Thursday was a beautiful day as niece Marlene and her bridegroom Chris exchanged their marriage vows. Three-hundred-fifty pounds of chicken was fried for the noon meal. Also on the menu were mashed potatoes, gravy, chicken and noodles, dressing, lettuce salad, mixed vegetables, cheese, homemade wheat bread, butter and strawberry jam. Desserts were tapioca pudding, sliced peaches in a fruit glaze, angel food cake with a strawberry topping, and pies (pecan, blueberry and cherry). Sausage links were added to the menu for supper.
They didn’t have a wedding wagon, so kerosene stoves were borrowed, as well as many pots and pans. The food was all prepared in a summer kitchen area that connected to the pole-barn-type building where the tables were set up. In yet another building, the wedding ceremony was held.
Brother Amos and his wife Nancy have eight daughters and two sons. This was the fourth daughter getting married, so I’m sure they are well practiced to prepare for a wedding.
I was a cook at the wedding and my job was to help mash potatoes. All the potatoes were mashed by hand. In some of the wedding wagons there are mixers that are run off a generator, which makes it a lot less work to mash the potatoes. This was how the potatoes were mashed at niece Irene’s wedding. It is always interesting to see the differences from one Amish community to the next.
At weddings in our Amish community, all the children go to the table to eat. At weddings in Berne, Indiana, the children eat cafeteria-style. At this wedding, 130 adults could eat at one time and the tables were reset quite often. There were around 250 to 300 youths who came for the evening meal. Berne is a large community compared to ours.
We were happy to have nephew Chris Schwartz Jr. spend the evening here on Saturday. We cooked supper outside on the grill and open kettle. Pork steak, ribs, hot wings, and banana and jalapeƱo poppers were grilled. Chili soup was made in the kettle. Chris is 30 years old and still single. He runs a construction crew and was working nearby.
Blueberries will only have a short season here in our area this year. Try this blueberry pie with fresh blueberries.
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