My parents brought us a huge box of lovely orchard fresh apples from Keremeos this past weekend. As much as I love to eat them fresh, I wanted to get some yummy baking done as well. I found a recipe on one of my favorite sites and thought it looked easy enough. Oh but no....it did not work out for me. I never seem to get pastry to turn out right. My apple pie in a pan turned out to be a regular apple pie.
It looks okay but we'll see after we eat it tonight for 'pudding'!
On another topic completely, Nathan arrived home from school yesterday asking me how he could earn some money. Apparently there is a book fair happening at his school and he's got his eye on a set of books he'd like to purchase. Of course there is never a shortage of work around here so I told him he could earn $10 by mowing the front and back lawns.
Nathan is a recent graduate of the lawn trainee program and it hasn't been his favorite chore but he does it well. Our mower is a heavy and cumbersome thing...poor kid gets quite the work-out on our sloped yard.
He already earned the other half of his desired sum by babysitting on Monday night so Keith and I could go and see a movie. By the way....'The Social Network' is a good one. We recommend!
I was pleased that Nathan asked me how he could earn money rather than asking for it straight out. It's good for kids to know the value of work and payment for a job well done.
4 comments:
I'm no good with pastry either. But I'm sure your pie tasted good regardless of how it turned out.
That is awesome, good for Nathan! If he is ever looking to make more money Auntie Tracy has a yard that needs mowing. I will pay him well. :)
I'm a pastry wimp myself. Maybe that's why I tend to do crumbles instead? Do tell us how it turned out! It looks absolutely delish!
A sign of good parenting I'd say. Kids do need to learn the value of a dollar and that it most certainly does not grow on trees! :)
I have a tip for pastry: vodka! I'm not even joking. Substitute vodka for half of the water that is called for in the recipe (so if it says 3 tbsp. use 1 1/2 tbsp water and 1 1/2 tbsp vodka). Using vodka means that you can have enough liquid in your dough to make it soft and pliable, but when it bakes, the alcohol evaporates, leaving you with a flaky crust rather than a rubbery one (which can happen with too much liquid in the dough). Vodka, also, doesn't leave an aftertaste.
I've tried it, and it works!
Granted, where I am now, we can't get vodka because all alcohol is illegal (dang it!) but the air is dry enough that no matter how much liquid I use, it evaporates so quickly in the oven that I always have flaky crust.
I love apple pie. Now I want some.
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