Making A Good Pie: Ingenuity, Good Judgement & Great Care

July 29, 2013September 19, 2016 / Ally Bean / 25 Comments

My mother collected cookbooks and I still have some of them. They provide fascinating glimpses into times gone by. I never know what I’m going to find when I start looking through one.

I saw the following recipe while I was glancing through The Marion County Historical Society Heritage Cookbook published [I believe] in 1975. The Heritage Cookbook had reprinted it from an earlier cookbook.

This recipe, with its moralizing introduction and decided lack of measurements, was originally published in 1901 in a cookbook called, Recipes Tried and True by the Ladies’ Aid Society of the First Presbyterian Church.

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“WHO DARES DENY THE TRUTH THERE IS POETRY IN PIE”

~ Longfellow

There are plenty of women capable of choosing good husbands, or if not good when chosen, or [sic] of making them good. Yet these same women may be ignorant on the subject of making a good pie.

Ingenuity, good judgement, and great care should be used in making all kinds of pastry. Use very cold water and just as little as possible. Roll thin, and ALWAYS AWAY FROM YOU. Prick the bottom with a fork, then brush with white of egg, and sprinkle with white sugar. This will give you a firm rich crust.

For all fruit pies, prepare as above. Stew the fruit, sweeten to taste; if juicy, put a layer of cornstarch on top before putting on the top crust.

Be sure there are plenty of incisions in the top crust. Then pinch the edges.

Sprinkle white sugar on top, and bake in a moderate oven.

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[After a bit of research I found this: Recipes Tried and True. On Kindle. For free.]

2 Movies, 2 Books & 1 New Name

July 11, 2013May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 15 Comments

As part of my attempt to live a more balanced life in 2013, I have given myself the assignment to watch 2 movies and to read 2 books each month. Here is my June report.

2 Movies

Life Happens – Smart + funny. In this comedy, Krysten Ritter, Kate Bosworth & Rachel Bilson star as three very different 20-something women who share a house in a hipster part of L.A. One of the roommates becomes pregnant and after the baby is born all three women try to continue to live their lives as before. Witty dialogue. Fascinating sets. Charming ending. Recommended if you enjoy laughing at the ups & downs of relationships, careers and motherhood.

Brother Rat – Wordy + dated. Set at the Virginia Military Institute, this uneven 1938 movie is a black-and-white classic. Three cadets try to keep one cadet’s marriage secret from just about everybody. Hijinks/whining/confusion ensues. The movie is best known for 2 facts: 1) it is Eddie Albert’s first role in a movie; & 2) Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman met while filming this. Half-heartedly recommended if you are curious about early films and stuck at home on a rainy day.

2 Books

Beautiful Ruins – Wonderful + memorable. This novel by Jess Walter is one of the best that I’ve read in years. Set primarily in Italy and Hollywood, it is a decades long love story between an Italian innkeeper and an American actress. It is alternately amusing, insightful, satirical and heartbreaking. The writing is smooth, the plot is flawless and the ending is just as it needs to be. Highly recommended to anyone who likes to read fiction.

The Year the Music Changed – Clever + sweet. This story is about a brilliant & lonely 14-year-old girl who sends a fan letter to a then unknown country singer named Elvis Presley. He writes back and they become pen pals telling each other their secrets and triumphs. Diane Thomas, the author of this book, does a marvelous job of weaving facts about Elvis into a warm, captivating story of self-awareness and the power of friendship. Recommended if you like coming-of-age stories and music history.

1 New Name

I cannot resist silly, pointless, time-wasting name generators. They call to me. I’m curious. I NEED to know. So when I found the Old West Name Generator, I knew that I had to find out what my name would have been if I had been born between 1860 to 1890.

And here is what I discovered. Back then you would have known me as:

Lily Jessamine Roush.

Pretty name, huh?

You Say Kadigan, I Say Menopause

July 9, 2013May 6, 2021 / Ally Bean / 12 Comments

HERE is something that I learned & maybe you will find it interesting, too.

There is a word to describe the linguistic phenomenon when a person uses a generic placeholder word for a specific word because that person cannot remember the specific word. This placeholder word is called a KADIGAN. More here & here.

# # #

TO WIT, I will first tell you a sentence filled with kadigans; it is the sort of sentence that a menopausal woman might say.

Charming example sentence filled with kadigans:

Sunshine, I’d love to buy you that gewgaw with the gobbledygook on it, but out here in Podunk, USA, they don’t take credit cards and I don’t have my thingamadoodle to get money from the ATM.

# # #

THEN I will interpret what I said, translating said sentence into pre-menopausal speak.

Charming example sentence devoid of kadigans:

Susan, I’d love to buy you that piece of jewelry with the monogram engraved on it, but out here in this small town, they don’t take credit cards and I don’t have my bank card to get money from the ATM.

# # #

AND THAT, my gentle readers, is what kadigans are all about. They are the ability to keep speaking, as if you know what you’re saying, even when you are experiencing your own personal summer & cannot for the life of you remember that word you need to use right now… so you fill-in the blank as best you can.

In Which I Play Well With Others & Create A List Of What I Learned Last Month

July 2, 2013July 2, 2013 / Ally Bean / 27 Comments

Relyn at Come Sit by My Fire is doing this:

“On the last day of each month I plan to post a list of things I learned paired [with] my own favorite photo from that month…. I hope you’ll play along.”

I’ve decided to play along this month. Here’s my What I Learned In June list.

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• Hanging pictures is my kryptonite. I use the 60″ rule as a guideline, but it doesn’t always hold true when working with an eclectic collection of art. I love having artwork on the walls, but admit that the process of getting it there makes me cross-eyed and anxious.

• Being stuck inside because of wet Summer weather is every bit as annoying as being stuck inside because of wet Spring weather. You’d think that just because it was Summer, it’d be better; but it’s not. Stuck is stuck. And I’m tired of it. Where are my weeks of sunshine?

• 52 Acts is a project based on the idea that: “one small act of kindness can change a life forever.” Cheri at Naples Girl Blog sent me a 52 Acts bracelet + booklet. Cool, huh? Now that I know about 52 Acts, I’m happy to be a part of it. Thanks, Cheri.

• When putting a casserole dish with a Pyrex glass lid on top of it into the microwave, it is easy to knock the lid off the casserole dish causing the lid to bounce off the granite counter and onto the kitchen floor. This creates a five foot radius of broken glass and shards, leading me to ponder the wisdom of cooking in bare feet.

• Planning a vacation seems like a good idea until you actually begin to price it. Then visiting the local zoo, followed by an afternoon at a German brew house, suddenly sounds like a grand idea. An adventure. Something with the exotic elements of a vacation, but without the inconvenience and cost.