Sorry it's been so long

It's been a while since I've/we've blogged about life in Portland. 

My time at Le Cordon Bleu is almost over.  I only have 3 days of class left before I go off to my externship at St. Jack in Southeast Portland.   I'm very excited.  This last class, Centerpiece and Cake Decoration Technique has been really fun, but also really challenging.  We only have 3 projects in this class, as opposed to past classes where we had multiple desserts/cakes./projects within a few days of each other. 

Here is a picture of the birthday cake I had to make in class.  It was my first time working with rolled fondant (the white stuff covering the cake).  I think it turned out alright. :)  The hippos are made out of marzipan and the band on the bottom is made of modeling chocolate (tootsie roll type chocolate).  We worked on piping out the phrase "Happy Birthday" and the snail trails at the bottom.  The hippos were fun to make. :)

 

Here are pictures of my wedding cake.  We shaped and colored gum paste leaves and flowers and made pastillage monogram cake toppers.  We also worked on more piping (snail trails and scrolls).  I didn't think I'd like the wedding cake project, but I ended up having a good time with it. 

My last project is going to be a sugar showpiece, which I am working on the rest of this week.


Outside of school...work for both Eric and I has been good.  Nothing crazy to report, though Eric did a get a new work car because the one he was driving had a few miles on it. :)  It's great.  It still has the "new car" smell!

The weather has been beautiful and we've had some good opportunities to enjoy it.

We've been keeping busy on the weekends by going to shows or festivals.

We went to the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Northeast Portland and had a few good laughs.  The headliner was a guy we had seen in Tacoma a few years ago.  We thought he was better this time around than the last time we saw him. 

We also had a chance to go down to Woodburn, OR to check out the Tulip Festival.  It was really pretty. :) 

Couldn't find the Vander Pol tulips...

 

And most recently we went to the Cinco de Mayo celebration down at Waterfront Park.  There was tons of food, games, rides and people.

I won Eric a prize!

All in all, things are going pretty well down here.  Though there are times when we miss home.  (It helps to have family around!)  We are hoping to come up some time soon.  Until then people are welcome to come down and visit us!!