Caramel Apple Cakes & Pumpkin Confections

 

I have a confession: I daydream about dessert. Cakes, cookies, bars, puddings. You name it, I dream it. The fall is a particularly dangerous time for me. When I should be reading my mental health text book and coming up with care plans for clinical I'm longingly looking over various recipes for apple cakes and pumpkin cream cheese muffins. What is it about the fall that screams BAKE ME! EAT ME!? Am I the only one inflicted with this delicious disease? I believe there is at least one other person who understands my plight.... I mean you Stephanie Lentz. There is this amazing, indescribably decadent three layer caramel apple cake in my Baked Explorations book that I've been dying to make. I was having a hard time coming up with an excuse to make a huge three layer cake so I decided to half the recipe (genius! I don't know why it took me three weeks to come up with that, but I did). So this past Saturday night I rolled up my sleeves and made the apple spice cake layers with a caramel butter cream frosting topped with homemade caramel sauce. We served it to our Ruth bible study group yesterday because if it was up to us to eat it all I'm pretty sure it would be no problem at all. I am also scheming to make something pumpkiny, perhaps muffins or a loaf?

Fall weather in Boston has been absolutely beautiful (much like Seattle!) with sunny, warm days and crisp mornings. It's been in the seventies for most of September and now just dropping into the sixties and fifties. Last weekend we went apple picking in Ipswich with our good friends the Ungs (they also went with us last year). This year was five thousand times better than last year. Last year (if you remember from our blog post) there were hoards of candy-apple-high children everywhere and a ghastly one hour line for cider doughnuts. We had a very pleasant 1/2 mile walk to the orchard while we munched on yummy cider doughnuts and sipped steaming apple cider. It was cool enough that I got to wear my boots and a scarf which of course only completed my autumnal bliss.

Also worth noting is that Alli & Taylor came out to visit us not long ago. We had a marvelous time hosting the Huertas. I believe that they get the award for most touristy couple to visit us yet. They were tourist machines! I can't believe all that they packed in - it was extremely impressive. They did things Chad and I have never done and now we're thinking about doing (like a guided tour of Harvard). The historical sights were only outdone by the enormous amount of eating and drinking we did. Alli & Taylor arrived early morning Tuesday on the red-eye out of Seattle (like many of you have done). After a morning nap we managed to have lunch at Sunset Bar & Grill, stop in to see the JFK library (but skip the $12 admission!), visit the L Street Tavern in Southie (bar from Goodwill Hunting), do the Harpoon tasting, stop in at Drink (the most delightful little cocktail establishment) and finish up at Tremont 647 for $2 taco night. And all this before 8:30 pm! The next night Alli & Taylor treated us to dinner at The Abbey, a yummy eatery in Washington Square. On their last day in town we drove up to Portland Maine and had a great day. We ate lunch at Duck Fat (where waits were close to one hour), played pool and darts in a Mexican dive bar that served very cheap, local microbrews, and had a delicious lobster dinner at Street & Co. We were so happy to have friends in town and it was so much fun showing Alli & Taylor around - they are truly special friends!

Harvard at sunset.

Fall is a fairly busy time in the Mayer household. Chad is busy with school admission events (he is on the Admission committee as well as school government) and tutoring. We're very excited about Chad's first review board meeting next Monday. This is Chad's opportunity to receive feedback about his research and the direction he is headed. This should help Chad guide his research more efficiently in order to finish up the PhD quickly - which is something we all want. Prayer concerning this is as always greatly appreciated. Chad has been hard at work with the mice and his cell cultures - hopefully all his hard work will come to fruition. Research can be really tough - you have to fail so many times before you have one success. It's certainly not for everyone. Definitely not for me! I'm sorry to admit, but I need more affirmation! I have been quite busy at school. With the addition of clinicals and babysitting once or twice a week I'm keeping a brisk pace! Clinicals have been such an amazing experience so far. I am so glad to get back to working with patients. All of my patients have been the sweetest people and I'm learning so much! I have already had patients with a g-tubes, catheters, surgical wounds, IV's, etc. Every Friday is always an adventure!

October is well under way and we still have many fall activities to look forward to. The all-church retreat is coming up at the end of the month which we are really looking forward to. The guest speaker is none other than Eugene Cho, pastor at Quest in Seattle, also the pastor who married us.

We hope that you all are having a magical autumn filled with caramel apple cakes and pumpkin confections.

 

Posted with Blogsy