The Amish Cook EDITOR'S NOTE: Lovina is taking this week off to catch up on home duties after the passing of her father-in-law last week. Her column will return in full format next week. A year ago I put out an appeal to readers to help support The Amish Cook column through the creation of a "Friend Club." Hundreds of readers responded - with Battle Creek, Michigan; Mansfield, Ohio; and NW Indiana leading the way - and as a result The Amish Cook continues publishing to this day. I can say with absolute certainty that Lovina's column would not still be running if readers hadn't stepped in and for that Lovina and myself are very grateful and humbled. So here we are, yet another year older, and hopefully wiser. The Amish Cook column is headed toward it's 19th anniversary this summer. It's now been published through the terms of four Presidents, wars, recessions, and the arrival of the internet. Through it all, I think the column remains an important portal to a simpler time where family, faith, and food are still the basic building blocks of happiness.

Just the last 12 months alone have seen enough changes to make me dizzy. Nationally, we've seen a new President installed and have had to navigate the most turbulent economic waters since the Great Depression. Personally, as well, I got married in September, so that was a big life change. And Lovina's brood of eight are yet another year older. For Lovina, it's been a year full of blessings but also some sadness with the recent passing of her father-in-law. And the newspaper business has been battered by the economy with dailies in Seattle, Denver, Cincinnati, Chicago, and elsewhere either filing for bankruptcy or shuttering altogether.

The column's condition is in better shape this year than last and the future seems more certain. If I've learned one important lesson, however, it's that it is easier to stay healthy than to try to cure a patient after he or she is ill. I envisioned The Friend Club as annual tool to keep the column publishing and healthy . Many of last year's Friend Club members are renewing for 2009-2010 and we're grateful for that. Over the next month we'd like to welcome new members to The Amish Cook Friend Club. The quarterly newsletter in the year ahead will be offering up tips about simpler, self-sustaining living and Amish "recession recipes." The support levels have been streamlined and simplified this year :

$25 - BASIC ­ Thank you letter and a "Lovina Eicher" name card

$50 - GOLD - thank you letter, name card, and quarterly newsletter, The Amish Cook Extra

$75 - EDITOR'S CIRCLE: thank you letter, name card, and single sheet 2010 wall calendar w/picture

Membership dues can be sent to: Oasis Newsfeatures, PO BOX 2144, Middletown, Ohio 45042

There is still a small number of cookbook orders on the back list and those are continuing to be filled, although no new orders are being accepted. If you are still on the backorder list, I appreciate your patience as I slog through it.

Lovina's column will return in its regular format next week, but here is a recipe she wanted me to share this week since rhubarbs are in season:

Rhubarb Cream Pie

2 cups rhubarb

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, separated

2 tablespoons flour

1 /2 cup cream or evaporated

In a large bowl, mix sugar and flour together. In a separate smaller bowl, beat egg yolks and then add cream. Stir well and add to sugar and flour mixture. Mix well. Put rhubarb into an unbaked pie shell. Pour filling over the rhubarb. Bake at 375 oven until rhubarb is tender and the filling sets, about 45 minutes. For the topping, beat the egg whites and add 3 tablespoons brown sugar. Pour over baked pie and bake until brown, about 10 minutes.

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