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Those who know me well, know that I really enjoy cooking - especially baking.  On Boxing Day, last week, my sister-in-law introduced me to "Herman the German", a friendship cake that basically starts off as a sourdough starter mix, accompanied by instructions on how to look after it.  I took my sourdough mix home and happily followed the instructions which required stirring a few times, feeding a couple of times, stirring again, then splitting and baking.

Yesterday, I split my starter dough and gave away a couple of portions to friends I want to see more of this year.  Today, with love, I baked my "Herman" into an Apple, Cranberry & Cinnamon Cake with Walnuts.  I was so thrilled with how he looked in the oven and felt so good about the idea of sharing and starting off the new year with thoughts of friendship etc.

Well, I took "Herman" out of the oven and transferred him to a wire rack to cool.  When I picked him up to turn him over, I dropped him on the kitchen counter and he broke into pieces.  All I could do was laugh and look at all the different sized chunks of cake laying in a mess.  After picking up the pieces and placing them together, almost resembling a cake again, I thought about how that cake would have been cut, if it had stayed together.  Each piece would have been sliced into the same shape and approximately the same size.

I then thought about friendships and how they work.  Real friendships are very much all about give and take in various shapes and sizes, just like my pieces of cake.  We don't give exactly the same amount to everyone, because we don't all need the same amount.  What is important is WHAT we put in.  We are all very different and therefore require different amounts of spice and sweetness, some more nutty than others.

When we put our LOVE and CARING into the mix, it will always taste just right!

Happy 2013!

Love & blessings,

Caryl ♥