Blogroll: Amish Ham Loaf, Homemade Sugar Scrub, Honey Run, Lebanon Levi, and Holiday Trains

By Kevin Williams

I thought this was our last weekly Blogroll of 2015 but, alas, we'll have next week, so no soliloquies about lasts today!:)  Okay, let's jump right into this week's interesting stuff!

THE INN AT HONEY RUN:  This inn has been on my radar for a long, long time.  I've visited the inn before, I love the place, but I've never stayed.  But if budget isn't an issue for you - these cabins go for around $370 a night - then by all means visit Ohio's Amish country and stay at the Inn at Honey Run. They do have rooms there that are under $200 a night.  I can never get myself to part with that kind of cash to stay there, but it's a superb place to use as a "base" to explore Amish Country by day and then come back to a wonderfully cozy rest. Click here to read more about their luxury cottages.

LEBANON LEVI:  Came across this post this week.  Reality TV has been kind to Amish Mafia "star" Lebanon Levi.  He's worth how much?? Sheesh, click here.

AMISH HAM LOAF:  This recipe was posted this week, quite appropriate for this ham-filled time of year! Click here for the recipe.

Homemade sugar scrubs with a touch of Amish bulk food store bought lemongrass

HOMEMADE SUGAR SCRUBS:   SIGH, things are so much more complicated grooming-wise these days.  It used to be that, at least for guy, if you wanted abrasive, you'd be a bar of Lava soap and be done with it.  Now they have scrubs and all sorts of shower gels, etc, some which taste or smell like food.  I'm not sure I like taking a shower with oatmeal cookie scrub running down me. I'll just take my soap.  But these scrubs that Patricia's Patchwork posted this week do look like a nice gift and using Amish bulk food store bought lemongrass oil, there is a touch of simplicity injected into it.  And it certainly does look easy to make.  So if you are looking for a last-minute gift (now I could try to do what Patricia did a 100 times and it wouldn't look that nice...I'd make an excuse that guys just aren't crafty, but I know that is not true....as an aside, when I was a young newspaper reporter I was to do a profile of a chocolate-maker....I showed up at the address and was greeted by this big, burly tattoo-covered steel mill worker, who was married and had two children, but it just so happened he loved making fine chocolates, I was taken aback when this gruff guy invited me into his kitchen to look at his chocolate molds....ever since then I've tried to avoid stereotyping)  Anyway, click here to see Patricia's sugar scrubs and get the recipes.

HOLIDAY TRAINS:  Man, I got nostalgic looking at this post from Backroads Traveler Tom.....these wonderful holiday trains make you just want to shrink yourself into a 2" tall person and jump into that storybook world.  Click here to see his photos.