If you’re a child of the South, the mere title of this
piece should have your heart a-flutter. Never mind that your sugar
count just shot through the roof. Let me say at the outset,
friend…it was wonderful. And worth every divine
calorie.
Ed and I were on the way home from Tennessee
and North Carolina. A week with our grandsons plus a long weekend
at an intense writer’s conference left us needing a couple of days of total down
time before we got home. We sat down in Charleston (Embassy Suites
on Meeting Street is a great location). We’ve done the tourist
things there in days past, so this time we just strolled around and soaked up
the historic ambiance for two days.
One of those strolls took us to Halls Chophouse for
dinner. It’s on King Street, right near the Visitor’s
Center. And it is gooooood! Ed enjoyed the quail
while I swooned into a scrumptious plate of shrimp and grits. And
then the cute little waitress said those words that headline this entry.
“Fourteen-layer caramel cake.” I nearly fell off my bistro
chair. Forget the eating plan. I was not leaving
without it. I mean, I’ve had three-layer and even six-layer but
fourteen layers of caramel deliciousness is a once in a lifetime event!
Just for the record, it was a huge slice and we did share
it.
As I told the waitress, caramel cake is more than
tradition in the South. It’s sacred. When I get to
heaven and go to that Great Banquet Jesus talks about in Luke, I expect to see
all fourteen layers of heavenly caramel cake. O what a foretaste
of glory divine!