Weekly Blogroll: Amish Montgomery Pie, By the busload, Truckers, and More

By Kevin Williams

I have an interesting mix of topics to explore and share today, so let's get to it.

MONTGOMERY PIE: I was excited to see Meemaw doing this recipe.  She found the recipe in the Mennonite Community Cookbook, but I've also seen it in other old cookbooks that have their roots in the Amish and Mennonite settlements of eastern Pennsylvania.  Click here for this delicious pie recipe and to see what MeeMaw encountered when she tried making the pie.

BY THE BUSLOAD:  I am a huge fan of Florida's west coast.  Someday I think I'd be perfectly happy to find a little bungalow in Sarasota (yeah, right, I think even a "little bungalow" probably would cost $350,000) and retire.  I love the photos that Katie Troyer captures this time of year as Amish arrive in Florida's winter enclave and shed some of their rules and inhibitions from up north.  These appear to be Amish from Lancaster County, PA (I'm going by the way they are dressed) who are stepping out into the warm Florida sun. Click here to check in with Katie.

CHOCOLATE-COVERED STRAWBERRY WHOOPIE PIES:  I belong to a blogger group and we all sort of swap advice and coach one another on best practices.  And when something happens to one of us, everyone tries to pitch in and help.  One of the bloggers in my network recently lost her husband at a very young age, so she needs to take a break from her blog.  So I wanted to do my small part to send some traffic her way. All of us bloggers get by on ad revenue and ad revenue is determined by how many people come to the site! So, help out a great blogger and get this great whoopie pie recipe here.  This whoopie pie is a little more upscale than you'd find in most Amish kitchens but, hey, looks amazing to me!

GREAT AMERICAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES:  Check out this delicious sounding chocolate chip cookie which comes from Mrs. Daniel L. Swarey, page 152, “Cooking with the Amish of Kishacoquillas". Click here for the recipe.

CHECKING IN WITH MOSE -  Some of you may remember Mose Gingerich from his days as a reality TV star on shows like Amish in the City and "Amish Out of Order."    I kind of feel for him because he rode the Amish-themed reality TV wave as long as he could, but then the wave - as they always do - crashed and then what?  He sold cars for awhile but over the past year or so seems to have found his mojo as a trucker.  I don't know....part of what he describes sounds to me kind of appealing, the lure of the open road, etc, but, geez, it sounds like it'd be awful for family life. I can't imagine leaving Aster and Bea (my daughters) for a week at a time regularly.  Click here to check in with Mose Gingerich.