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Sunday, June 2, 2013

"Sweet"

I thought about ranting about my parents’ anti-sugar, anti-processed flour reign of terror for “sweet”, but that’s been done.  Let me instead tell you about my subversive tactics for lifting the restrictions of that awful regime…

I told Dad that there were ripe blackberries, giant, enormous blackberries that would taste wonderful in a pie, but alas, you just can’t make a pie without sugar and flour.  So sad.  No pie.  Such a shame too, because they were really sweet blackberries.  Wouldn’t hardly take much sugar at all to make such a pie.

I saw Dad’s resolve weakening.  He suggested honey, and I said that would make a gummy pie, but a touch of clove and cinnamon would really enhance those berries.  I let him gnaw on that a bit while I watched him swallow more than normally necessary and chew the inside of his cheek.

“Why don’t you go pick some of those berries and bring them home?” he said.  “No, it’s not worth the bother to bring them back.  I mean I would if I were making a pie, but you know berries won’t hold up when you’ve got to carry them that far.  They’ll get too smashed up.”

It was a standoff.  I watched Dad continue to swallow his Pavlovian saliva and contemplated my purple fingers.  Dad obviously wrestled with his conscience of healthy living and pie.  I could see pie was winning.

“Why don’t you take me to where you found them and I’ll just eat some there?” he countered.  “No way!  You’d eat them all.  Besides, they don’t care if I eat them, but they won’t like it if you go there.”  Check.  My 8 or 10 year old self could pick berries lots of places a grown man couldn’t, and Dad knew it.  I didn’t bother to tell him that the berries were on free land.

“Don’t you like pie, Dad?  It’s mostly healthy.  I mean, it’s mostly fruit, and fruit’s good for us.”

Dad’s conscience was on the ropes.  I licked my purple fingers and started wandering very slowly towards the door.

“Okay!  Okay!  One pie!”  Checkmate.  I made two pies.  After all, the crust recipe is for 2 pies, and you don’t really expect me to know how to half a recipe at that age, do you Dad?

I made sure there was some sort of fruit or berries in season for the rest of the summer.  We ate a lot of pies.  Mom made strawberry shortcake.  Eventually we even got cookies.  Dad bragged about my pies to Grandma, and she taught me to use ice water and not to touch the crust except to put it in the tin and crimp the edges.  Sadly, this pie wisdom has been rendered obsolete by ready-made pie crusts, but I still could make a crust if I had to, and I cut air vents in the top in a wheat pattern like our women always have because as Mom says, “It’s tradition.  We have to.” Or for the longer Mom explanation, wheat represents plenty.

Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?  Can she bake a cherry pie, Charming Billy?

For those of you who read my post about spring water, I took pictures of one of the lawnmowers and a bit of the trout pond.  The kid is one of twins and they were awesome cute romping around.

The irises and the birdhouses are pics from work in the secret garden that only me and Br. Gary ever see, and in case you can’t tell from my general good mood, I think the internal audit of my department at work went great J


 

19 comments:

  1. Beautiful colors in that pie illustration! Perfectly Spring-ish with that purple-pinky-peach! I think the wheat pattern is very pretty and a great tradition!

    Hilarious tale of weakening your dad's resolve - made even sweeter once he succumbed and you made TWO pies. Haha!

    Lovely photos, too, especially the little goat and those cool colorful bird houses. And that perfectly serene lake too! (Hooray for good feelings about the audit!)

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  2. Such a cute story. And the pies sound absolutely delicious!! That Billy Boy song, which I remember from my childhood, stirs a lot of warm memories. I might have to quote it in an etegami soon.

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  3. Oh great, now I've got that song stuck in my head, but YAY for good feelings about everything! Thanks for the comments!

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  4. I remember that song too! Lovely image, Linda. And your story of the back and forth with your dad could develop into a cute children's story book!

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  5. I can feel your smile from here today Linda...a very happy post, glad the audit went well ;0) Mmmmmm pie......x

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  6. Dad's long gone, but he'd probably be very happy to star in a children's book. The mulberries will be ripening soon. Maybe I'll make a purple pie :)

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  7. I loved reading the story about you and your dad and the pies :) I agree it'd make a really cool children's story! My dad would bake us a mean mandarin cheesecake, but he didn't need much coaxing to make one!
    Lovely purple hues in your painting, and great photographs - I especially love those birdhouses!

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  8. So....you've ALWAYS been clever, I see! Love the pie story, and the color/texture in the illo!!

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  9. Animals, flowers, pies, memories of Dad, and passing an audit are definitely reasons to be happy. I hope it last throughout the week. :) Awsome pie art!

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  10. Your pie looks so delicious & juicy!

    Shhh, don't tell your dad but I know how to make a crust from scratch with no flour, using almond meal. I have Celiac Disease so such kitchen creativity is necessary-- & wheat doesn't represent plenty to me unless you mean plenty of misery! I still like your crust vent pattern though... can't argue with the elegant visual effect. :-)

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  11. I think I could survive with almond pie crust, but there's just no way around sugar! Thanks for all the comments everybody! I hope you're all having an awesome week too!!

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  12. Perfect colors. Nice illustration, Linda!
    -
    Keely : riverlit.clymergallery.com

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  13. Thanks Keely! I was thinking about those pies from so long ago, and really enjoyed dipping my brush and thinking berry juice :)

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  14. Really enjoyed reading about the pies and the berries- Something about those berries that just beg for a little sugar and some warm crust to wrap it all up, LOVE your illustration, it just "oozes" pleasant memories! :o)

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  15. Really great story Linda, i think a bit of manipulation when pie is is goal, is fine :) Glad to hear your audit went well too.

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  16. I'd say you were able to turn your father around your pinky. How to sell the message! Amazing. And at eight or ten. I am indeed quite amazed (and glad my kids didn't read this when they were about the same age...).

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  17. Love the mood, the words, the pic... and now I feel a pie hankering coming on. There's a rhubarb of nearly tropical proportions in my back yard, crowding the roses, so cutting it back is probably an act of kindness. Thanks for flavouring my day.

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  18. Thanks everybody! I've been looking at my rhubarb too Aino. You're right, it's just asking to be made into pie :)

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