Tuesday, January 07, 2014

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!

4 comments:

  1. That was such a fun time. Great memories!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing this fun time with your Grandma. You may not enjoy the process of selecting and editing your pictures, but you have done a great job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Awww, thank you for your kind words! I must confess, though, that I enlisted the help (and good eye) of my photographer husband for the job of picking out and editing the pictures. :P

      Delete
  3. That does look like it was awesome. I love pie, but I love all the people in this post more.

    ReplyDelete