Thursday, August 22, 2013

What is Ohana? Have We Forgotten? Or Do we Just need a Reminder?


I was looking back at my blog entries I originally posted this on March 7, 2012, seemed like comfort was needed by a few, but as I re-read what the basis of what the recipe and the inspiration for writing was about, I think we all can sit back and take heed to the meaning of Ohana.  

I think when it comes to taking comfort in the reality of what is going on around us food always becomes central to that theme.  I remember when a friend had suggested this recipe last year I it took some tracking down of clues, or in my case going through the old cook books and seeking the recipe out.  What we all can use is a friend, right? Now lets face it some of these friends may be people we have never met. But friends nonetheless, they have become part of our lives.  Now what has brought some of these fine people into our lives one fine television show that has done it's best to define what Ohana means.  But as any good blogger I turn yet again to Wikipedia for the quick all around definition of the word.  

Ohana as defined by Wikipedia is part of Hawaiian culture, it means family in an extended sense of the term including blood-related, adoptive or intentional. It emphasizes that family are bound together and members must cooperate and remember one another. But there was something I did remember (and that was the child in me) that would be a quote from a very special Disney movie and very fitting to our Hawaii Five-0 Team.  “Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten.” Lilo & Stitch (2002).  I do not think any more honest words have been spoken(even if they were from an animated character). 

The recipe is easy to put together, but as many things in life takes time to build.  It is Amish Friendship Bread.  Although the history of Amish Friendship Bread is vague, it typifies the strong Amish community. The term "Friendship" relates to the custom of sharing some of the bread starter with your friends, like a food chain letter.  In 2011, a novel by author Darien Gee entitled Friendship Bread was published by Ballantine Books, in which a bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter makes its way throughout the fictitious town of Avalon, Illinois, changing the lives of those it comes in contact with.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_Friendship_Bread  



Friendship Bread


2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk



  1.  In a small bowl, soften yeast in water for about 10 minutes. Stir well. In a 2 quart glass, plastic, or ceramic container combine flour, and sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand at room temperature until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle.  
  2. On days 2 through 4 stir with a spoon. 
  3. Day 5 stir and add 1 cup sifted flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk and stir. 
  4. Days 6 thru 9 stir only. 
  5. Day 10 stir and add 1 cup sifted flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk and stir. 
  6. Remove 1 cup and make your first bread, and give one cup to a friend with the recipe. Store the remaining cup in a container in the refrigerator and begin the 10 day process over again. You can also freeze this in 1 cup for later use. Frozen starter take a least 3 hours at room temperature before using.

Gee, Darien (2011). Friendship Bread: A Novel. New York, N.Y: Ballantine Books. pp. 400. ISBN 978-0-345-52534-5.

*** Jana shout girl thanks so much for the idea this one is for you!!!**

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