Family knows best…

After taking a day to cool my head and heal my wounds from the weekend’s pie disaster, I decided to heed my mother’s wise advice and went to the bakery to buy some pie dough. Finally the Gods smiled in my favour because I managed to snag the last three trays, just as another customer called to enquire about dough. After the hell I went through, I wasn’t going to let go of the dough, or my last scrap of sanity, without a fight. Don’t worry folks - no blood this time. Hubby pounced on the dough and we legged it out of the bakery long before the other customers even had a chance….suckers!

And now for the part that I hate to admit…Mom was right! Making your own pie dough is sheer insanity. I will NEVER attempt to mass produce pies with my own dough recipe again. This bakery stuff rolls out like a dream and it’s a breeze to work with. In only 30 minutes, I was able to assemble two glorious pies that actually look fit for consumption….an amazing feat when you consider that it took me 13 hellish hours to bake four measly pies on the weekend. Yes folks…it seems that old “pie magic” of my childhood has returned, with a little help from Mom and my local baker.

I am pleased to report that I am finally down to one large bowl of apples and only four more pies away from sweet tasty victory! Looking back on this experience, it’s hard not to laugh. This year we’ll be playing pie lottery. (I.e. You never know what kind of pie you’re going to get from the freezer because no two are the same...most are ranging from disaster to “points for trying” status.)

I guess I’ll just have to chalk this one up to another “life lesson” on the domesticity front. I’ll also be sure to pass on my mother’s wisdom to my own children some day…keep it simple!

In closing I’d like to thank my cousin “M” for taking pity on me and delivering a Quaker Apple Fruit Crumble bar to my office – allowing me to get my apple fix with zero frustration, no injuries or messy flour kitchen bombs to clean. You sir, are perhaps the wisest of them all!