Easy As Pie

Yesterday I baked an apple pie from local apples. Since the growing season here is so short, and the winters are so harsh, not a lot of fruit grows here. Prairie Sun apples (the only variety available at the farmers market, and these only from one grower) are tiny – about 2 inches in diameter – but they are one of the few varieties of apples that do well in these harsh conditions. It turned out to be a delicious pie, and the best part is that I made it all by myself from start to finish. Two years ago this would have been nothing special, but one year ago it would've been a miracle. Brandon and Krista, friends who visited us last year for Canadian Thanksgiving, can vouch for the fact that at that time I was unable to participate in much of pie-making other than telling other people what to do. I was not especially pleased about that, and had unrealistic expectations about how much I would be able to do, but what was unrealistic 10 1/2 months ago was actually pretty easy yesterday. But really, making a pie from scratch is not all that easy – there are many steps, and many ways to mess it up. I have often thought that whoever came up with the phrase "easy as pie" must never have actually made a pie, and out of curiosity yesterday I looked up the origins of that phrase. It makes much more sense that the origin comes from EATING pie, which is indeed almost too easy.

About three and half years ago it was decided one day that one of my friends from internship, Sarah A., and I should have a "pie off," in which we each offered up one of our best pies for a taste-testing competition. We had a slight disagreement about what ingredients should go into a piecrust, and she advocated for including a bit of the vegetable shortening in addition to butter, while I was a butter-only purist. Ever since then, I have had a nagging curiosity about whether vegetable shortening would actually make the crust better, since I had never actually tried it before discounting it. So for this crust, I included some vegetable shortening, and I have to say that I believe I was right – all butter is better. Not that it was a bad pie, it was definitely still delicious, but the crust had a texture that was a little too cookie-like. So Sarah, we still have to have that pie off one day, because I think I would probably win :-)

Tomorrow is the start of the school year here, meaning that this weekend (and thank goodness it is a long weekend) is the last of summer. The weather here doesn't seem to know that – we have been having sunny weather in the high 80s, and that is predicted to continue at least through this week – and mentally I am having a hard time accepting it as well. But whether I fully believe it or not, I have to start teaching two classes, start advising my first graduate student, supervise a flock of research assistants, set up a new research space, actually start some research projects, attend meetings, and all the other little things that go along with this job, starting tomorrow. I have a different attitude about this than I used to. In the past, I might have felt overwhelmed by all the things I had to do, feeling that it was necessary to get all of them done and do them all well. Now, I see that there is a list of things that need to get done, some with greater urgency than others, and I will do my best to complete as many of these things as is reasonable, and if what I deem to be reasonable is not good enough, they can fire me. I doubt they will fire me, but that is really the worst that could happen, and I am certain I could handle it just fine. And, I seem to actually get more done when I am not wasting time and energy being anxious about it. So I may go along continuing to act a little bit like it is still summer, because winter will be here soon enough. This time where summer is transitioning to fall has always been one of my favorite seasons, not least of all because it is perfect pie-making time; cool enough to have the oven on (at least at night) but still some fresh local fruit to be had. And since now I know I can actually bake a pie on my own, there may be several more to come in the next little while. I promise that I will bake a pie for anyone who comes to visit us :-)