For my future scuba diver...

My 6 year old wants to be a scuba diver when he grows up. He also wants to write books about the fish he sees. This week, his kindergarten class was learning about the ocean. I thought it would be fun to dress him in something related. Unfortunately, he's grown out of all his fish shirts. So, like the caring, crafty mom that I sometimes pretend I am, I made this:

It needs something else in the middle. My scuba diver (who doesn't like to put his head all the way under the water) wants me to add a pink octopus. This is the same kid that wouldn't wear the blue jacket I bought him because it had a tiny pink stripe on it.

Amish Friendship Bread

A friend from church brought me some delicious bread that she had made using Amish friendship bread starter. She offered me the recipe and some starter of my own, which I immediately requested. My family loved the bread. In fact, we fought over the last piece. About ten days later, I received my very own starter in a gallon sized ziplock and a page of instructions.

The best part was the handwritten note about the apple pie filling. She doubled the starter, eliminated the oil and added a small can of apple pie filling. That made me curious about other variations that we could try in the future. I googled "Amish Friendship Bread" and was amazed with all the recipes and advice I found. My favorite was a blog entry that explained how to keep up the starter without ending up with extra starter every ten days. It's nice to have extra to share with friends, but how many friends does one person really have?

I made it through the ten days of caring for my starter. It was like having a new pet (although hubby compared it to a baby). I played with it every day and let the air out whenever it accumulated (which hubby compared to burping a baby). And then our little baby's due date arrived. My husband was as excited as I was and helped turn our baby into bread.

Arm Chair World has a ton of recipe variations, if you're interested. It makes it hard to pick what to make next. I think hubby said something about chocolate. If you can't get a hold of a friend giving away starter, you can make your own, just google "Amish friendship bread starter recipe."