Bring Me My Christmas Pie & Figgy Pudding & Bring it Right Here!

 

Sue prepare her pie-making finger for a labor of love

It is said that we each have our own way of showing and receiving love. 

I think this is true. 

I think my wife, though she has never out-and-out said so, prefers to show her affection by baking for others. I encourage this mode of demonstrable and edible affection. I have learned to receive her love in this form, warm from the oven. 

Our shared vision for our home on The Pilchuck, and more specifically, our large kitchen on The Pilchuck; is to host kith and kin, sharing our space along with warm foods and warm memories and glasses brimming with hearty conversation. With Sue's time on The Pilchuck this Christmas Season being limited, we were eager to take at least one small step toward our vision of hosting. The natural selection fell to close-by kin up the road in La Connor, Sue's brother Bob and his wife Ann along with their two grandkids, Lily and Aiden. The La Connor Cooks had been invaluable in caring for me while I camped on the muddy acres of our home construction site prior to its completion and my habitation. Their schedule worked best to have dinner with us the day after Sue landed from Dallas. No time to waste. We got company coming! Time to get busy and bake a pie for our holiday dinner to show our gratitude and hospitality.

I pulled all the needed ingredients from unfamiliar cabinet spaces to help my newly arrived baker and wife complete the crust in efficient fashion. I had 6 quarts of black berries harvested from this very estate in the freezer and we were going to use those prickly rascals for the good. Bake them right into a sweet black berry pie it what we'll do.

Measure and mix with a broad smile and a pinch of love

...And to cap it off

With a fresh baked black berry pie right out of the oven and steaks served hot off the grill, we took a step in the direction of our fond dream of hosting friends and family around our table on The Pilchuck. Because this was an early Christmas Supper with Bob's family, everyone got a Christmas Cracker after the meal, replete with a small, odd prize, a corny joke and a tissue paper crown. I think this was a new experience for Lily and Aiden. And even it they're still not too sure of how I'm kin to them, I hoped they enjoyed the night.

Merry Christmas. Now bring me my figgy pudding... 'cause we hope y'all will be the next to join us at our table on The Pilchuck. Dig in my friend!