Winter Joy Retreat-Day 12: Food and Friendship

I'm participating in an online writer's retreat, thanks to Nina Badzin's blog. The topic is "Edible Memories," so all the posts will be about food. I will try to post every day to keep up, but there are some I might come back to later, depending on my schedule and when inspiration strikes.

I am finally caught up again!

Today's topic:
For today’s writing time, delve into a memory of food that is forever infused with the goodness and salvation of a deep friendship.

This topic was very easy for me. Even when I saw the word "friendship" on the list, I knew I'd write about this.

A few years ago, my best friend came to visit me for a long weekend. She had been making pies for quite some time and decided to teach me how to do it. We went to the store together to get all the necessary ingredients. That Sunday night, we set about making apple pies together. It was quite a process. We first had to peel and cut all the apples. Since we were each making a pie, we had to double the recipe. Then she showed me how to make the dough. I had purchased a pastry cutter at Bed, Bath, and Beyond just for this occasion. There was more involved than just mixing ingredients together. We had to use a balance of dough and cold water, along with making sure everything was blended with the pastry cutter. She had quite a rhythm down when she was mixing her own dough. Then she helped me with mine when I wasn't getting the results that she had. I remember that she was chewing peach gum while we were mixing the dough (and while I don't like the smell of peach, I let it slide this time).

When we finally got our dough into the pie pan, it was then time to add the apples and some other ingredients. Then came the hard part...putting the other half of the dough on top. My best friend knew what she was doing and her pie looked gorgeous even before it went into the oven. Mine looked okay, but not a masterpiece by any means!

My best friend's pie is on the left

Afterward, we put the pies in the oven to bake and worked on getting the kids to bed while we were waiting.

The end product was worth the wait! Hers definitely looked prettier than mine, but they tasted the same, so that's what matters.

We had a lot of fun baking together and plan to do it again when she visits soon. It was a fun bonding experience. The pie tasted delicious and got me started on enjoying apple pie. I never really liked it when I was growing up.

Delicious!

Around Thanksgiving time, I decided to try it out again, although mine didn't turn out as lovely as it did the previous time. Still, my brother-in-law said it tasted like it came from a bakery, so there's that!

The pie I made on my own

With my best friend on another one of her visits
(Two years after the pie baking experience)