Its Time for Pie

It’s time for pie!

Years ago, during my high school days, I took home economics.  I had always loved cooking and baking.  Sewing was not my strong point, and still is not, but I loved working in the kitchen.

Nikki, my sister, has so many abilities but domestic engineer is not at the top of her list.  Nonetheless, as she drew nearer to her wedding date she chose to venture into the kitchen.  She decided to begin her domestic adventure by baking a double-crusted apple pie.

Now I knew my sister had never attempted to bake anything before this, so I asked if she wanted me to help.  Forget that idea.  She said she was very capable of baking a pie without any help from me. 

I left my sister to her own devices.  She peeled her apples added the other ingredients and giving them the proper time to allow all the flavors to mingle as she prepared the crusts.

She rolled out the crusts and cut them to fit the pie dish.  Then she piled her apple mixture into a large mound in the pie shell.  She placed it all in the oven and set the timer.

The house filled with the pleasant aroma of apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  I had to admit, it certainly did smell like a wonderful pastry.  I started to believe I was wrong.  My sister had a domestic side to her that I had not seen before.

The timer alerted us to the end of her efforts.  She removed from the oven a large pie piled with the delicious smelling apples.

Nikki was very proud of her efforts and brought the pie to me remaking “See I didn’t need your help”.  Well, I will admit it certainly did smell wonderful.  I just had one question.  “I thought you said you were baking a double crusted pie?”  She said, “I did.”  So I asked the obvious question, “Where is the second crust?”  With a sharp tone, she replied.  “It’s on the bottom, where do you think I would have put it.”  I smiled and said “silly me, I would have put one crust on the bottom and one on the top.”

My response stunned her.  She hadn’t thought about one on top and one on the bottom.  I am not sure where she got her recipe, but either the crust placements were not included in the directions or she missed that detail.

Here we are over four decades later and Nikki still makes apple pies.  She learned from her early lesson, and I must say she makes one heck of a delectable apple pie.  She still mounds the apples high in the pan, but now the second crust is on top, and yes, her crusts are wonderfully flaky too.  Now at family gatherings she proudly brings her apple pies.

Last year when I told her I added one of her stories to my blog, she asked which one.  I told her it was the seven red dresses story.  She laughed and said I thought you would write the double-crusted pie story.  I laughed and said I hadn’t considered that story since I would not want to embarrass her by putting it out there on the Internet for all to read.  She said “Why not?  I tell everyone my double crusted pie story.”

I am telling you this so that you know I would never write a story where someone could be hurt.  However, Nikki takes the story as a fond memory of our early years. 

As for me, I just wonder where the saying “easy as pie” started. 

Jan