Cake dedicated to Kenzie!

 Cake, I love you.

 Took some pictures in the adjoining Ace Hotel after dinner--pictures are much better with babies. (old pics from Kenz's visit in November, that flash sure did freak Theo out.) And, now you know what Jon's mug shot will look like if he ever decides to become a serial killer.

It was my birthday yesterday! It was a great day. I got some great things, including the same nail polish I gave Kenz from David and Vanessa, and they also gave me a thread holder/organizer, which was something that I had no idea that I wanted and needed so badly until I saw it. Kenz thoughtfully took stock of my lack of sleep and general state and bought me a floating session from Float On. I am very intrigued and excited to try this. It's how Portlanders relax I guess? Sounds awesome to me.

I spent the whole birthday day making a cake. Jon got me some cake pans, and I wanted to make myself a layer cake. I also wanted to use my new cake stand my mom found for the greatest deal ever ($8!). I have made very few layer cakes in my life, so I decided it was only rational to make a four layered lemon cake, filled with lemon curd and marionberry curd, frosted with a Swiss buttercream. All from scratch. I know. It was my idea of an adventurous day. If Kenz was with me she would have been all over this idea. With the two of us together, we get exponentially ridiculous. It would have been something like, five layers, salted caramel frosting, each cake layer different flavors of chocolate, with a hidden  miniature replica of our likenesses hand carved from an almond inside. My whole day made me miss that she wasn't celebrating with me. Twin pains. Anyway, it all went pretty smoothly--but my friend watching Theo for a little bit for the assembly probably saved me from a stress filled disaster. (Thanks Amy!)

David and Vanessa offered to watch Theo (and she washed all my cake dishes while we were gone! Saint!) while Jon and I had a fancy pants dinner at Clyde Common. I dressed up, but forgot to bring Jon a change of clothes, so he was in scrubs. It was so nice to have a little dinner date, eating what Jon deemed our fanciest meal ever. Clyde Common's menu is kind of mysterious--they list the ingredients of the dish but don't really explain how it's cooked or how the ingredients are used. I mean, you can ask the waiter but that takes away all the fun and risk. Trout, copa, greens, mushrooms, fried egg--did I know it was going to be the whole fish, wrapped in copa, stuffed with greens, topped with a fried egg and mushrooms on the side? Nope. But I loved it, and I love the idea of just trusting that they would bring something delicious to you.

Ok, one more bit about the cake. When I assembled it, the frosting was light and fluffy. After it was done, I popped it in the fridge to prevent the layers from sliding off of each other. Side note, seven sticks of butter went into this thing total, 3 in the frosting. So when we cut into it, the buttercream was...buttery. Like a hard, sweet buttery shell. I'm guessing the refrigeration was a mistake. But it looked good. I'm still counting it as a success overall.