Amish Wedding Cake

I have read plenty of books and articles that mentioned the importance of having celery at an Amish wedding, but in reality most Amish communities don't. Interestingly enough something that I never read was the significance of a wedding cake that means much more to a lot of Amish weddings than celery does.

When we were getting ready for our wedding LV and I baked our wedding cake. Grandma Mast owned several huge round cake pans that brides used to borrow to make their wedding cakes. On the morning we were to bake our cake I ran over to their house and got the pans. I was looking forward to making the biggest cake I ever had. Each pan was big enough to hold enough batter for one and a half regular cakes and we were planning to have four layers.

LV and I worked together. Each layer was going to be a different. We were both getting two layers with our favorite flavor. I measured, he stirred, and we both enjoyed working together to create this cake.

Once it was done and frosted with a pure white frosting it was ready to tower above everything else on our wedding table. A symbol of two different lives coming together to build a new and better one. And somewhat a picture of marriage, of working together, a mixing and blending, still two different people, but now having a common goal.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What's your worst food memory?  How about one of your best?

My worst food memory happened only a few weeks after we got married and were living in three rooms in the upstairs of LV's parents' big farm house. They were supposed to be moving to Missouri the next week, but until then I felt as if I was coming across as a scatter brained ninny and was making more stupid little mistakes than any other time in my life.

I had decided to make beef and cheese stuffed pastry pockets for our supper. I happily rolled out the dough, filled it with the beef mixture, and lined a dozen perfect half moon shaped pockets on my brand new Teflon coated cookie sheet before popping them into the cute little oven I had to use.

LV came in from finishing up the chores, and I proudly presented a platter filled with golden brown pockets. We sat down to eat, and what a disappointment! They tasted absolutely awful, exactly like I would imagine Teflon would taste if I tried to eat it. There was no way we were going to be able to eat them.

LV came up with a bright idea. Teddy, our dog, was lying under a tree. He opened a window, whistled for him and dumped the entire platter of pockets outside for the dog to eat. He assured me with his parents visiting friends that it would be dark by the time they got home so even if Teddy hadn't eaten all of them that they wouldn't be able to see anything, and by morning they would surely all have disappeared.

The next morning on my way into the house after getting done with the milking I was horrified to see every last one of those pockets piled right outside his parents bedroom window. I got down on my hands and knees and quickly gathered them all up and took them out to the barn and tossed them on the manure spreader where they belonged. Traumatized enough to vow never to make those beef pockets again.

My favorite food memory was the day our wedding cake was created. I'll tell you all about it later this week.

2. Do you appreciate people telling it like it is, or would you rather a speaker temper his/her words and maybe beat around the bush a little?  How about when you're the one communicating...which type are you?

There is a difference between constructive criticism and simply being mean. I always like to know how to do things better however I really don't like telling someone else things that I'm afraid they could take the wrong way.

3. What's your favorite place to hang out?

That's simple. Home! My favorite place in the world.

4. When do you most feel like you're a slave to time?

Somehow Monday always feels as if there simply wasn't enough time. The house is always needs to be cleaned since its at its very messiest after a lazy Sunday, there is a weeks worth of laundry to be done, Buddy is always a little crankier, and even though there doen't seem to be enough time, it's the one day bedtime can't come fast enough.

5. What was the last concert you attended?  Who'd you go with? Was it any good?

I've never been to an actual concert. There have been groups that came to our church to sing. The Downings were probably our favorite, but I can only take so much bluegrass before I don't want to hear it for a while.

6. Reality TV...harmful or harmless?  What's your guilty pleasure when it comes to reality TV?

Some reality shows are more harmful than others. We enjoy Duck Dynasty, something I never thought possible because of all those long beards, but after actually watching an episode we were officially hooked.

I really like cooking shows too. Chopped and Master Chef being my favorite.

7. What's something you think is overrated?

One little word. Sports. I'll leave it at that.

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

 

Last year some insects got into my flowers and most of them didn't make it. This year we have baby kittens and the amount of destruction they have caused to my gladolius bed is frustrating. I did manage to salvage one little bouquet.

