We all know of Ponzi schemes run by unprincipled charlatans or Governments. Recently we were willing participants in such a scheme, that asks nothing more than a few kitchen ingredients and promises wonderful taste - The Amish Friendship Bread.
As you would soon learn, its neither Amish, nor a plain bread. It is a sweet Quickbread more like a cake. But its middle name - Friendship - is definitely an important part.
So, about a dozen nights ago, someone handed a cup of 'starter' in a gallon bag, accompanied with a recipe cum instructions to my spouse. She and I decided to share the task. The instructions spanned a 10 day duration, with most days requiring me to follow the instructions verbatim - 'Do Nothing'. The remaining 2 or 3 days had incomprehensible (to me) instructions written in an ancient and secret script that only those familiar with the arcane and forbidden art of Baking could decipher.
The instruction cum recipe sheet sounded rather ominous - "Nobody except the Amish know the secret of the 'Starter'".
It added to the mystique by informing us that if we destroyed or lost the starter, then we could only wait for someone to give us another starter. That bag looked as valuable as a ticket to enter a secret society that is by invitation only. Needless to say I decided to stay as far away from it as possible, lest my expertise at being a rather dexterous kind of klutz did quick work of this mysterious and magical ticket, leaving us at the mercy of another invitation, and further leaving me at the mercy of the sovereign that rules over me.
The thing in that gallon bag soon seemed to acquire a life of its own as every now and then the bag bloated up and had to be relieved of the gaseous buildup. The tiny microbes in it seemed to be belching out green-house gases more than the cows that are now being accused of flatulently heating up the planet. (Has anyone looked into the role of yeast in global warming?)
The previous night was chosen as an auspicious one by my spouse to bake a sweet cinnamon bread with it. And what a wonderful delight it turned out to be. Great with tea, even better with coffee.
On our part, we too passed the starter on to other friends who might enjoy it.
But now the adventure - our brief sojourn into the mysterious world of delights will soon be over. And we will then be waiting for the next magic ticket - the starter - to have another go.
P.s. What gave away the part about it not being Amish was '1 packet vanilla pudding' among the ingredients :-)
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1 comment:
Nicely written and on the days when it said mush the bag (read nothing), you did burp the bag that needed to belched like a man that only you could have done ;-)
I am glad you liked it, you see I am not a baker but I try... :-D
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