So Simple & That Good Coffee Cake!

New Beginnings
September is all about new beginnings. children are going back to school, people saying goodbye to summer with Labor Day BBQ and fall fashion collections hitting the stores. In Israel September is often about the high holidays, Rosh Hashana, Kipur and Suckot all happening in the same month. It means that most people are crazy busy with planing dinners, buying gifts and also, if they can find the time, doing some thinking. Being as far as I am does not take away all that thinking and a few elements came together this past weekend. I thought about all the struggles I've been through and still am, what parts of it can I kiss goodbye, what will still be part of my daily life and what will simply sort itself on its own. A few images came to my mind and as always a taste bud arose to life in my mouth.

I think a lot about Eran and I trying to move forward in this life as a married couple and what that means. I love this picture because it reminds me that the journey should be together, and that we should always try to look forward and just be there for one another. And in a similar way I wanted to bake and eat a simple white cake, nothing fancy or fruity, just white moist and soft. So I made this simple coffee cake as a reminder that some things are better when they are in their most simplest form, like a bride and a groom walking together to their chuppa. To New Beginnings.

white, most and soft

And So we meet again!

I never bought this book, and it's not mine either, but it is part of the library collection of the sublet we are staying at now. I could actually feel this book calling me, so I got up from the sofa, which I refer to as my office for now and took a look. And to my surprise not only that this book was a Martha one it was signed by her too. "enjoy" it simply says. I couldn't help thinking that in a way this is all the "meeting Martha Stewart" I needed to get back and just do something.

 if you look very closely I think you can spot all the way in the end the infamous sign. Hollywood as they call this place is what I call now home. And I guess proportions would be exactly what the doctor orders are, since this is a bit overwhelming. It felt like a good spot to pick up this very lonely but optimistic blog. I will not bake my way through Martha's baking handbook, but I will try to see once again, and this time just for myself, what it is I want to do with my life here. I make a point of not having a solid plan till the day I die, it makes things harder at times but way more interesting. Besides it is this theme per se that got me to look at the Hollywood sign and start musing; where do I fit in all of that. So let the musing, eating and cooking start.

My first post!

So why would a girl from Israel (that's in the middle east, you know…) go and write a blog about baking her way through a Martha Stewart baking handbook? Well, mainly because she wants to! But seriously, how did Martha and her baking book come into my life?
Well, if we are going to be honest here, then the truth would be this: 3 months ago I quit my crappy job as a researcher in the T.V industry. Since then I have been looking for a new direction in life, or even just a new job I would want to do. Nothing came to me. Not even when everybody else kept asking me: "So what are you going to do next?". I can't even start telling you how much I hate those questions!

But actually, I DID do something all this time - I baked. Just like I have been doing for many years. And I'm only 25… As time went by, the question marks kept growing and kept bothering me. After all, most people around me at the age of 25 know exactly what they will be when they grow up, I DONT. So what?!!?

So I'll tell you what I do know.

I have lots of free time, at least until I find a new job(working on it).

I love baking, love putting a cake in the oven and watch the magic in process.

But most of all I like to think of a day not so far away, when someone annoying asks me the what-do-you-wanna-be-when-you-grow-up question, and I'll smile and say: Martha Stewart. And I'm working on it!

It all finally came together as I was watching the wonderful Julie & Julia movie. I could do the same with Martha!!!

I'm going to keep it simple. One great book (Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook), 174 recipes, 9 months. Go!

So this is where it starts. Baking Powder biscuits- A fresh golden and crispy start.