By Kevin Williams
This is our weekly whirl through the blogosphere in search of everything and anything Amish or Plain, so let's buckle up and blast off!
AMISH SUGAR COOKIES: The "Something Swanky" website calls this the "best drop sugar cookie ever". We've done a lot of sugar cookie recipes over the years on this site and this one, as she describes it, fits the bill of a typical Amish sugar cookie. This is a soft, fluffy one, which - SIGH - makes it far easier to eat copious amounts of them. Anyway, one can never have too many good sugar cookie recipes, right? Click here to take a look and get the recipe.
BRUCE STAMBAUGH: I wanted to check in with my favorite scribe in the Holmes County hills. This is a fascinating post. It's a little spare on detail, such as how, other than his wife relaying it, he came about this story. I'm not doubting its veracity, but I'm replaying this vignette in my head and it just seems....unlikely at first blush (bear with me for a sec)...I mean, when I am driving I am watching the road or lost in my own thoughts, I'd never notice a passing car....I suppose if I passed the exact same car in the exact same spot at the exact same time each and every day that, yes, I might notice. So as unlikely as the story seems at first, I could see how the connection could happen. Really, it's heartwarming and incredible in this world of frayed connections and neighbors not knowing one another that you could have this friendship forged simply by the rote route repetition and a simple act of kindness that went with it. Quite incredible. Click here to read the story.
AMISH PUMPKIN PIE: I guess some people do pumpkin pies for Christmas also, right? Well, Charm City Ramblings offers up a couple of Amish versions of this autumn classic. Perhaps a few of us will enjoy some final slices of this dessert this month and then that's it until next November, right? Click here for the recipes.
MeeMaw's Kitchen Sink Soup
KITCHEN SINK SOUP: Meemaw shares this recipe this week as she prepares to decamp from her summer quarters near Iowa's largest Amish community to the warmer confines of Florida. Can't blame her a bit....12 degrees or 80 degrees? I'll take 80. Anyway, wow, look at this awesome soup as she cleans out her fridge.
CHRISTMAS MORNING LIFESAVER: The title says it all, check out this breakfast casserole from Mennonite Girls Can Cook.
BUDGET GIFTS: I hadn't checked in with Just Plain Marie in awhile. She lives a simple, sustainable lifestyle in one of my favorite places (rural Nova Scotia) and blogs about it. For those on a budget, she does offer up a very affordable, creative slate of gifts that almost anyone could afford. Perfect in a pinch. Click here.
KATIE TROYER: Check out the latest photos and happenings from Katie Troyer reporting from the Amish winter enclave of Pinecraft, Florida. Love the photo of Anna Beachy on the bike wearing the slick shades! Click here.
Wyvonne Hobbs
I just returned home from Pinecraft. It sure was dead down there on Tuesday, but on Saturday there were more people out shopping. I ate at Yoder's 2 times and both times it was full of English, not Amish. The food was great. Pinecraft is not well known by the people in Florida, they will tell you that no Amish live in Florida. We ate ice cream at the ice cream shop, shopped at Yoder's market and got ripe tomatoes. They are very tasty. I talked to several Amish women and some Mennonites. I learned that some of the Amish and Mennonite women quilt at the quilt shop while they are there for winter. They are paid by the yard of thread that they put in the quilt. One lady told me that 21 buses are supposed to come before the first of the year. I really enjoyed this visit and the temperature made me fall in love with the area. I left home and it was 31 degrees. When we arrived at St. Petersburg it was 81 degrees.
Kevin
Oh, Wyvonne, I am so envious of you! Glad you had a good visit to Pinecraft, honestly, I could live there someday....I'd be quite happy there, I love it...thanks for sharing your experience!
Virginia
I have no problem believing there could be truth in the story of the two women. For one thing, some people are very aware of their surroundings. I'm one of those people. I notice people and I notice things. I used to see people pass me on my way to work, and they'd get on the freeway, I'd take the surface road that ran along the freeway. I then would see them exit the freeway and drive right in front of where I was stopped. I was amused that I was already at the intersection and they were just now passing me and they had been on the freeway.
Kevin
Always good to hear from you, Virginia. Yes, my wife would be like you describe. She notices everything, me, not so much..she sees the details, I see the big, sweeping brushstrokes...Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!