On Babas and Babkas
What’s the difference between the two? asks reader Laura. Since they both originate in the same place, there really shouldn’t be much difference. However a baba is generally recognized as a small, cylindrical cake that may contain candied fruit, and may be doused in an alcohol-spiked syrup. A babka has come to mean something rather different. It’s also made from a yeast-leavened dough, but it’s a single large cake, usually ring-shaped, usually filled with some sort of candied or dried fruit filling. Or at least that’s how Central European Christians interpret it.
Central European Jews have a different idea about a babka. For them, a babka is a yeast cake, often braided, usually baked in a loaf pan, filled with cinnamon or (these days) chocolate. Yeah, I know, it’s a little confusing. But that’s the way things often go with foods that have been around a long, long time.
I love this blog. For some time, I have toyed with the idea of trying to commence one like this as well, however I am not savvy enough on how to do it. Tell me about this “blogging” platform? Is it hard to learn? Is it necessary to be an expert in computers to set up a blog? I plan to create a blog for my learn english writing for students website. Can the software be combined into a present website?
Hi Charise!
Blogging is no more difficult than using a typical word processing program. You can set up one for free at blogger.com and you’re off to the races! The tools they offer to allow you to customize the look and feel are very easy to use. Your blog will have an address at blogger.com (“www.myblog.blogger.com”) but if you don’t mind that, it’s a very easy solution. I wanted the “www.joepastry.com” address, so I had to build mine as its own web site. For that you’ll need a designer, a developer and some money, but not too terribly much.
If you already have a web site and want to add a blog to it, I think the easiest way would still be to create the blog at blogger.com, then simply link to it from your current web site. You could customize the blog so it looks similar as your current site, and no one will really know the difference. Cheers,
– Joe