Making pies with Gram

Last March I went home for three weeks while waiting for US Immigration to send me back my passport after my immigration interview. During that time I took a multitude of pictures. Unfortunately, while I really enjoy snapping candid pictures, I rather dislike taking them off my camera and actually doing anything with them. Alas, it is my photo downfall. I have pictures that I want to blog from last year, this summer, this past Christmas, any many more occasions, but I might never get around to them all simply because I like taking pictures a lot better than I like culling and editing them.

Tonight, though, it is time to put up one series of photos, pictures from last spring that I am so glad I took. My Grandma is a wonderful cook (as is my mother). I, on the other hand, can cook reasonably okay meals, but seldom am actually inspired to do so - I claim that the joy-of-cooking gene skipped me over. In our family, though many are great cooks, nobody makes pies like my Grandma! Because her pies are so delicious, I have been wary to attempt making any myself and stick to baking sweets that I feel confident about - mostly cookies and brownies. But when I was home in March I requested a pie-making lesson, and my sister and I spent a delightful afternoon at Gram's house learning how to make her pies. Here is the afternoon in picture-story form.

Mixing up the pie crusts

Rolling out the dough for my pie

Bryn's crust ready to be put in the pan

Gram's skilled hands molding the crust into the pan

Blueberry filling

Gram showing me how to make pretty designs on the top crust

The finished design

Putting on the top crust

Gramps camping out in the dining room to read the paper while the ladies make pies in the kitchen

Using the leftover dough to make another yummy little treat

Bryn rolling up the sweet roll

All ready to snack on :)

Our pies fresh out of the oven

Bryn showcasing her pie

Hey look, Gram taught me how to make pies!

These pictures are so special to me, and I'm so, so glad I brought my camera over to Grandma's house that day so I could snatch it up with floury-sticky fingers and capture these pictures of the process and the experience of making pies with Gram. Although I have no special passion for cooking or baking, I do enjoy making food with other people, especially people I dearly love. For me, making food is more about the experience and the memories made with others than it is about the actual results. And I will remember and cherish this wonderful afternoon with my Grandma for the rest of my life.

Thank you so much for teaching me just one of your baking skills, Gram! I hope my future pies taste even half as good as yours always do!