The Amish Cook By LOVINA EICHER There is hardly any more signs of the snow we had covering the ground recently. The almost 50 degree, rainy weather has resulted in the snowing disappeairng. Early Sunday morning we had some thunder and lightning along with some heavy winds and rain, which is unusual for January! All the snow melting, combined with the rain, made the ground quite muddy. The children have some muddy boots that need to be cleaned. Temperatures are a little above freezing so the ground has hardened up again. Although I am ready for spring it would be nice to have some snow to clean the mud off these boots. It is good that God alone controls the weather. Yesterday we had Sunday brunch at Jacob and Emma’s house. She fixed a big meal of biscuits, sausage gravy, potatoes, eggs, cheese, hot peppers, homemade wheat bread, butter, V-8 juice, coffee, orange juice, milk, and homemade grape juice.

The V-8 juice is the juice that Elizabeth and I helped Emma make last fall a few weeks after she had baby Marilyn.

We went a little overboard putting in jalapenos so it is a very hot V-8. Baby Marilyn is still really growing at 4 1 /2 months. She is such a smiling baby and loves to chatter. Emma and Jacob’s son Steven, age 2, seems to have accepted her. Our son, Kevin, 4, thought he had to always take Steven to the potty yesterday. He gets a little bossy with him but it doesn’t seem to bother Steven. After playing some board games, Emma and I mixed up some homemade ice cream. Joe, Jacob, and all the boys took turns cranking the ice cream freezer. I took along a cake in honor of daughter Susan’s 14th birthday. Emma also served homemade apple and pecan pies that she had made the day before.

After the snack we headed for home. The girls made a light supper for everyone and we retired for bed earlier. The children were tired after a long day of playing with their cousins.

Our prayers are with the Joe Bontrager family as Joe, 58, has been in the hospital since January 14. He is recovering from a stroke. They are in the same church district we are. It sounds like he will have a long road to recovery.

I need to go help daughter Elizabeth, 15, finish the daily morning work. She has been doing a great job in learning to sew new clothes. One day last week she sewed her brother Joseph two new denim pants for school. He was pretty proud to wear them to school. He is a neat little boy and doesn’t like patches on his pants. This week Elizabeth plans to sew Joseph a few more pants and also start on Benjamin’s. Meanwhile, I need to get busy cutting out the pants so she can get started sewing on them. I bought a big bulk of denim material when it was on sale so it is nice to have it on hand. Elizabeth is doing a great job in sewing and is catching on fast. I am glad I have two sewing machines.

Happy 80th birthday to Uncle Albert Coblentz in Lafayette, Indiana. This would be my Dad’s oldest brother. We regret that we couldn’t attend his birthday celebration on Saturday.

Here is the recipe that we used to make the homemade ice cream yesterday.

Homemade Ice Cream

10 cups milk

7 eggs

31/2 cups sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

Beat eggs then add remaining ingredients and mix. Pour into freezer and freeze. Enjoy.

(Note: This recipe provides insight into Amish culture, but USDA and other health officials strongly advise against the consumption of raw eggs. Use recipe at your own risk — the newspaper nor The Amish Cook or her family assume liability for any illness.)