Fall rains, tomato harvest, and a hungarian crêpe cake

How exciting! I've never lived anywhere where the weather radar shows not only blue (snow), but pink/purple! (ice):

It's been really rainy for the last couple days and apparently will continue for another week - it's amazing sitting at home in the evening seeing so much rain come down outside. It's hypnotizing, and I love it.

The tree outside the window grows thinner and thinner every week, one branch turning red before another - nature's own calendar

As it's starting to get really cold and wet, I think it's about time to start harvesting the tomatoes. The constant rain will start to rot the leaves anyways, so I might as well begin plucking them to keep inside as they ripen. At the very least, I'll have green tomatoes to use as well for something creative in the kitchen.

My first golden tomato :-) How pretty

So the other day I got a wonderful surprise invitation from some friends to come over for dinner. I had a great time indoors warming myself with delicious Hungarian beef stew and spinach/cheese stuffed tomatoes while listening to the rain fall down outside. Going with the theme of the dinner, I decided to attempt a Hungarian layered crêpe cake. I was looking through a bunch of different Hungarian dessert recipes, only to realize that they are very similar to Austrian fine pastries (think Austro-Hungarian empire - remember AP world history?). At first it looked complicated, but I realized I had everything on hand already and figured it wouldn't be the end of the world even if I failed, so ....

The crêpe making begins!

Probably made about 20-25 crêpes, layering them with my recently made apple spice butter and another cake with my strawberry jam ... baked with a glaze made with my peach preserves

The crêpe cake I served at the dinner was much prettier, but here's the strawberry one we have at home ... crêpes all layered together and powdered sugar on top. Not too sweet (I hate super sweet desserts) so you could enjoy the taste of the fruit preserve and the crêpes themselves.

My new Tretorn rain boots have been very helpful in keeping my feet warm and dry, and my Columbia rain shell is being put to the test this week with all this rain! 

Off to orchestra rehearsal now ... less than 1 month until the concert - everything is coming together nicely.