Jeanne-ology: Water Pies

Hi There - This week has passed so quickly, that I almost forgot to bug Jeanne for her blog tonight. Luckily for me, I remembered around dinnertime and sent her a reminder text before she could retire for her 8 pm bedtime. Enjoy! Rebecca

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Hello Thursday Readers!  Another week has passed, Rebecca and her family safely came home from vacation, and life at PJP seems normal.  That is such a good feeling to find some normalcy when the whole country seems divided and COVID is hanging around like a bad storm. (Rebecca editing to add: I’m all here for the normalcy as well. Until I read the whole thing about the mysterious seeds showing up in people’s mailbox and ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THAT RIGHT NOW? I’m not here for creepy mailbox deliveries.)

Today was our July pandemic style pie tasting.  We all worked hard on new recipes.  Hopefully, a couple of the recipes will make it to our daily menu.  I cannot wait to get feedback from those customers who participated.  Rebecca and I made a depression era water pie.  I had never heard of this pie and although my grandparents lived through the depression, they never mentioned a water pie.  The recipe said to fill an unbaked pie crust with tap water, sprinkle a flour and sugar mixture on top of the water, add a pat of butter and some vanilla.  The pies looked weird putting them into the oven and even worse after they had baked.  It looked like clear gelatin.  We had made a sample for us to try and everyone gave it a big fat zero for taste!  The water pie did not have much flavor and the appearance was far from making anyone wanting to try one.  All those little pies went into the trash.  I would have felt shameful for offering such a flavor.  I know recipes lie, but this recipe was a hoax for any pie lover. (Rebecca editing to add: Pouring water into an unbaked pie shell is an odd experience. But I felt like if it worked, it would be the perfect pie for the 2020 mood.)

I remember that my aunt gave me a recipe that her entire family loved.  In fact, she said she prepared it twice a week and her family would probably eat this dish three times a week.  Rebecca was a pre-teen when I followed my aunt's recipe and placed the dish into the oven.  She and I looked forward to trying out then new recipe.  One bite from each of us and we immediately gagged and spit it out!   She and I still laugh thinking about that recipe.  The taste of the water pie instantly brought back memories of my aunt's recipe.  Maybe my aunt lived through the depression era also.  I could imagine the family wanting something sweet for dinner.  With money tight, she said all “I got is a little bit of flour and sugar, and, oh wait, water!  I can't wait to make a water pie!” (Rebecca editing to add: That casserole was awful. She made it 30 years ago and we STILL reference that awful thing. That’s why those water pies had to hit the trash can. I didn’t want people in 30 years to remind each other they ate a weird pie of water in 2020 from PJP.)

This week has been sweet having Rebecca and my granddaughter back in the shop.  A lot of talk and giggling has been as abundant as our pie ingredients. (Rebecca editing to add: I couldn’t have said it better myself.)