Monday, October 3, 2011

Apple Pie

The past few months have been really busy. Working, teaching at camp, wedding preparation, Kenosee Lake Kitchen Party, visitors, getting ready to move into my new home... everything added up into one big, gigantic conglomerate that was... LIFE.

And it has exploded again. :-) I am glad we took two weeks of semi-honeymoon to rest. We needed that downtime. However, life, in all it's horrible busyness, is rich and full and marvelous. My beloved and I get to spend time together. That alone adds color and beauty. 

..for small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.. -- Carl Sagan

Adventures. Yes, we have already had several. Some of them included: *Going in for my driver's test and passing. Now I can legally drive. Yay! *Working on the porch and basement. *Jesse falling into the hole in the dark and twisting his knee (that happened three days ago). *Jesse getting a wall dropped smack dab on his other foot and thinking perhaps he had broken it (that happened last night!). *Jesse dropping a 2x4 on his head (that happened this evening). *Finding that the cat had thrown up in the living room, on my favorite chair. *Forgiving the cat (it was quite a journey for me... :-P). *Waking up to Jesse asking me to go put some food in the cat's dish because the cat was eating a puzzle. Noisily. (Trying to get the message across.) (Jesse would have done the chore except he had hurt himself and couldn't walk very well.) 

His name is Snow, btw. He is quite a lovely animal and I am fond of him. Firstly, for Jesse's sake, then for Snow's sake. 

There is something quite amusing about Jesse getting hurt so much. Wait. That sounds heartless. It isn't really funny. But it is. Jesse never falls. In fact, at the wedding, the best man made a point that he had never had never seen Jesse fall for as long as they had been friends. (Matt has known Jesse since he [Matt] was a newborn.) Then, Jesse fell into the hole. It was dark and he did land on his feet. (Therefore doesn't really count of as a fall, according to Jesse. :-)) Then they dropped a wall on Jesse's foot. Lack of communication. They weren't supposed to both drop the wall at the same time. Then this evening, Jesse get's hit by a 2x4 dropped on his head. That was a working in the dark thing again. He never got hurt before he met me!! :-P

I have been having some adventures in the kitchen as well. They have all turned out quite happily in the end so it has been exciting. :-) My first culinary delight was Spicy Meatball Sandwich. It was good. I made a couple changes to it but made the basic recipe. My next success was from the same website (Tammy's Recipes never fails to provide delicious, healthy recipes... I've used many of her recipes and have always been pleased) in the form of apple pie and homemade pastry. 

Without bragging, pastry used to be my specialty. I remember when I was about 14 years old, my mother delegating the pie making to me because "your pie crust is always good". That's high praise on several levels. Anyways, that was with whole wheat and butter: two things that make pastry difficult to accomplish. I have always like my mom's recipe except that it always seemed very salty and vinegary. So I wondered if Tammy had a recipe.

 Voila!  Foolproof Pie Crust. I was at first amazed at the similarities of this recipe to my mother's. This is, however, one slight difference that I believe makes the entire crust a different thing: a tablespoon of sugar. I was so pleased with this recipe. The first day, I didn't refrigerate it long enough. It was a little difficult to work with; sticky. (I didn't use wax paper for rolling it out... just flour and table surface and wooden rolling pin.) However, the end results were definitely worth every bit of work. This crust is delicious. Mmm! And guess what? I didn't have enough apples to make three pies so I saved most of the pastry (in balls). First, I froze it, then over the course of the week, it was moved from the freezer to the refrigerator and there it sat... Yesterday, I finally had a chance to work with it again. Guess what? It was much easier to roll out, tasted just as good and I am definitely giving this recipe a #10 rating. It is indeed foolproof! 

And as for the apple pie, again, Tammy's Recipe's had the recipe: Perfect Apple Pie. Since we don't like things too sweet, I cut down on the sugar. Jesse is very particular about his fruit and pie... especially apple pie...  so I was waiting on bated breath when he took a bite. :-) The emoticon says it all. Lol. He loved it. 

I have learned a couple tricks of the trade regarding Apple Pie. 1: Cook your pie at 450* for 10 minutes to cook the bottom of the pie. (I learned this from my mother-in-law who is an amazing pie maker...) 2: When they say "thinly sliced apples" take them seriously. Apple Pie takes a long time to cook without thick, unevenly sliced apples. I learned that one the hard way! :-) 

Other than that, well, I worked five days last week at Pharmsave. The money is nice and my boss is nice and my co-workers are nice. :-) But it was crazy busy in there. For five days, I tried to wash windows. Every day I tried to wash the windows, something came up... stocking shelves, working photolab, working at the cash register, etc. I believe Friday was the worst day. I worked most of the day at the till and by the time I got home, I was hurting all over so bad. Concrete floor is hard on the feet. But, it was nice to get some days in before music starts. 

Speaking of which, that begins tomorrow. Am I excited? :-) Oh yes. It's a big job and something that takes a lot preparation. But it is worth it. I love what I do. :-) 

Anyways, I should go empty the cat's water dish. Last night when I filled the food dish, I accidentally poured some of the food into his water. He doesn't like the water when there has been food in it. :-P I can't say I blame him... 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You and Jesse have had quite the adventure in your yet brief marriage :) I had to laugh at the cat comment's...forgiving the cat and all. Yep, that would be my position too. haha

Ohh, thanks for the apple pie secrets! I too, get delegated for crusts, because the others insist theirs always turn out too "patchy". I ate the best apple pie my friend made on Sunday, the crust was so buttery and the apples perfect (and sliced much smaller than I have made mine!). :D

Naomi T. said...

Snow is a good cat, I'll give him that. :) But yeah, animals take forgiving time and again. Lol.

Have you tried any of Tammy's recipes? If so, how have you liked them? What apple pie recipe do you use? What is your favorite pie?

Anonymous said...

Wow! Your life is quite exciting and adventurous all the time!!!

ICK about Snow throwing up; not very nice of the cat but such is life...

I love Tammy's recipes... I've used quite a few :)

Naomi T. said...

I think being married to an adventurer would make sure that life was just that: exciting and adventurous. Lol. I definitely didn't marry anyone boring. ;)

Snow has two problems: he eats way too fast and doesn't chew. Secondly, he is very fluffy, is a house cat and gets hair balls. They all contribute, I think.

I have offered to make apple pie for family thanksgiving. Just a little nervous but looking forward to making apple pie again. :) I love Thanksgiving.