Houston, we have a problem

We have been home for two weeks now, happily returned to our home and real life. And yet, re-entry has been somewhat difficult. Four weeks away shouldn't feel like a lifetime, but it does. For whatever reason, my brain has not fully readjusted to being home, so functioning normally - as mom, wife, and baker - is something of a challenge.


Would it be so hard to fit this into a carry-on?!

For example, my grip on both of our primary languages has slipped.  I have no idea what we have and what we are missing in the fridge, freezer, and pantry.  My grocery lists are woefully incomplete. It's almost like the post-Pesach, need to restock on all the staples and not a few extras syndrome that takes time to complete.  Every time I get out of the car, I start stomping my left foot.  Why? Because our awesome rental car, a fully loaded Chrysler Town and Country, had a parking brake pedal.  My less awesome Mazda MPV, has a handle to pull up. And no automatic doors or seats, no satellite radio, no DVD player, no wireless headphone, and did I mention no automatic doors?!

And I spent a couple of days after I got back to work complaining that something was wrong with the hot water connection from the dud shemesh (solar hot water heater) to the kitchen sink.  I was getting scalding hot water in the shower, but just warm water in the kitchen sink.  Why?  Because I was turning the handle THE WRONG WAY!!! Six years experience in my kitchen was undone by four lousy weeks away. Maybe I should have taken my mom up on it when I asked her to show me where she keeeps the pareve knives and she answered, "You're only here for four weeks - don't worry about it..." Maybe if I had sat on a chair and let others serve me, coming home would be less confusing.  But it's not my style (see previous post!) and I will just have to muddle through.

All in all, though, I am happy to be home and back in my life.  I made these adorable cookies for a new baby girl, and got to make good use of my new onesie cookie cutter - so much fun! I now have blog posts to compose, recipes to create, cakes and cookies to design and execute, life to live and if I am lucky, a vacation to enjoy.

Shavua tov!
Dvora

The devils' playthings

It's my hands. They are idle. And if I were that kind of a girl, I would probably be getting into trouble. But honestly, I am too boring for that, so they are just itching for some creative action. I miss my kitchen, and my mixer, and my pans (don't worry, I got more! where I will put them, I don't know...), and my ingredients that are familiar and that work the way I think they will. (Who knew, six years ago I was saying the same thing about our new home and new kitchen on the other side of the ocean...times have changed!) Whatever I have baked here has not come out exactly right, though I am not entirely sure what the bad variable was.  Maybe it was me...

I will have plenty of baking work when I get home, but for now I am going the think about all the things I want to make when I get there. How about

Boston Cream Whoopie pies? (picture from Tracy's Culinary Adventures, not mine! Isn't it so yummy looking?!)

Cutie pie cookies with my new cutters?

Swiss meringue buttercream?  Yes, I have a phobia, born of strange experience and the pareve restriction I have adopted...

Any other ideas from new and fun baking projects?  Can't wait to scour all the blogs I haven't had time for lately, and I would love your ideas too!

Looking forward to baking again, for real,

Dvora

It even happens to me...

I make an incredibly delicious chocolate cinnamon bundt cake with mocha glaze.  Actually, that's a lie.  Sometimes I make a beautiful, delectable bundt cake.  Other times, I make half a bundt cake and a whole lot of chunks and crumbs of bundt cake.  Then I make a whole bunch of tears.  Yes, gentle readers, baking disasters happen even to the professionals.  And when all is said and done, whether the cake gently slid out of the pan or just broke apart into a bazillion pieces, I need to serve my guests and family something for dessert!! 

Lucky for all of us, the Joy of Kosher website knows that every baker could use a few tips on salvaging baking disasters - and asked me to write a post about it!  Not only does the article include ideas for saving the day with creative and tasty fixes, it also features a recipe for really delicious blondies that are a snap to make, come together in no time, and satisfy every sweet tooth.

So head on over to Joy of Kosher to check out the article, the recipe, and lots of other great recipes, ideas, and inspiration! Make sure to leave a comment if you like what you see!

Welcome to the Tribe!

It is an amazing feeling to help people celebrate their good times.  Engagements, weddings, sheva brachot, bar and bat mitzvahs, anniversaries, birthdays, achievements - what a privilege to help make someone's day a little sweeter.  One of the more recent additions to the repertoire of life cycle cakes we've been doing is the brit milah cake.  Don't get any ideas!  It's nothing graphic or icky; just cakes welcoming a new arrival into the family and into the tribe.

This was a particular favorite, as it incorporates one of the traditional blessings for the newborn - "As he entered the covenant, so may he enter into Torah, Chuppah (marriage), and good deeds." Each part of the blessing is represented with a symbol:

A pillow to rest the baby on - with the blessing "May this little one become great" or more plaintively, "May this little one grow up."

Torah

The Chuppah, or marriage canopy



Good deeds - charity

 


The priestly breastplate, for the family's Cohen status

In the meantime, my apologies for pictures that refuse to line up properly - new formatting is giving me headaches...

The next was for the same family, several months later. This cake was for the brit of a grandson born to a "Steps and Stairs" family - boy, girl, boy, girl, and now another boy.

 And the final brit cake is a fun twist on the car window stickers that keep popping up everywhere.

This cake featured the whole family - the dad, who loves to play piano; the mom, who is a loving wife and mother; big brother, who loves playing soccer; big sister, who loves playing on a slide; and the new baby, whose interests we look forward to learning as he grows!

