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Chance of rain to return to Wyoming Valley as weekend approaches

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Local growers to bring bounty to June 29 opening day of W-B Farmers Market

<p>&#8220;Julia! Austin! Wake up, we&#8217;re ready to leave for Ohio! Remember, we&#8217;re going to Grandpa&#8217;s today!&#8221; I told my sleeping darlings.</p><p>Shrieks of delight sounded as they jumped out of bed. The van driver we had scheduled to pick us up early in the morning soon arrived. Two excited children were delighted to nestle into their car seats and head for Ohio.</p><p>By 1:30 p.m., we were all grateful to arrive safely at Grandpa&#8217;s house. Best of all was watching Julia hug her little cousins that she had been eager to see once more.</p><p>That evening, most of us went fishing in a pond at the home of Daniel&#8217;s brother Tobias. Two-year-old Austin was quite eager to have a turn. I cast out my line and told him he may hold it for me. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to catch a big buck!&#8221; he informed me. Dear little fellow is perhaps hearing too many stories about deer? Soon he was informing me that he can&#8217;t reel in his line anymore. &#8220;Austin, you&#8217;ve got a fish!&#8221; I told him. Excitedly, the two of us cranked it in together. And no, it wasn&#8217;t a big buck, instead it was a too-little-to-keep bass.</p><p>Dusk was gathering by the time we headed home with a dozen bass to butcher. You now how it goes: Unfortunately, the butchering part isn&#8217;t usually as fun as the catching part.</p><p>The following day proved to be quite interesting. We attended a Hostetler family reunion, which included Daniel&#8217;s mother&#8217;s family. With her being born into a family of 10 children, it certainly was a large group of people. Dawdys (as we call grandma and grandpa) have 80 grandchildren and 81 great-grandchildren. And yes, most of their descendants were at the reunion. What really amazed me is how many little children were present, 81 children under age 11.</p><p>Prior to the reunion, I had met most of Daniel&#8217;s cousins but of course couldn&#8217;t remember all their names. The day was packed with visiting and rekindling friendships. Lunch consisted of an Amish meal of mashed potatoes, sausage gravy, mixed vegetables, tossed salad and strawberry delights. A special thanks to those in Danville, Ohio, who planned and prepared this meal to feed all 180 of us.</p><p>The afternoon passed swiftly as Dawdy shared stories of long ago days. It&#8217;s hard for us to imagine what things were like 50 to 75 years ago. What it would be like to only be paid $1.25 an hour.</p><p>The Hostetler family also enjoys singing, so an hour was spent singing from the Christian hymnal, concluding with Grandma&#8217;s favorite song: &#8220;Love Will Bring Us All Together By and By.&#8221;</p><p>A simple ice cream supper of hot ham and cheese sandwiches, noodles, ice cream cones and cake was served at 6:15 p.m. Afterward was introduction time which was quite interesting for me. The Hostetler siblings stood with their partners, children and grandchildren. Doing that definitely helped me remember who belongs to which family.</p><p>Included in this letter is my strawberry delight recipe like we had at the reunion. Any type of filling may be used instead of strawberry, or for a different twist, try chocolate or lemon pudding.</p><p><strong>SUMMER STRAWBERRY DELIGHT</strong></p><p>2 cups graham crackers</p><p>1/4 cup brown sugar</p><p>1/2 cup butter, melted</p><p>Mix and press into 9 by 9 inch pan.</p><p>8 ounces cream cheese, softened</p><p>1/2 cup powdered sugar</p><p>8 ounces whipped topping</p><p>Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar, fold in whipped topping and then carefully spread over crumbs.</p><p>1 1/2 quarts strawberry pie filling of your choice.</p><p>Spread over cream cheese mixture.</p><p>Lemon or chocolate pudding may be used instead of pie filling if desired.</p><p>Serves approximatley 10 people.</p><p>Summer book anniversary special &#8212; The entire Amish Cook softcover library is now available to celebrate the column&#8217;s anniversary this summer. This is the last time these books will be offered, first-come, first served. The titles are: &#8220;Original Amish Cook Cookbook,&#8221; &#8220;Williams Guide to Amish Country,&#8221; &#8220;The Best of The Amish Cook, Vol 1,&#8221; &#8220;The Best of The Amish Cook Vol 2,&#8221; &#8220;The Amish Recipe Project,&#8221; &#8220;The Amish Cook&#8217;s Everything But the Kitchen Sink Book,&#8221; &#8220;The Amish Cook Cookbook,&#8221; and two Amish-themed fiction novellas: &#8220;Rebecca at the Beach,&#8221; &#8220;Searching for Rebecca.&#8221; Eight books for $69 plus $3 shipping. Send to: Oasis Newsfeatures, P.O. Box 157, Middletown, OH 45042. Allow two weeks for delivery.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>Gloria Yoder</p><p>The Amish Cook</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Readers with culinary or cultural questions or stories can write Gloria directly at Gloria Yoder, 10568 E. 350th Ave., Flat Rock, IL 62427-2019. To see more on the Amish, go to www.amish365.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Amish Cook: Traveling, meeting family, sharing food, and making memories