Curse of the Rosh Hashanah cake?

The synagogue I attended growing up publishes a Jewish cookbook and the book includes a tasty, honey cake that is easy to make. Yet, for the last couple years, I've decide to make fancier, more sophisticated cakes.

As you may remember, the Dorie Greenspan apple cake that I made in 2008 was a flop. The entire top of the cake stuck to the pan. You can see pictures and my open letter to Dorie Greenspan by clicking here.

For Rosh Hashanah this year, I decided to make a honey cake called the "Majestic and Moist New Year's Honey Cake." I found the recipe here on Epicurious. The recipe was published originally in Marcy Goldman's book, The Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking.

Perhaps lulled by the title of the cake, I expected great results. When I opened the oven for the moment of truth, this is what I saw:

Check out the giant valley in the cake. Was my Rosh Hashanah cake baking cursed? Is this like a variation of the book of life? The book of competent bakers?

Luckily, when I flipped the cake over, it looked much better.

Hope you have a sweet new year and all your cakes turn out.

Misplaced Limitations and the Return to a Hodge-Podge Blog

As I've discussed in the past, my goal for last year was to explore "what I want to be when I grow up" and to develop a life plan. The one thing I knew for sure, to borrow Oprah's phrase, was that I did not want to practice law. I had spent years proclaiming myself a "recovering lawyer" and discouraging people from attending law school.

During my year of exploration I spent time reading about developing life plans, talking with people in different roles and a various stages of life, and journaling and blogging about various ideas. Eventually, I had a Eureka! moment and decided on a new direction. Then a couple months later, I found a better direction. And a while later, an even better direction.

After a number of false starts it struck me that I really did want to use my law degree and move in a direction related to law. The limitation I had placed on myself -- no law -- seemed helpful when I made it, but really was preventing me from getting to where I wanted to be.

Similarly, placing a restricted focus on my blog -- community volunteering -- has prevented me from posting. Focusing the blog on a particular area seemed like a good idea, but the focus wasn't interesting enough for me to inspire new posts. Instead of launching a new direction, the limitation drained me of passion for blogging.

So, Sherrilynn.com is going back to a hodge-podge blog. I'll post about thing that inspire, interest and entertain me. Hopefully you'll find them inspiring, interesting and entertaining too.