On a wet and dreary Sunday afternoon in Michigan, sometimes it is difficult to gather up your long lost ambition long enough to make tracks for the kitchen, just to make a pie. Looking out the window I can see that the whole world seems to have turned green overnight. The lawn looks gorgeous, Bob has just finished the first go around with the riding mower, and spring has finally arrived. The maples are finally leafed out and it won’t be long before we can no longer see all of the lake. It looks as green as the pictures you see of Ireland in all of its glory.
But. I am here to bake a pie. A mincemeat pie, one of my lifetime favorites. It used to be that we bought little square packages of mincemeat. You had to add water to its consistency and cook it before you put it in the pie shell. The only time you could even buy it was just before Thanksgiving and then up until Christmas. But now mincemeat comes in a very heavy quart glass jar. It is a very pretty jar and I always think I should keep it because there must be something it would be useful for. It is relatively expensive to buy, $6-8 depending upon where you shop. But I splurge and buy three jars, knowing that when I get back from Florida next spring it won’t be available up here. Problem is after I buy it here, then I leave for the south and then I buy three more down there for the holidays. Who could have dreamed that I could spend so much on mincemeat? Just because I love the taste and it reminds me of a long ago time.
So I have now baked the pie. The house smells so good. But mincemeat pie tastes best when it is cold, so I must wait for another occasion. It is a big pie tin so I will cut it into eight pieces and that will be four times we can enjoy it. At this stage of our lives it is absolutely amazing what simple pleasures we can look forward to. Maybe next week I’ll make it Apple, I still have a few apples from last fall.
A beautiful green but soggy day here in Michigan, and I have enjoyed writing to you about our Mincemeat pie. Maybe it will put you in the mood to bake something too. Just think about how your house will smell when you do it!