Missing Memaw

The past several hours have been quite challenging for me. I'm covered head to toe with flour, my patience is wearing thin, and I'm really wishing my Memaw were here. Yep, been making pies....at least I've been attempting to make pies.

My grandmother was 36 years old when I was born so I've always had the privilege of growing up with 2 mothers. She isn't a fabulous cook but pretty decent. When it comes to food, there are a few distinct things that will always remind me of her. Turkey goulash, vegetable soup with extra celery, some rice concoction with cinnamon and sugar, dressing and pecan pies.

Over the years I have spent countless hours in her kitchen watching and learning. We've always had Thanksgiving and Christmas at her house and she has always made the pecan pies. When I got old enough I would help. We'd always make the pies a few days ahead of time so we could use the oven for the turkey and dressing and other dishes.

Well this year, because I'm away from home, when I got together with my "African sisters" to talk turkey, I decided I wanted to make the pies for our Thanksgiving get together. I mean, I've been watching and making pies for years....how hard could it be??

HA! One VERY important detail I missed in the whole "I'm making the pies" moment........STORE BOUGHT CRUST! Sure, anyone can whip together a pie and pour it into a perfectly made frozen crust and cook it. News flash! In Africa those are a little hard to come by. So, I dug deep into my pantry and found a box of "just add water pie crust". Next best thing, right? Wrong! That still involved flour and a rolling pin.

After about an hour and 1/2 a bag of flour, my attempt at making a perfectly round pie crust failed. It really isn't as easy as it looks! How do they do it?? Mine kept cracking on the edges and I could never form a circle. At one point, out of desperation, I got the tortilla press out but it wasn't quite big enough for the pie plate.

Anyway, I pulled through and my story boils down to this:

Memaw,
I really missed you today! You'll be happy to know that I tried to crimp the edges of the crust like you taught me to and I did cover the crust with foil so it wouldn't burn while baking. Somehow it just didn't go right...but I tried!

To my African sisters:
My pies aren't pretty but they're made with love and I'm almost positive they will taste good. And I promise you gals that next year I will have a dozen frozen crusts in my ice chest ;-)
When we are all in Houston over the summer I'd like to invite you to my Memaw's house for coffee and pecan pie! She'd love to hear our stories ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Reaching Us

I realized that I haven't ever posted our contact information. Here goes:

Phone:

925-842-1111
Press #1 for Luanda, Angola and our extension is #6550

Address:

Craig & Victoria Hagan
Luanda Pouch Mail
ALNG
P.O. Box 5095
Bellaire, TX 77402

We can receive letters, cards and media ONLY. They will return anything else that does not fit that criteria. Media consists of books, magazines, DVDs and things of this nature :-)