Paper Bird

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Black-bird fly
Black-bird fly, into the light of a dark black night
Black-bird fly
Black-bird fly, into the light of a dark black night

Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings
and learn to fly
All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Date Cookies

Makes 30-35 cookies

The Dough
1 cup unsalted butter
3 cups semolina flour
2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon powered gum arabic
Pinch mahlab (optional)

The Filling
2 pounds pitted dates, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Powdered sugar

To prepare the dough: Melt the butter and let it cool to room temperature. Add to the semolina and mix thoroughly. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight. Mix together 1/2 cup warm water, yeast and sugar in a measuring cup. Cover and set aside in a warm place for about 5 minutes. Add yeast mixture to semolina, along with nutmeg, gum arabic, optional mahlab and 1/2 cup room-temperature water. Knead by hand until thoroughly mixed.
To prepare the filling: Mix dates with olive oil and cinnamon. Form date mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls and roll into 4-inch logs.
To assemble: Position a rack in middle of oven. Preheat oven to 350*. Grease 2 cookie sheets. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls, then roll into 4-inch logs. Flatten dough with your fingers and place a date strip in the center. Crimp edges of dough to seal date mixture inside. Shape dough into a ring and crimp ends together. Using a fork or wooden skewer, indent surface of cookie, taking care not to puncture dough. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to racks to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar.
Note: Mahlab and gum arabic are available at Middle Eastern stores.
Per cookie: 180 calories, 2 g protein, 31 g carbohydrate, 6 g fat (3 g
saturated), 14 mg cholesterol, 3 mg sodium, 3 g fiber.

Nify Box

Check out this link to see how these boxes are made. As you can see, you could use them to gift or organize a variety of objects.

Cute Baby Shoes

These cute shoes are easy to make, and incredibly adorable!! I chose some leftover quilting fabric and sandwiched a layer of polar fleece in between so they would be plush to wear like slippers should be.

Clam Chowder

IT'S AWESOME!

4 ounces salt pork, chopped (about 1 cup) (get the kind that looks like bacon, not the little bricks)
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 C. flour or corn starch*
4 cups clam broth, or bottled clam juice, or seafood stock
3 C. whole or 2% milk
1 cup diced celery
1/2 C. Chopped carrot
4-5 C. diced Yukon gold potatoes (1.5 lbs)
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried
3 C. chopped clams (4 cans?)
2 C. half and half
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons butter

This makes a LOT of soup, so use your big pot. (3 quarts or 6-8 main course servings)

Cook the salt pork in your soup pot over medium heat until the fat is rendered (liquid) and the pork bits are getting crispy. 10 minutes or so.
Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently until it begins to soften. About 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook for a few seconds. Slowly add the clam broth.

The flour will make it thick, so be sure to really stir and mix it in now. Add milk, whisk until smooth. Add potatoes, carrots, celery, and herb. Simmer uncovered over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the clams and half and half. **if using corn starch instead mix the corn starch with the cold half and half when you add it.

Simmer your soup until the potatoes are tender. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste. The salt pork makes it very salty, so be sure to taste it first. Remove soup from heat, and let the chowder sit at room temperature for an hour, or refrigerate for up to 2 days. Before serving, add the butter and reheat gently.

Sourdough Bread

Makes 1 pan sized, or 2 small round loaves

3/4 C. warm water (95-105*f)
3/4 teaspoon fresh yeast
1 1/2 C. sourdough starter
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour ----> or about 4 cups of all purpose flour
1 1/4 C. whole wheat flour---->
1 tablespoon salt

Combine the warm water and fresh yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to dissolve the yeast fully. Add the sourdough starter, flours and salt. Mix on low speed until the dough is fully developed. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl. Roll the dough unto a smooth ball, and place in a medium mixing bowl lightly brushed with olive oil. Cover and refrigerate for 16 hours. Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and ferment at room temperature for 6 hours.

Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves on the counter or in a proofing basket and cover with a warm damp cloth. Proof the loaves at room temperature for 2 hours. Preheat the oven to 400*F. Continue proofing the loaves at room temperature for 1 hour.

Score the loaves with a sharp knife, (allows steam to escape and make a pattern on top of the bread) spray with water, (makes the shiny hard crust) and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crusts are a deep golden brown. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 30 minutes. If the bread was baked in loaf pans, remove the bread from the pans before cooling.

Advanced Bread Making

Sourdough Starter

Stage 1

1 C. warm water (95-105*F)
1/2 teaspoon fresh yeast
1 C. buttermilk
1 1/2 C/ plain yogurt (two little cups)
2 C. all-purpose flour
1/3 C. semolina flour
1 C. unwashed medium red grapes

Combine the warm water and fresh yeast in a medium mixing bowl. Stir to dissolve the yeast fully. Add the buttermilk, plain yogurt, all purpose flour and semolina flour to the bowl and stir until the ingredients are fully incorporated. Wrap the unwashed red grapes securely in a clean cheesecloth or small kitchen cloth and submerge the cloth in the mixture. Ferment at room temperature for 12 hours.

Stage 2

All stage 1 starter
2 C. all purpose flour
1 C. semolina flour
1/2 teaspoon yeast
2 C. warm water

Carefully remove the cloth with the grapes from the mixture, using a spatula to scrape any remaining starter off the cloth and back into the bowl. Squeeze the cloth containing the gapes over the bowl, capturing the juice in the bowl. Discard the cloth and the grapes, and stir the starter until the grape juice is fully incorporated. Add the all purpose flour ad the semolina flour to the starter. In a separate bowl (2c measuring cup) add the yeast to the warm water, stirring until the yeast if fully dissolved, then add this mixture to the starter. Mix the starter until all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Ferment at room temperature for 4 hours before using, or cover and place in refrigerator for future use.

Oh, and this makes enough starter to use for 4 bathes (8 loaves), so you might want to share with some people.