We instituted a new thing this year and I think it was a win/win for everyone! I got the idea for a Pie Night on facebook, after I saw some friends do the same thing with their Mom, sisters and Grandma. In our family, pie reigns supreme as the dessert of choice when we get together. My Dad's very favorite thing in the world is my Mom's Rhubarb pie and in his words, "No one makes it better than your Mother!" So, I thought it would be fun for my sisters and I to learn how to make her famous pie crusts/pies and try some of our favorites out on our husbands (Believe me, none of them were complaining!). My Grandma Ferguson was the pie maker who taught my Mom how to make a great pie and it makes me a little sad that I never learned how to make some of the things she always made for us. That's one of the reasons we decided to do this, so that we could pass down those family recipes and learn from the best! I think it's best to warn you about the serious "cheese factor" in the following photos. After we hit the day-after-Christmas sales, we found matching pjs at Old Navy for $5 and we thought it would be fun to buy them and wear them over the break. It was a great deal and I'm still wearing them now that we're home again, but you're about to get an eye-full of PINK! Fifteen years ago you couldn't have paid us to wear matching pjs, but here we are today, wearing them like nerds and loving it! Ha ha! I did try for matching aprons, but the pjs won out.
Welcome to our 1st Annual Pie Night!
The cast of bakers
Besides my Dad, Stacie is the biggest rhubarb fan in the family! Her favorite is Raspberry Rhubarb, which is what we made 2 of.
Jennie and I aren't huge pie eaters but we can appreciate the art of making one from scratch. We decided to make a custard pie and a pumpkin pie. We grew up on both and as soon as I took a bite of the custard pie, I knew that was a good choice!
Reading from the 35 year old cook book that has been a tried and true friend to my Mom all these years.
Ava got busy playing in Aunt Jennie's jewelry while we were busy baking and came to us looking like the Queen of Sheba in her pearl head dress!
Pouring the custard filling into the crust
Love em :)
It didn't take Miss Ava long to realize what we were doing and want to join in the fun too.
She told us she wanted to "do cooking" and of course, we couldn't say no to that!
Someday I'll tell her that I basically enticed her Daddy with my cooking skills while we were dating!
I cooked and baked my way to that ring on my finger :)
My Mom passed those secrets on to me...
...and when the time is right, I'll be passing them on to her as well!
Getting ready to put the pumpkin pie in the oven...
Love my Mom.
Not a visit goes past that we aren't in public together and at least one person assumes that we are sisters! People NEVER believe she is my Mom because she looks too young :) Of course she never tires of hearing that and we always die laughing, but seriously, you wouldn't believe how often it happens! Just happened this weekend when she was at Church with me in fact! I'm hoping her ageless-ness wears off on me someday too!
Who loved pie night???
We did!
And so did my Dad and all 3 of our husbands! 4 pies to choose from, I'm thinking they are also hoping this becomes an annual event :)
My favorite, custard pie. I have so many memories of my Grandma making custard or custard pie. The smell alone brought me back to being in her kitchen and hearing her ask me if I wanted some. Today is her birthday. I bet she would have LOVED to have seen her granddaughters in the kitchen making some of her recipes! We miss her and for the life of us, we cannot figure out the secrets to some of her best dishes...Maybe we'll get a cooking demo in Heaven??
Look out Betty Crocker!!
Aren't they cute in their jammies and matching Christmas mugs??
Pumpkin, fresh out of the oven.
One of the happy customers!
Working on those double crusts.
We made a serious mess but it sure was worth it.
Jennie was the rhubarb girl with my Mom.
And she did great! That is one pretty pie...that was quickly devoured :)
Two Raspberry Rhubarb pies and some cinnamon/sugar pie crust strips that Grandma always made for us when we were kids. We didn't like pie then, but we loved those! She always had a pan ready for us :)
Our master teacher and her biggest fan. It's such a funny joke to us whenever my Dad has pie from anyone (or anywhere) else. He just cannot take a bite without telling us that our Mom makes the best pie in the world, EVERYTHING else is just second class in comparison :) No wonder she keeps making him pies after all these years! They're a lot of work, but if that's the praise you get in return, I get it.
It was such a fun night and I'm proud to say that Jennie is the first one to have already made two pies at home without my Mom to help!
Clearly I've got some ground to cover...maybe this weekend, Travy :)
AFTER my new dishwasher is installed of course. Let's not get crazy. Ha!
Just curious, do you make pies and if so, what are your favorites or your specialties??
3 comments:
We definitely love raspberry, that is something that we grew up with. But now as an adult, my favorite is just a good old-fashioned apple. Love all that cinnamon and brown sugar!
I just tried out a caramel apple pie...recipe from a friend and that was fabulous. Apple pie with caramel and chopped pecans on it.
Have fun baking!
Mmmmm...how yummy! Thanks for making me hungry for pie!!! I always loved my husband's grandmother's strawberry rhubarb pie. Soooo delicious and miss it to this day. I don't really make pies, unless it's Thanksgiving and then it's pumpkin of course! YUM!
Oh my, what a fun (and yummy) night! I would love to have had the job of taste tester too =)
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