Movin' on up, movin' on out, nothing can stop me

Hello dear readers,

As some of you may have seen from my tweets lately, I have recently moved. I have spent the past month preparing to leave my box of an apartment in midtown, Manhattan, foodie desert (though there are oases of sorts - see this fun article about a blog I love devoted to finding them).

Yesterday in a whirlwind of sort I loaded boxes and boxes (Turns out I own: kitchen paraphernalia & food, clothing, books, and a teensy, tiny bit of decor/furniture. This very accurately reflects my priorities!) into a big van driven by two multi-pierced, heavy-lifting bartenders/movers for hire and schlepped out to my cozy new home in Prospect Heights, nestled on the northeast side of Park Slope and Prospect Park.

It was quite a hassle of an experience, including a jammed bridge, a parking ticket, and a cherished dining room table that doesn't fit in the hallway of my new place! When I finally collapsed on my couch in the new apartment, I couldn't help but wonder if it was worth it.

It was. It is. It will be. Today is a new day and I'm feeling so excited about how this new place will shape and contribute to my foodie ways (faux gourmet, of course). My new roommate is a fellow foodie and we are going to get along fabulously. The rain drips on the plot of land outside our living room, watering our potted fresh herbs and tomatos she bought the other week.

There are separate spaces for the roomy, by NY standards, living room & open kitchen (and notably, my personal space, a real bedroom with a real door!), perfect for entertaining. We will have a table that doesn't double as my desk. We have counter space. We have, get this: a dishwasher!

There are farmer's markets and plant stores and food coops, stone throws away, and a growing Brooklyn foodie cult to enrich our stores in myriad creative manners. Once my camera is finally fixed I'll have real daylight in which to take photos . . . and I may even spring for some dishes that aren't borrowed from my mother's college tupperware collection on which to plate my creations!

It will be a while before I'm fully settled but in the mean time I'm just grateful to be starting anew in a place that will nourish me, body and soul. I'm so excited about what lies ahead & I hope you will continue to join me!

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Taste & See: Faux Gourmet Housewarming Cake

Cooking when your kitchen stuff is all in boxes is kind of like making French food: every step in the recipe requires a whole other recipe. "Combine flour, baking soda, baking power and salt" really means unpack the box of dry goods lugged from my old kitchen and the kitchen utensils box with the measuring cups; "cream butter and sugar" means set up my kitchenaide. Baking myself a housewarming cake to enjoy on a rainy afternoon was a great way to start the long process of settling in here!

I used a recipe from this month's magazine, but being the Faux Gourmet, I, of course adapted it. I didn't have everything it required but my the recipe below with my substitutions nonetheless created a lighter-than-air (with a surprise crispy crust) that has found me sneaking back to the kitchen for bites all afternoon.

Do it yourself:

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter, softened
2/3 cup plus a bit more on the side
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk (I used soy; tasted great!)
1/2 cup yogurt (I used blackberry)
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 tsp white vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter & flour square cake pan.

Combine flour, baking power, baking soda and salt.

Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy (about 2 minutes), then beat in egg and vanilla and beat well.

Mix in flour mixture in three batches, alternately adding soy milk, yogurt and white vinegar, until just combined.

Spoon batter into pan and scatter fruit over the top. Spinkle sugar over the top and bake until golden, about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!