Dear Megs,

Unpacking is proceeding apace. I know I said I was basically going to leave it unfinished until after the orals, but I just can't. Alex and I are both working during the day and house-ing at night. We've totally rearranged and GOD! how many books we have! I mean, I knew this, but still. That all said, once we're done it'll really look like grownups live here; I'm very excited. However, unpacking all the bejillions of books makes me realize how well read I actually am - and feel all the stupider for it because I don't seem to remember shit.

As for coffee cake, I thought your cake was delicious. I think you're right that they are usually less cake-y, but that was a really good go at it as far as I'm concerned. I recently made a lemon coffee cake from a Martha Stewart recipe, but I didn't use Meyer lemons, and there was something weird about it. I detected a chemical-y aftertaste that my mom didn't notice until I mentioned it, but then did. Also, Martha (yes, we're on a first name basis since she went to the slammer) calls for coarse salt in the topping but I found that that produced these strange pockets of saltiness that were mildly unpleasant. It is not impossible that I simply did it wrong; advice would be appreciated. I would add a picture, but, despite the weird aftertaste, the cake did not last long.

One good thing about moving: I saw a lot of you last week. I miss you.

Loves!

Linz