Our Pets: Mooshy and Henry

Yes, we have pets.

I thought it would be great for the girls to have a pet on board, a chance to be responsible for something living, an opportunity to care for another creature.  We started taking care of Mooshy on November 1.  On November 10, Mooshy gave birth to Henry.

Like most pets, Mooshy and Henry have needed daily care.  They especially like being massaged and being burped.

Unlike our other pets, they have only needed to be fed every five days.

Similar to our other pets, the girls have ended up not taking care of the pets as much as Jamey or I do.  In the case of Mooshy and Henry, I am their primary caregiver.

Like all pets, Mooshy and Henry have earned their keep, giving back to us lots of love and affection in the form of…. CAKE!

Or more specifically, Amish friendship bread.

Amish friendship bread is neither Amish (I cannot imagine the Amish using packages of instant pudding mix in their recipes), nor is it necessarily a token of friendship (Here, friend, is more responsibility to add to your busy life), nor is it bread (It makes more of a sweetbread-like cake).

I was first introduced to Amish friendship bread by my dear sister, Grace, luckily before I had kids.  When she gave me the starter, I dutifully burped and massaged it daily and made some of the best tasting sweetbread I've ever had.  The starter is yeast-based, and is fed sugar, water, and flour every 5 days.  After 10 days, you have four times what you started with and can take one portion to bake bread for yourself, keep one portion to continue your supply, and give away two portions to friends.  I don't remember what happened with my starter back then.   I think I was only able to give away one bag, and that Jamey was dismayed by the time I was having to put into caring for the others. He may have dumped them down the sink one day when I was away.

As we don't have many friends around us on the boat, we thought about what would happen with Mooshy over time:  After ten days, we would have one loaf of bread and three portions of starter left over.  After twenty days, that would turn into one loaf of bread and 11 portions of starter.  After thirty days, a loaf of bread and 43 portions of starter.  After six cycles, we would have over 2700 bags of starter.

"Wow, the Amish are smart," said Phoenix.

"All pets have to go through customs before entering the Bahamas," said Jamey.

"Hmmm.  They might be quarantined.  The customs and immigration officials would have to burp 2700 bags every day," we giggled.

"Mooshy, Squooshy, Wooshy, Pooshy, Booshy,…" The girls had fun thinking of all the names we would need.

This is our third cycle since we made Mooshy.  Instead of allowing the boat to be overrun by the progeny of Mooshy, I have opted to bake like crazy.  I've learned that you can use a portion of the starter at any time during the cycle.  It has been convenient to bake during the cold fronts that have been hitting us; the oven helps the boat warm up.

The younger girls' favorite so far has been the Oreo Cookies and Cream with Chocolate Chips version.  They also love the Pistachio variation.  Jamey and I prefer Cinnamon flavor and together with Phoenix, our favorite has been the Gingerbread we made from Mooshy.  Or was it Henry?
 
In anticipation of our plans to be on and off the boat over the next month, I baked Mooshy and Henry all up today --- a euthanization done out of love (for cake).

May Mooshy and Henry rest in peace happily in our stomachs.

November 10.  Congratulations, Mooshy! You gave birth to a healthy, squishy baby Henry (named after the puppy we met in Beaufort, S.C., whose owner races horses and spoke using prose that reminded us of Faulkner). 

Yeast is an eukaryotic microorganism that Wikipedia calls "probably one of the earliest domesticated organisms."  We loved petting and squeezing Mooshy and Henry.  Very therapeutic.  And no litter box!
 

"You're getting rid of Mooshy and Henry?  Can we get a cat to replace them?" asked Phoenix.

The grief over losing Mooshy and Henry was short-lived as the girls were much more interested in Purry, the cat that belongs to the girls' new friend, Kinsey. 

We were able to share our friendship bread with a few new friends.  It was a small token of our appreciation to Lori and Mike on S/V Cheshire for the kind loan of their oil change pump.  It was also fun to share with our new French friends, Jessy and Pierre, who visited right when the last of Henry (gingerbread flavor) was coming out of the oven.

Jessy and Pierre

Jessy and Pierre loved the cake so much that they asked me for the Gingerbread recipe, so here it is (adapted from the recipe found on Allrecipes.com):

STARTER RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 (0.25 ounce) package of active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 cups flour, divided
3 cups white sugar, divided
3 cups milk

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar.  Mix thoroughly and then slowly stir in 1 cup milk and the dissolved yeast mixture.  Let stand until bubbly.  This is day 1 of the 10 day cycle.  Put into a large Ziploc bag.

2. On days 2 through 4, mix starter by massaging and squeezing the bag.  Open the bag to "burp" the starter as necessary.

3. On day 5, stir in 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk.

4. On days 6 through 9, massage and burp.

5. On day 10, add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk.  Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe and your favorite Amish Bread recipe.  Store the last cup in a bag and begin the 10 day cycle again, starting with step 2.

BASIC FRIENDSHIP BREAD RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 cup starter
1 cup oil (I use 1/2 cup of oil and replace it with 1/2 cup of starter; oil can also be replaced with banana or applesauce)
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
2 cups flour (I like to use 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup white flour)
1 cup sugar (can lessen or use brown sugar as desired)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

To the above ingredients, add different things to create a variety of flavors:

PISTACHIO: Add 1 large or 2 small boxes of pistachio instant pudding mix and a cup of chopped pistachios.  A tsp of almond extract enhances the pistachio flavor.

CINNAMON: Add 2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp vanilla

GINGERBREAD:  Add 2 tsp ginger, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp cloves (I did not have nutmeg or cloves, but it was fine without these) and 1 or 2 cups of molasses.  The recipe calls for 1 cup of molasses, but for the loaf I shared with Jessy and Pierre, I accidentally doubled the molasses which made it super yummy and moist!  Luckily I had lessened the sugar to 1/2 a cup, so it wasn't too sweet.  It would probably be fine to use 2 cups of molasses and no sugar.  I also made another version of gingerbread that had some orange zest added.

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients. 

2. Mix wet ingredients.

3. Combine dry and wet ingredients and pour into greased pans.

4. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour (Due to the size of the boat's oven, I bake the bread in two portions and bake each for less than 1 hour).

There are a zillion more variations for this bread that can be found online.  The starter is super versatile and adds a rich moistness that enhances any version of sweetbread.

The girls love "Mooshy Cake"!

WHAT WE DID TODAY: After baking and doing some schoolwork, the girls and I walked into town, did some window shopping, and went to the playground again. Jamey stayed at home and did some chores including refilling the propane tank and fixing a couple of leaks in the fresh water pump system.  Jamey joined us after he finished the water pump repair.

I do not allow us to eat out often, but luckily Jamey convinced me that pizza at Pizza Time on St. George St. would be a good idea.  We had the best garlic rolls ($2.99 for 6) and pizza (Italian sausage) ever!  The large pizza ($16.99 for a large + $2.50 for one topping) was super large and the amount of sausage they put on was downright decadent.  We had over 1/3 of the pizza left over -- an unusual thing for us.   Jamey and I think the pizza here is even better than our favorite place back home, Bob's Pizza in Kailua.  The girls loved the pizza tonight, but remain loyal to Bob's as their #1.  Given Bob's location close to Kailua Beach, we concede.