Good Things Take Time

This is Amish Friendship Bread. It takes a long time to make. And by "long time," I mean "ten days." The idea is, you receive starter batter from a friend (in this case, TG's mom); it's made from milk, flour, and sugar. It sits on the counter for a few days, unrefrigerated, and all you do is stir it (mine was in a ziploc bag). After a few days you add more milk, flour, and sugar, and it starts to actually bubble. I guess there's chemical reactions going on that can't happen in the fridge. The bag gets full of air (gas?) and you have to let it out every day. From the smell, which is not unpleasant, it seems to turn into something related to yogurt.

On the tenth day, you add more stuff (the Amish call everything "stuff"), and then dish out three cups of batter in containers to give to others to start (hence the "friendship" part). The rest gets eggs, flour, sugar, vanilla pudding, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, all mixed together, and baked. You can add in different things like fruit and chocolate chips - streusel on top would be great, as the final product is similiar to coffee cake: sweet and moist. I chose chocolate chip and plain. These were really good...I was pretty skeptical at first, what with the non-refrigeration and all. But with the time it takes to wait for it, I'm not sure I would make it again unless someone gives me starter again. I'm more of an instant gratification type of girl, you know?

Suburban Hero, Pt 2

Here is our second thrilling installment of "Stewart, Suburban Hero"!

Rainy Day Photos

Movie Lines

Relaxation

We have an ongoing joke around here: "Every day is Saturday." Ah, unemployment. So when every day is Saturday, and a holiday weekend comes up, whatever do you do? We went down to a friend's mother's house down the shore, where there were three other couples, two babies, a few random people, and four cats. The original intention was to drive down Friday, but the traffic was going to be so bad we would have had to leave at 7am. At 9:30 on Thursday night, TG suggests going down that night. As bad as that prospect seemed, it was the lesser of two evils, so we went.

We basically spent two days poolside, relaxing and getting sunburn. For myself, I was happy to get out of the house for a while and really kick off the summer. There was talk of going to the beach both days, but noone seemed overly interested in actually GOING. It is a bit of a hassle to get all the stuff together and go. At night we roamed the boardwalk. I had a Kohr's Orange-Vanilla swirl ice cream, which I haven't had in years, and it was amazing. Pizza at the Sawmill was another flashback for me, and it was great as well. The sunset both nights was so beautiful, and a nice contrast to the craziness around the boardwalk, with the rides and people and lights. I wish I had a camera, but TG has an iPhone, so all these photos are from there. Thanks hun! :)

View of the pier from the beach area, and the backyard at Dolores' house.

Kohr's, and a nice sunset.

Bacon Salt

Remember this guy?

He told me to say hello to you. "Everything should taste like bacon" indeed. Here is a list of what I used this on (so far):

• Creamy pasta salad (twice)
• Sprinkled on diced tomatoes
• Chili - it was just ok - I do not recommend this application
• Bread and Butter - soo good!
• Fresh mozzerella - SOOO good!

I really must look into a chicken dish or something with it...that was the original intention, I just haven't found a good way to incorporate it yet. Any ideas out there?

Dangerous Muffins

These muffins are pop-able. They are tiny morsels of yummy that are very addicting.

Sugar Donut Muffins
Credit goes to vanilla kitchen. I think I will take her advice next time and add jelly in the middle, they need just a bit of flair.




Just look at that yummy sugar on top!

For size comparison...a quarter.