the perfect pie crust~

Making a truly excellent pie crust is an art form. It is not done distractedly or haphazardly or without intent. Good pie crust makers have patience. They have the understanding that even when you do every thing the same way..sometimes it just doesn't work out...and they do not hold that against the process or the pie.

My mother was an excellent pie maker. Although she made them all year round the day before Thanksgiving was her "Superbowl of pie making days" There was always 2 pumpkin. 1 cherry 1 apple, 1 apple crumb ( or crummy apple as she would call it) 1 mince and my favorite...pecan.

I would wake up the day before Thanksgiving and the process would already be underway...unlike when I bake, the kitchen remained amazingly neat considering all that flour that was flying around. Oh sure occasionally you might see a little flour on her apron( she always wore an apron) or perhaps her cheek but by and large it was an orderly endeavor.

I was extremely fortunate to be taught this process. As a very little girl I learned the secrets of good crust making... proper temperature of the water( cold)...How to add the water...

( a slow steady stop and go stream)...the affect of temperature and humidity on a pie crust, and

how to handle the crust..not too much or too little.. and finally proper rolling techniques...flatten with your hand and the quick short rolls in each directions.

Like I said, it is an art form.

Its interesting what the mind holds on to. For the last couple years I have found myself only dealing with what is and not what was. I dealt with all the day to day duties and responsibilities that happen when you have a loved one who has dementia. As sometimes happens In my effort to caretake I had to let go of my mother.

Recently I feared that I had lost all memories of the woman who was my mom. I really thought they were gone.

Two weeks ago I could barely remember that she made pies let alone the exact sequence.

Today ...I can hear her singing as she gathers her ingredients..I see the big yellow mixing bowl..I can feel the heat in the kitchen and I watch as the windows steam up...the wire are sitting on the kitchen table waiting for the pies as they get brought out of the oven...and then there are the pies... the amazing aroma as they cook in the oven and then their golden crusts and lovingly cut out designs or faces on them...

The nice elderly woman with dementia that I have been dealing with for the last several is gone and in her place I have found that my mom is back.

The pie making..piano playing..garden tending..party planning..storytelling...bookworm..lipstick wearing..jewelry loving...card playing...crossword puzzle expert..game show watching...walking partner...avon loving...sister..wife..mother..and grandmother is back.

And I have missed her and will not forget her again.