At long last

This summer, when we were picking blueberries and blackberries, Allison wanted to make a pie. I was making her do "summer school spelling" at the time (her spelling tests all year had been less than stellar) and wouldn't let her bake until she successfully finished her remedial spelling work. One of her lists carried over into the new school year and became a source of frustration to both of us. She finally mastered it last week. The berries were waiting in the freezer.

I'm not much of a pie maker. I really like pie but rolling crust into a circle that will actually fit the pie pan, isn't too thin, and holds together as you work with it seems a little beyond me. The beauty of youth is that Allison isn't intimidated by all those problems. She just forges ahead, sure of a good outcome. She made her crust completely with whole wheat pastry flour. It didn't handle too well, but she just got a dish of water and "glued" where it wanted to break. No problem.



She used a combination of blackberries and blueberries in a recipe out of my old Betty Crocker cookbook.

Since the crust was proving difficult, I suggested she might want to try a lattice-style top crust, rather than a regular top crust. She took her strips of crust, gave them a little twist, and put them on top of her pie.

We forgot to take a picture when it came out of the oven, but managed to remember before we ate any.

It was really delicious. And I bet she'll always be able to spell villain, resurrection, Fahrenheit, inseparable, plagiarism, etc.-at least I hope so!