May all the new arrivals continue to bring joy to their families!

Dvora

That Devil Technology

Technology seems to be much the topic of the day - or at least it was of late, what with the giant Internet Asifa and all.  Far be it for me to say whether technology and the Internet (should it be capitalized? - I kind of feel it should) represent the ultimate good or evil in our lives, but I can point out just a couple of points.
1.  For probably the first time in my life, I counted the Omer from beginning to end this year, thanks to the handy-dandy email  I received nightly, (not to mention the seven sms's in one evening I received when I signed on for that service; rest assured I cancelled the next day) except for Shabbat and Chag, of course.

2. My phone has both siddur and sefer tehillim apps on it, making it much easier to keep up with davening, bentching, and the tehillim gemach I take part in.

3.  I receive weekly divrei Torah and parsha questions via email and find links to Torah related blogs posted by friends on Facebook.

4. I have met interesting people through my blog and Facebook page - new clients and fellow bloggers - and I have enjoyed and benefitted from the interactions.

5.  Rarely does a week go by when we are not asked to make a "Favorite Thing" cake that includes a computer/iPod/iPhone.  For better or for worse, I know what kids these days are into, because that's what their parents put on their birthday cakes...  Pretty sure there is no putting that genie back in the bottle!

So with the desire to make the great devil a little more palatable and a whole lot sweeter, I present to you a few examples of technology gone cake-y... (Forgive the bad puns, I am a little punchy right now.  So if this post up and disappears or seems wildly edited in the morning, you will know I thought better of it in the morning light.

The laptop and the cellphone are nearly mandatory at this point.

Honestly, what self-respecting teenage would want to do without?

And of course, the ever-present iPod (not an exact replica.  Like a memoir, it conveys the spirit rather than absolute verisimilitude.)

Though you've got to love the anti-technology that this particular birthday boy loves just as well, the Rubik's Cube.

And let's not forget the video games, be they on the computer, phone, gaming system, or just hand drawn on fondant...

But when it comes to the iPod, I have to admit I was a novice, a know-nothing.  Then came the cake order that changed it all, the one that included "that fruit cutting game with the sword."  Just for the record, the new mother-in-law who ordered it didn't know what it was either.  But I was able to ask my kids, and in the name of research, learned to play Fruit Ninja. And play research a little more. And just a bit more.  And to decorate a cake like it.

The best-known game, of course, is Angry Birds.  Why are they so angry?  Dunno, maybe it's from being flung from a slingshot.  As Dani said, my birds are a little more annoyed than angry...

Maybe it's because I keep missing the pigs. :-(

Which brings us to the final nail in the coffin, the iPod cake.  The whole darned cake is an iPod, in the artistic license sense, with the birthday boy's favorite apps on the sides.

Apps. Gosh, who would have imagined not too long ago that I would even know what that meant.

And aren't you just loving those earbuds?

Not posted from my Android, though it could have been...

Dvora

P.S. Did you all notice this new feature - click on any photo in the post, and you can see a slide show of all the post's photos.  You can see the detail in pictures that otherwise might be hard to see perfectly.  It's especially worth it for the iPod cake.  And if it's not a new feature, well, it's new to me!! Cool!

Here Goes Nuthin'!!

And so it begins, the attempt to re-enter blogging life. In the spirit of gratitude I mentioned in yesterday's post, I present to you the "ThankYou" cake.  This cake was a contribution to a brunch get-together for the families in our yishuv (currently 38!) who form a monthly rotation to bring the chayalim at the near-by machsomim a nightly dose of coffee, treats, and appreciation. Some nights the chayalim are too busy to do much more than say a quick thanks - or no, thanks - to the offers of coffee, tea, or shoko and something home-baked.  They can be darned busy, and under tremendous pressure.  And we serve the drinks, and hand out the snacks, and go home happy to have taken our turn.

Other nights, you feel a little like Santa Claus.  The smiles on these young kids faces are beautiful, and grateful, and they want to chat a little, maybe practice some English, play a little Jewish geography...  And they act like we have brought them manna from heaven, and we go home glowing, and a little sad, hoping that someday our chayal will get the same treatment, wishing it would all be unnecessary.

Some of the chayalim who man the checkpoints came to the breakfast, and it was lovely to see them and hear a little about their feelings about the program.  Our little yishuv seems to have become known for the coffee and kindness, and that is a wonderful feeling.

The cake is a two layer chocolate cake, filled with a whipped chocolate filling, and covered in ivory colored vanilla buttercream.  The decorations are made of hand-cut, hand-painted fondant in a "cafe" theme.  "Intern" Shana did a magnificent job making the decors.  It was a real privilege to be able to use our art to express our appreciation to everyone involved, from the families to the soldiers to our fearless leader Deena, who keeps everything going.



 The lettering spells "Todah" - thank you!

Wishing you a sweet week!

Dvora

Getting the band, er, blog back together

It's been a while. So many cookies, cakes, weeks, months, so yes, the blogging has suffered.  But I keep tracking my sitemeter, and it seems that people are still looking at this little blog.  I have done business as a result of it.  It has treated me well.  So in the spirit of hakarat hatov, meaning - non-literally -expressing gratitude, I think maybe it's time to get things going again. No promises, just good intentions.  So tomorrow, we begin again.  Stay tuned and see what's next.

Shavua tov!

Dvora