A "Friendship" Tea Time

      I didn’t have a blooming thing to bring in for my tea time today. Not one! Except…a couple sprigs of Rosemary I managed to get away from the bees, and a piece of ivy which of course isn’t blooming. The garden is looking pretty sad to say the least.

      The hummingbirds are sad too. They're tired of sugar water (I think) and would much prefer some nectar from a beautiful fragrant flower.

      I did find these flowers growing in a pot on the back deck. I call them Violas, but my friend from Ireland calls them Jump-Up-Johnny’s. If friends were flowers I would want to have a few of these. They're steadfast and faithful. They pop up in the most surprising places, and they always have a smile on their faces. The hard times (like bad weather, neglect, harsh temperatures) don’t seem to get the best of them, they just keep growing and turning their faces toward the light.

 I couldn’t pick them after they had braved the weather and all.

      So, with the smell of Rosemary in the air, I'll sip my tea and have an Amish Friendship Bread Muffin, and think about the wonderful friends God has blessed me with; like the one who gave me the bread starter.

"My friends are my estate."
- Emily Dickinson

      Have you ever been given Amish Friendship Bread Starter? It’s fun to have and share. Usually you have to wait to get a starter from someone to make the bread, but I found a recipe for the starter in one of my old home school newsletters. I hope I'm not revealing an Amish secret…I wouldn’t want to spoil their keeping of it. What makes it friendship bread is the sharing of the actual starter (already made) to your friends. I'm sure the original one has made it around the world and back a few times! I remember making it with my boys when they were small…at least twice.

"Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together"
- Woodrow Wilson

Assuming it's OK to give it out to those who don’t know anyone with a starter, here it is…

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

2 c. unbleached flour
2 c. warm water
1 pkg. dry yeast

Day 1: In a large glass or ceramic bowl, mix the flour, warm water and yeast.
Day 2,3,4: Stir well with a wooden spoon.
Day 5: Stir and add 1 c. milk, 1 c. flour, 1c. sugar; stir well again.
Day 6,7,8: stir well with a wooden spoon.
Day 9: Stir and add 1 c. milk, 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar; stir well again.
Day 10,11: Stir well with a wooden spoon.
Day 12: Ladle 1 c. of starter into each of 4 containers and refrigerate. Use one to make bread recipe, keep one for your use another time, and give other two to friends. Now you're ready to bake.

      If you don't bake on this day, add 1 tsp. sugar and refrigerate. Date the jars and every 10 days remove the starter from the refrigerator, transfer it to a bowl and feed it with 1 c. milk, 1 c. flour and 1 c. sugar. Leave it outside the fridge uncovered for 2 days and then either bake it or divide it among friends.

Here are the instructions for baking it…

Amish Friendship Bread

1 c. starter, at room temperature             
3 eggs                                                      
2/3 c. vegetable oil                                  
3 tsp. vanilla                                            
2 c. flour                                                  
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. sugar
1 c. walnuts or pecans (chopped)
2 med. apples; peeled, cored, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 350. Grease two 9x5 loaf pans or muffin tins. In a large mixing bowl, beat starter, eggs, oil and vanilla. Put in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add sugar. Fold in nuts and apples. Put in prepared pans. Bake 50 minutes (for loaf ) and approx. 18-20 min. for muffins or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then finish cooling on wire rack.

Enjoy your Friendship Bread!

"I do not wish to treat friendships daintily, but with the roughest courage. When they are real, they are not glass threads or frost-work, but the solidest thing we know."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thank you ladies for joining me today for tea.

God Bless,

Ointment and perfume delight the heart,

And the sweetness of a man's friend gives delight by hearty counsel.

Proverbs 27:9

I'm linking to these tea parties:

Tea Cup Tuesday: http://www.marthasfavorites.com/ & http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/
A Delightsome Life: http://www.blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Table Top Tuesday: http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/
Tea Time Tuesday: http://sandimyyellowdoor.blogspot.com/
Tuesday Cuppa Tea: http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/
Tea Party Tuesday: http://sweetology101.blogspot.com/