Cupcakes on the Run: Preacher's Chocolate Cake

Family:
My nephew Zach stayed with us a few days last week. It was my brother's 44th birthday (on the 15th) and I made a delicious chocolate cake for him. He ate a ton of it and took home more, so I know it was good. I usually buy birthday cakes from Concord Teacakes in West Concord, MA (not to be confused with Concord, NH -- where I grew up), but while on vacation, I read the March/April issue of Yankee Magazine and there was an article about a cake lady from Madison, NH (she's 81). Her story was great and the article included a recipe to one of her favorite cakes, Preacher's Chocolate Cake. I had to make it; I will be making it again. I made a tasty cream cheese frosting to go with it.

Fun:
One of our super-nice neighbors lent us their giant bouncy waterslide while they were away on vacation this summer. We used this twice this week. Water + bouncing = LOTS of fun. We also went to Davis Farmland -- one of my favorite places to take our kids too, they've got a bit of everything (endangered animals, play villages, playgrounds, bouncy hut, face painting, spray park, hayrides, and did I mention animals). Zach loves this place! We also went blueberry picking -- our 3rd time this summer, and of course, to Sandy Pond.

Fitness:
I only have one Garmin link to my run as the watchband to my GPS broke and I need to replace it. At first I was a bit sad, but now I'm feeling okay about it as I am less focused on the clock/my time and more focused on the run itself.

Ayer/Groton 7.8 by mappy17 at Garmin Connect - Details

I ran this run twice. Saturday I didn't want to run as Chris and I went out to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary (it was in July) and I passed up on dessert to try my first-ever chocolate martini. The martini was delicious and combined with the wine and pre-dinner cocktail...let's just say there was no way I was going to do the Ayer/Groton loop again.

I ended up running three days: Sunday (7.8), Thursday (7.8) and Saturday (2.8) and a weights workout on Monday. Chris left for San Francisco on Sunday. More on that in another blog update. For now, I'll leave you with more pictures from our fun week with Zachary.