The Peaks & Valleys of Pies

"There's a lot of peaks and valleys on the days you make pies, honey."
"A lot of foot stompin' over there sometimes," he says.

Well, yes, sorry there is crying and yelling and stomping while I try to perfect an All-American dish.

My Pie Adventure 2014 is in it's last month and I have so many things to tell you about pie.  I think December calls for lots of pie baking so I will write more after we get through all 12 months of pie baking.

The first month was definitely a valley.....when my husband came home to me crying because my crust wasn't quite working out.  Like the good man he is, he opened up a bottle of wine for me and then just stayed out of the way.  That was until I cried some more and then he ran to town to buy crust for my already made, delicious filling.

Someone called this my french fry pie.
Definitely a valley moment.

This fall I somehow perfected making my own caramel for this peanut-caramel-apple pie.

I mean it event looks pretty.  A peak moment for sure.

Then there was the time that I started making a pie and then had that awful moment when I realized  the recipe was really for a custard pie.  I don't really do that nor do I have the ambition too.
I think I called my mom crying this time.

The bacon and peanut butter cookie crust was so, so good and a peak moment for me.

The custard, a low.....low....runny valley.

Then a total peak moment happened last week.  

I was talking to grandma about the Thanksgiving Day meal and she uttered those words I thought I would never hear, "So....are you bringing a pie, Katherine?"  

"Well, I was thinking about it, and thought I would ask you first. 

 But YES, I can bake a pie for Thanksgiving, grandma!"  

And just like that, I was a grown-up bringing pie to Thanksgiving. 

My pie crust was too thick....valley.  But the apple, pear and raisin filling was good and the brown sugar crumble topping was delicious....another peak during the Pie Adventure 2014.

The months have seemed to fly by during this adventure, just as they do in life.

I have learned that each pie crust and pie filling are unique in their own ways and that they aren't perfect.  I will never perfect the art of making a pie, but many of them will be delicious and some will make grandma's pie hutch for the holidays.

I will always have peaks and valleys with my pies, just as in life.  But it's all an adventure, right?

Eating Pie & Dreaming of Bacon

Remember when I told you about the 

"Spoken Lesson From the Farmer:  There's No Burnin' Daylight"?

Well, today I met that challenge and rose before the sun.  

I finally answered "yes" to my farmer husband's question he asks me a few times each fall, 

"you want to get up with me and take cattle to the butcher?"

I decided that since I don't see him that often during harvest, I should probably go with him......at least once.  So with wet hair and camera in hand, I put my boots on and off we went to load up the trailer.

Our cattle are pretty calm and collected.  They don't fuss much and are usually pretty nice.  

So Brett just opened up the gate....

....and after giving me a few dirty looks, they went right onto the trailer. 

 That didn't take long so I kind of just stood there, in the barn under the stars and looked around.  

I noticed the hayloft, which was decorated with licenses plates from various trucks and tractors from the farm.  I thought of the miles and miles of roads and fields those plates had seen.

And then I noticed this old toy sitting on a stack of bricks in the barn.  Who knows the last time this was touched, but I bet it has seen the hands of three generations by now and will wait for the next.  

When we got to the butcher, I hopped out of the truck and turned to see this on a barn next door.  A sign that we were in the Heartland and in the Hoosier State.  And something every young kid should have and experience, a barnyard basketball goal.

The boys unloaded the cattle, caught up on some butcher talk as I tried to stand in the background.  

I am sure the flash on my camera wasn't noticed at all......

I thought, though, this young man is a part of the agriculture process too--helping farmers with their livestock and butchering in a clean and safe way to provide food on our tables.  I mean the bacon he has to provide for just our family is quite remarkable!  Ha!

But I bet he has played in a hayloft and with an old toy and some games barnyard basketball.

I felt grateful for him, and for the cattle that provide for our family and so many others.  

And then I realized that it was only 7:00 a.m. and that I would probably crash in a few hours.  So when I got home, I decided a sugar high was necessary and that I would eat some of that pie that I made on Monday night.  

While I ate my pie I watched the sun rise and shine through the fog.  I dreamt of some barnyard basketball and bacon, like a good Hoosier farm girl who decided "there's no burnin' daylight" today.

Jewels & Bacon.....A Girl's Best Friends

BACON, extra bacon, crispy, extra crispy!!  EXTRA crispy......!!!!!!!!!!  

That's all I remember the morning after our "Jeans & Jewels"  night.  One of my best friends, Jodi, and I somehow snatched some free tickets to the hottest party in the city during the Month of May 
(for those Hoosiers out there, you know why that is capitalized).  

We had our first red carpet experience and you had to wear "jeans" and lots of "jewels"!  There were race car drivers galore, fashion we had never heard of and martinis served through an ice sculpture.  We scheduled a special shopping trip and even booked a room downtown because we knew it would be a fun night......

 We were living on top of the world at 23.  And since then we have called each other "Blessed Jewel".

But then it was the next morning, and as I stood at the hotel bedside to order the room service that we couldn't afford, but needed, all I kept hearing was her bacon order.  And rightfully so because who doesn't love bacon, extra crispy or not?!?  

These days, even though we still eat it a lot, bacon has turned into these every day gimmicks and jokes. And rightfully so, it's delicious and everyone should have the pleasure of eating it.  I mean, I take the opportunity as much as I can to eat it and buy the gimmicks.....

And yes, we still wear jeans often and lots of jewels.  And yes, we still eat bacon as much as possible.  However, sometimes we eat bacon, and do other things, to keep our minds off of our stress.  That includes Jodi and another friend of ours that love some good 'ole crispy bacon and all the relief it gives us from life's beautiful, crazy ways.

Just last month, my mom, sister and I visited the new Pig Adventure at Fair Oaks Farms in northern Indiana.  As we were watching the momma pigs (or sows as they are called) have their piglets (baby pigs), my sister and I reminisced about our days on the farm when we raised pigs.  And then my mom started asking questions.....

"Your father let you do what....?!?"  

"Is this one of those times you went to the farm and he told you 'don't tell your mother 

what you did today' type of things?"

Well, I won't go into the details of scooping pig manure (or poop) and etc., nor do I remember my dad 

ever telling us to not tell mom anything (actually that may be a lie...).  But I do know that I loved raising pigs and showing them for 10 years in 4-H AND being proud that I was a part of helping to raise those pigs to produce bacon.

Not only was I wearing my jeans, I never left the house without my sticky jewel earrings even if I was scooping that pig manure.