Anticipation – is a pie crust just a pie crust?

Last November when visiting college friend Deb, she served a homemade apple pie for dinner and the combination of the texture of the crust and the “flavor/texture” of the filling gave me a “happy mouth”. I realized that while I grew up baking cookies, cakes and brownies, I had never advanced to making a pie crust. So I decided I wanted to learn to make a good pie crust. So to make sure I would not forget, we went out and bought a appropriate size bowl and a the utensil to cut butter into flour. Deb gifted me her old rolling pin. I made a pie crust in her kitchen to learn the basic techniques.

Two weeks later in Nashville, I had all my ingredients gathered and was ready to make my pie crust and apple pie. It took 3 trips to the grocery store to have it all – the last trip for the apples.

Deb provided support from Iowa. I texted her pictures and we spoke as I went through the process.

I made a apple and a pear pie and they looked pretty good for my first solo outing. I was having dinner with Danny and Brent that night so I took both pies with me for them to try. They each ate a small piece of each and said they were good. I had hoped to leave some each with them but they declined because of the upcoming holidays My next stop was James and Natalie’s showing off my prizes. They are both very disciplined eaters and I knew they wouldn’t want to eat much but hoped to be able to leave some behind. They each had the smallest pieces possible, said they were yummy but declined to keep any. It was then I found out that Natalie was gluten insensitive.

I returned home with 1 and 2/3 pies which was not what I wanted. I had friends over twice for meals in the next few days and by the end of the week I had gradually worked my way through both pies. The next weekend I tackled making crust with gluten free flour. The gluten-free flour was not as easy to work with but the apple pice for Christmas meal turned out well enough.

I also decided to make pecan pie mini-pies using a mini-muffin tins. Perhaps people would be more interested in bite size pieces. I also made a quiche with the last of the dough.

It took a fair amount of time to get rid of all of the baking from my second batch of baked goods.I couldn’t keep making pie crusts if no one but me would eat it. It didn’t give me enough pleasure for the calories. I haven’t made anymore crusts.

One of the questions I asked “Match Dude” the other day when we decided to meet at his place tomorrow was if he liked pie. It happens that he loves apple pie. So today, on this last day before we actually meet, I will be making pie crusts for an apple pie, a quiche and a few mini pecan pies. Deb will be on stand-by from 11-1 to provide any support that I need. It will be a great distraction from the building anticipation of what it will feel like to be in the presence of Match Dude. Will our dogs get along?

Last night, we spoke about what in each other’s Match profiles initially got our attention. Having indicated being Liberal was at the top for both of us – pretty uncommon in the Nashville area Match “hopefuls”. Second for me was that he exercised 3-4 times per week and second for him was that I was 420 “friendly”. I had to first look up what it meant. While I have rarely used pot, I am fine with it and wish it didn’t cough so much when I inhale. In addition he had some nice photos of himself, his rural property and his dog. Mostly I was drawn to his personal statement – not just what he said but how he said it.

On the surface, we are a very unlikely match. Fortunately, we quickly discovered the threads of a possible relationship and let them these threads emerge through many, many communications over the past 2 weeks. One of the first threads that we were able to weave together is that we both had rural backgrounds – his in Western Kansas and mine in Iowa. We neither one lived on farms but both sets of grandparents did. Our summers were often spent with our grandparents.

We share a love of Harry Chapin’s music – perhaps we are “writing a love song”. The best part of starting a relationship at this stage of life, is that it doesn’t need to be anything but FUN. We can “let time go lightly”.

Perhaps this is the final stage of being “unleashed” for me – from the grief and regret of love that could not be sustained to a take a chance on a new relationship that can evolve into a loving partnership sustained by mutual respect, admiration and fun.