snow.

Partial obscuring of street sign by snow.

I think that no one will want this couch.

A rare sight in Portland!  A shoveled walk!

Portlenders are very good at hunkering down in the snow.  We’re stalwart through the worst driving rain, but everyone just gives up at the first sight of a flake.  Example:  it’s 7:15 in the morning and I was the first person to walk on this stretch of sidewalk.

It was a blowing snow, so there were some fun shapes.

I shoveled my walk, though.  When shoveling happens only every few years, it’s quite fun.

I set out later for another walk.  Here I cut through a pristine alley.  But you notice a bike has been here before me.

A van, but what’s this?

A bit of snow graffiti.  This was sweet graffiti.  My friend captured a picture of a car where someone had written “PENIS” and another passerby had amended the word to “DENTIST”
More drifts of snow.

Icicle.