T Stands for Cherry Pie

 

With the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, time to do some things ahead of time. Today’s project is to bake a cherry pie. My favorite. Usually it’s an apple pie that graces the table. This year, Himself ordered a Thanksgiving feast box from Hello, Fresh. Everything in the box to prepare dinner. The dessert fixing is an apple crisp. So that’s why I chose the cherry pie for a change of pace.

I have fond memories of cherry pie.  On President Washington’ birthday, February 22,  all the big department stores would have a Wahington’s Birthday sale. Dad would pack us into the green Studebaker and drive to Woodland Station. Where he would park the car and we would take the subway to the (at that time) last station on the Green Line, Lechemere. 

Lechemere Sales was a big department store. Clothing , appliances, they had it all. To entice people to their Washington’s Birthday sale, they gave away free cherry pies. So we would go to the store, do a little shopping , and go home with a cherry pie.

It’s been a while since I made a homemade pie crust. Usually, I’m lazy and just use a refrigerated pie crust from the grocery store. This year, I have time, a lot of flour, and shortening used in another recipe that needs to be used up.

Another memory of when I first learned how to make pie crust. I was in my late teens or twenties and working at the local hospital laboratory. The receptionist called us kids that worked in reception/phlebotomy, her hospital children as we weren’t much older than her own kids. I think we all confided in her, too. 

One year, her kids had gone into a local orchard and liberated a ton of apples. She invited us to her house and she would teach us how to bake an apple pie. There was a lot of silliness, rude jokes about docking the pie crust, but I learned how to bake a pie.

I’ve assembled everything I will need. Mise en place. I watched Julia Child’s French Chef when she did a program on making pastry crust. She said working with pastry was delicate. The pastry was best when everything was cold. She suggested all utensils, shortening ,flour, and water should be refrigerated before making the pastry.

It’s good with temperatures at this time of the year, that I can put things in the “big fridge” (sun room). Last year, it was 57 degrees so that wasn’t possible. Before I begin, first things first. A cup of tea and some questions.

Do you make your own pie crust? What’s your favorite pie? Do you chill your utensils ?

 Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s blog to find out what the rest of the T gang is up to. If you want to play, include a beverage or beverage container in your post. Don’t forget to link your blog from Bleubeard and Elizabeth’s page.