Treasures

Part of the perks of working in the attic was that I found items I hadn't seen for a long time. Items like my wedding dress and the baby clothes our children wore on the day they were born and also the first outfit they wore to church.

I was happy to find this little bonnet, even in its storage weary state. All three of our oldest children wore the first time they went to church. Sailor wasn't impressed that he had to wear girl clothes, and all three of them were wondering just how tiny their heads used to be in order to have been able to wear that.

Sunbeam volunteered one of her dolls to try it on for size.

 

I still remember how fun it had been making this bonnet almost fourteen years ago. My favorite part was always creating those little zigzag thingies where the bonnet back was attached to the slat filled front.

 

I'll be tucking it away again. Too many memories attached, and I have a feeling as time goes on it may become an item of interest if our children ever have children of their own.

The Attic

When we first moved into our house I was impressed with our attic. I finally had space to store things I no longer needed and yet didn't want to get rid of. It is the first atic we ever had that I could walk around in it with out worrying about bumping my head.

We also have a room upstairs that I use for storing things like books and other items I don't want to subject to the hot and cold extremes of the attic which means I don't have a reason very often to actually wander up the creaky stairs to the attic.

If I calculated correctly it had been over a year since I last ventured up there, opting to send the children up with what ever needed to be stored there. They had also turned half of it into an area to play house. When ever I heard the sounds of laughter floating down the stairs I would smile and envision a fun place to spend rainy summer days playing.

That all changed a little over a week ago when LV asked if I saw the attic recently. "No, I haven't been up there for quite a while," I answered blissfully unaware and visions still dancing through my head of a cozy place to play. There may even have been some unrealistic visions of beautiful lace curtains and other wonderful vintagey things that should be the part of any dreamy attic.

I opened the attic door and was greeted with an assortment of empty boxes, several bags of clothes, and a few toys on the stairs. After gingerly picking my way to the top my jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Half of the attic was simply one huge heap of boxes, some empty and others filled but their flaps were open and contents spilling out. It looked as if the children had simply stood on top of the stairs and flung the boxes and where ever they landed was fine with them.

The other half looked somewhat better, but certainly not a cozy place to play. Instead of lacy curtains, cobwebs danced at the windows, remnants of several picnics stared at me. I blinked my eyes several times in hopes this whole horrible mess would simply vanish. There was no such luck and so this past week was spent cleaning and organizing.

I didn't take any before pictures. But this is how it looks now.

 

The lace curtains and vintagey things won't happen. But at least things are clean and organized once again. And this time I'm determined to keep it that way even if it means I have to wander up there more than once a year.

Amish Searching

I like to occasionally look at the searches people were doing that led them to my blog. This morning when I checked I decided to provide the answer to some of the things.

do amish use the us mail?

Yes, the Amish use U.S. mail. They still send long, juicy letters to their friends regularly. For many of them there is something wrong if a day passes and they haven't received a letter from someone. Forget about those pesky bills that arrive once a month, mail for the Amish is an anticipated highlight of every day.

amish chore schedule

There is no set schedule of chores the Amish have to follow. Each family creates and follows a schedule that works best for them.

is there amish in somerset

There are no Amish living in the town of Somerset, PA.  However the second oldest Amish community is located in southern Somerset County.

do amish wear deodorant

That depends on what community they live in. Most Amish do wear deodorant, but there are still some of the most conservitive communities where it is frowned upon.

former amish blog

You found one of them. Hope you enjoyed your visit.

how do amish train children

Part of Amish child training is the parents being very involved in the child's life. Working and playing side by side makes training a pleasant experience of being cheerfully guided to be what you should be rather than having to be disciplined for having done what you shouldn't have.

I recently read an article by a friend, where she shared this:

Perhaps it’s my Amish background that feeds my determination to teach my children. The Amish never got on the self-esteem trend in which children were told they were wonderful for simply being, rather than doing. I think the Amish always sensed that a healthy sense of self came from knowing you could handle this, you had what it took, and you had something to offer to others. And that came from adding skill to skill, from shelling peas as a small child to running a farm as an adult. - Dorcas Smucker

You can read the entire article here.