Oh sour cream coffee cake, where have you been all my life? I was looking for something to bake for my monthly book club meeting (we read The Blind Assassin, very good) and found myself dreaming about streusel. Mmm...streusel...

Coffee cake was the natural choice -- but instead of a big square cake, I wanted to make mini coffee cakes, so I used a muffin tin. This recipe is very simple and produces enough tender little cakes to feed both a book club and a hungry boyfriend. Plus, streusel!

Sour Cream Mini Coffee Cakes
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

Makes about 18 cakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two muffin tins. Whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside. Beat together the sour cream and eggs in a large bowl. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined, then stir until smooth. (Overbeating toughens the cakes.) Fill muffin tin cups halfway. Sprinkle with streusel (recipe below). Bake 16-18 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes, then remove cakes from the tins and cool completely.

Streusel
Makes enough for 18 mini cakes or one 9-inch cake

1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Blend ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter and bake.

Part of the reason why things have been so quiet around here is that I got a new job about a month and a half ago. The good things about this job: the people are interesting, it's not in a traditional office and it is actually leading toward a future career I want.

At least I think it's what I want.

The problem is that I can't imagine doing any one thing every single day from now until age 65. And I really can't picture year after year of the current work-home-eat-sleep-repeat routine. But with rent and student loan payments and overpriced health insurance to think of, what alternatives does a girl have?

The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube covers nearly every non-cubicle career I've fleetingly considered while sitting at a boring desk job, from freelance writer to forest fire lookout (my mom suggested this). There are also chapters about negotiating a more flexible work schedule and finding more time to work on your pet project, for those who aren't quite ready to leave the cube. Because the focus is so broad, none of the chapters are especially in-depth, though there is a nice mix of practical information, advice from women actually working in that particular field and assignments designed to slowly nudge you toward your goal. I imagine this book would be most useful for a recent college graduate who is just realizing "Wait -- this is what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life??"

Michelle Goodman's writing is fun and hip without being annoying. She's like an older sister who knows what you're going through and wants to pass on what she learned from her own mistakes. Similarly, the women interviewed throughout the book are knowledgeable without sounding like they are handing down foolproof advice from on high.

My problem right now, I think, is that I'm halfheartedly pursuing two separate goals and feeling down because neither one seems especially promising at the moment. But just the fact that I am writing this post instead of zoning out in front of yet another America's Next Top Model marathon is a teeny, tiny step in the right direction. Right?