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Tuesday, January 4, 2011

My story of pie

Why the Pie Window, you ask?

My dearest and best friend used to always say that when she grew up and bought a house, she would love to have a pie window. With this pie window, she'd be able to put a pie to cool and then shout "WHO WANTS PIE?!" in her most southern accent imaginable.

This used to always make me laugh- what a great idea! What an eccentric window! Who has a window just for pie? I know I want one!

Fast forward 10 (ish) years later...

I'd always been way too scared to make my own pie crust. I had heard horror stories of how you had to get everything just right, and I had no idea how to do that. I didn't want to waste a perfectly good filling and end up with a bad crust! So I stuck to buying a pie shell and filling it with lovely things.

I would judge a baker on how "good of a baker they were" if they could make a pie crust. And by judge, I mean I would be rather impressed/intimidated. It was my standard of baking, I suppose. Needless to say, I was intimidated by those who could.

When we made pie dough in class, understandably I was quite nervous. I was Chef's partner that day, which meant that she would see how everyone else was doing before seeing me. So naturally, I worked the shortening (we use it for most things because it's easier to handle than butter) too far into the flour before she could stop me. Eeep! I had to remeasure everything out and start again. This time, I knew what the paste shouldn't look like, so I could make my second batch with confidence. And it turned out alright! I was quite proud.

I've made a few pies since then, and I'm still learning! It's been really fun, and I'm glad I got over my fear.

I won't lie. I still want a pie window.

Me with my stylin' Christmas apron and my mincemeat pie!

5 comments:

  1. yay! pie! i made a bakewell tart on new years. my pastry fear is gone!

    d.

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  2. A pie window is a wonderful concept! I used to be able to make a decent pie crust, then my boy became vegan and I found out I was gluten intolerant and I haven't even attempted one since.

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  3. Loving that Christmas apron! :) Can't say we're pie crust experts but as we only make them for ourselves, it doesn't matter if things get a bit stodgy.

    We think the blog name is great by the way.

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  4. Hi my sweet niece!!

    ................. your ant.

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  5. Hi Sweet Niece!

    I agree with Julia, it's a great name you've come up with for your blog! The name brings to mind the story your uncle Mike has told about when he was a kid and the "old lady" would make sure to leave her warm pies on the window ledge to cool "on purpose" for the little kids (your uncle Mike and his buddy) to sneak or "steal" a piece of warm pie! They thought they were so clever and tried to push the pie together so it would look whole again. LOL They thought the "old lady" never knew and yet they didn't realize that she cooled her pies off on the window ledge on purpose just for them. Sweet story huh?

    .................. your ant.

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