P is for Pie - the Flapper variety

ABC Wednesday
April 26th, 2017

The letter is P for Pie

You have to have grown up on the Canadian Prairies

to be intimate with today's PIE recipe....

I am going to tell you about Flapper Pie....

dear to the heart of all Prairie Folk

and a staple at all Church and Harvest dinners

in the thirties and forties and fifties

and perhaps even today...

but I have left the prairies and live in mountain country now.

and the home grown treats here are Nanaimo Bars.

But the Flapper is a humble, throw together pie, - the ingredients all available

on the farm or at the corner grocery store.

What you have to do to set this yummy dessert before your loved ones is

firstly, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Stir together one and a quarter cups of graham cracker crumbs

with one quarter cup of melted butter

and one half cup of sugar.

Put aside a couple of tablespoons of the mixture

and press the rest into a ten inch pie plate and  bake for 8 minutes.

Combine two and a half cups of milk, one half a cup of white sugar, 

one quarter of a cup of cornstarch, three egg yolks

one teaspoon of vanilla and one quarter teaspoon of salt,

Cook on medium heat until it bubbles and thickens,

making sure to whisk constantly.

when nicely thickened set aside to cool.

Beat the three egg whites (you did save the egg whites, didn't you!)

and one quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar

until they are foamy and hold soft peaks.

Then gradually beat in the sugar,

whipping until it holds stiff, glossy peaks.

Pour the cooled filling into the crust

and top with the meringue.

Sprinkle the set-aside crumbs on the top

and bake in the oven until the meringue browns slightly

(probably around ten minutes, but watch it carefully)

Cool in the fridge and eat the same day,

as the meringue and the custard have a bad habit of slipping apart.

This is not a detriment..

No matter where you hide it the Flapper Pie will call to you

and you won't be able to resist......

Amazon has for sale a cook book entitle "Flapper Pie and a Blue Prairie Sky"

by Karlynn Johnston,,it calls to me too

for some good prairie cooking!

That takes care of the pie - here is a little video devoted to the Flappers...

My mother's era....

For more interesting Ps click here
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with thanks who all who maintain this great meme.

Sunday Evening

April 23rd, 2017

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that

I get up reluctantly from my loom with just ten more inches left
before I finish the pretty new scarf that I am so anxious to take off and wash
and see if the gracefulness of the drape  is everything Jane said it would be
if I were only to concentrate on making the sett balance.
The same number of ends per inch in the reed as I throw picks per inch with the shuttle....
Jane is Jane Stafford, a whiz of a weaver who is conducting an online studio
that I am so happy to take part in.

I am a self taught weaver.  I developed the passion when we had sheep, and I learned to spin.
It was also an era when many of our helpers on the orchard
were hippies living the easy contented life.
Some of the girls had taken to old crafts and were doing odd, primitive weaving,
which inspired me to go further into fabric arts.

There were no teachers or Weaving Guilds nearby,
so we bought a small loom, a number of books
 and dozens of skeins of wool
 from the Canadian Cooperative Wool Growers, and I was off!!!

Soon I bought a floor loom, a spinning wheel,
and eventually a counter marche eight harness, which really challenged me.
But I was learning, and that really brings me to the thoughts I have been having lately,
 about learning something new every day!!

I am astonished at all the things I don't know!!!!

Even about weaving, although I have been involved with it for forty years or so.  

I knew a balanced sett was important, but I didn't know what an amazing difference
it made in the "hand" of the cloth.  Very exciting!

My children are teaching me oodles of things.  

Sometimes they tell me about mischief they indulged in while growing up,
all new to me!  

But more often they tell me of new ideas about the universe, 

about physics and sometimes different spirituality. 

or set me straight about technical tips and ancient

happenings.

One of my sons is reading Durant's History of the World's Civilizations,
all thirteen volumes.  

They sat on our bookshelves for many years, for research, 

- but now he tells me all sorts of amazing things
about the ancients Greeks and Romans and Byzantines, etc.
 I am content with reading Durant's Pleasures of Philosophy.

 The sons who live on the meadow in the Chilcotin are full of tales 

about the creatures that inhabit this lovely spot, 

and the great variety birds who come to visit in the summer, 

and the accommodation they provide for all the swallows 

who make the meadow their summer home.

When will it all end - this gathering of knowledge
(oh, some of which I forget, I must admit). 

 It makes life so interesting, and I realize how lucky I am 

to have the energy and interest to absorb it.

Tomorrow I will finish the nicely balanced scarf
and if it all falls in a gentle heap 

when I let it drop I will post a picture.

What I learned today was that if I spend more than an hour in the garden with trowel and snippers

my back will ache and my knee will freeze up!!!!

No matter how golden the daffodils are or how tenderly green the new leaves appear!!