The Amish Cook from Oasis Newsfeatures

I haven't done this in awhile, but occasionally I like to communicate one-on-one with site visitors about site-related topics.  Your input can help me tailor and test new ideas and approaches.  If you come to amishcookonline regularly (once a month or more), please email me at .   Ideal candidate would be someone who reads The Amish Cook in their local print newspaper (not online) and is someone who hasn't been in a previous focus group.  This won't take much of your time, just an email or two back and forth.  Thanks!!!

We've been talking about this issue for months and months and AmishCookTV subscribers got a real indepth presentation in the Swartzentruber docmentary....but, for those who aren't as familiar, a long-running dispute has been festering in a handful of northern New York towns that are trying to enforce local building code ordinances on an especially conservative group of Amish.  This to me just seems like overreaching on the part of the local government.  In the case of the Pennsylvania Amish who are disposing of raw sewage in farm fields, one could at least make the argument that that could conceivably impact other area residents who aren't Amish.  But failure to build one's house to a certain code? I just don't see what the overriding "greater good" is in making sure an Amish family's house has a smoke detector.  Is a smoke detector a great thing to have?  Of course.  Should it be mandated/legislated? I think there are a ton of other things that the local officials could probably be spending time and money on that this.....Click here to read about the latest impasse.

I'm always mildly annoyed when non-Amish people "judge" Amish people by their use of technology, worldliness, etc.  I'll occasionally hear someone snicker or whisper under their breath:  "oh, THOSE Amish aren't as Amish as the friends of mine down in Holmes County".  It's as if - some peoples' minds -  the more conservative an Amish person is, the more "Amish" they are.  That's an oversimplification that leads to some unfortunate stereotypes.  Amish is a religion first guided by a set of shared values and principles. I think an Amish person knows what is acceptable in their particular church district and they don't need outsiders serving as scorekeepers.  That said, when reading this article in the Philadelphia paper today I couldn't help but be struck by the enterpreneurialism, capital, and connections that must have been needed to launch a business like this. The Amish enterpreneur, Dan King, typifies the great business sense that many Amish men possess. Lancaster Amish have had generations to hone their enterpreneurial skills in the tourist-soaked area.  There does seem to be a growing gulf within the Amish church between Amish like Dan King who are completely immersed in non-Amish life and those that still try maintain a semblance of separateness.  It'll be interesting to see how the church reconciles this in the years ahead.....

A couple of food-related thoughts:

We don't use microwaves a lot in our cooking, but they are handy for the days after Thanksgiving for quickly reheating leftovers.  A pet peeve of mine: WHY don't they invent a microwave, perhaps a two-level microwave, that can heat multiple meals at once?  I am at my Mother-in-Law's house this evening and I heated my plate of leftovers, which took 4 minutes.  Then I have to wait for Rachel's plate, and then my MIL...by the time we all sit down together to eat, my food is cold again.....arrghhh.  Would it be so difficult to invent a multi-level microwave?

And I am curious about what others do on this:  I am watching my MIL and my wife eating bites of cranberries, stuffing, green bean casserole, going from item to item on their plate...a bite of this...a bite of that...Me, on the other hand, I eat all my stuffing at once, then move to the beans, then the sweet potatoes...I just feel a need to eat each item at once in an orderly fashion...does anyone else do this? Or do most people alternate between items on their plate?

AmishCookTV subscribers should have received a link to view a ride I recently took with Lovina's son, Benjamin, with their pony named Stormy.  I hope you enjoyed it!  This is our discussion thread if you have any comments or questions!