Bitterness starts out small. An offense burrows its way into our hearts. We replay it in our minds, creating deep ruts that will be hard to build back up. We retell our hurts to any available listener, including each sordid detail. We enlist support, pushing us further into our resentment. We hear the offending person's name and cringe. We decipher the offense as intentional and our offender as full of spite. We look for other reasons, both real or imagined, to dislike our villain. With each new piece of information, we form another layer of bitterness. We fool ourselves into thinking no one will know, but anger and resentment have a way of seeping into everything. Resentment is like a beach ball we try to submerge in the water. No matter how valiant our efforts, it pops up with all its vitality, splashing everyone around.

Anne Peterson

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Grains, Eggs, Dairy		Cookies	3	Servings

INGREDIENTS

3	c	Flour
1/4	c	Poppyseed
1/2	ts	Baking soda
1/2	c	Butter; softened
1	c	Sugar
2		Eggs
1/2	c	Sour cream
1	ts	Vanilla extract
1		Egg white; beaten w/2 tsp
		For glaze
3 1/2	tb	Poppyseed; top sprinkle

INSTRUCTIONS

GRANT; HWWK11B
DESCRIPTION:  A rich, sour-cream dough is laden with poppyseeds and braided
into 5-inch sticks.
Combine flour, poppy seed and baking soda; set aside. Beat together butter,
sugar and salt until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each
addition. Beat in sour cream and vanilla. Add flour in 1-cup increments,
blending after each addition. Gather dough into a ball and wrap in plastic;
refrigerate one hour. Preheat oven to 375. Divide dough in half;
refrigerate one half. On well-floured surface, roll out half of dough into
a 15" by 5" rectangle, 1/4 inch thick. Using a floured knife, cut dough
into 60 5- x 1/4-inch strips; dip knife in flour often to facilitate
cutting. Lay three 5-inch strips side by side on floured surface. Braid
strips (working from middle toward the ends will make a more uniform
braid), pinch ends together. Brush completed braids with egg white glaze;
sprinkle lightly with poppyseed. Arrange braids, 1" apart, on buttered
baking sheets. Repeat with second half of dough. Bake 13-16 minutes, or
until golden and crisp. Cool on racks. Store airtight at room temp 5 days,
freeze for three months. From "The Joy of Cookies," formatted by Theresa
Grant, HWWK11b.
Posted to EAT-L Digest 14 October 96
Date:    Tue, 15 Oct 1996 13:20:22 -0500
From:    LD Goss <ldgoss@METRONET.COM>

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