Teachable Moments.

Last night's dinner was late; very late. I haven't made this recipe in a while & had forgotten I needed pastry ~ not as silly as it sounds. I do have a recipe for crustless quiche, just not for this recipe! So I was frantically cutting corners (like not cooling my pastry dough for the required length of time) when Ditz arrived.

I love my daughter, truely I do, & unlike her mama she loves to cook but what I do not need when I am frazzled & behind time is the Ditzy one. However she offered to roll out the dough for me while I finished the preparations so I accepted. Sad, sad, sad idea. Ditz treated it like play dough. First she tasted it to see if it was a sweet dough she could nibble on. Then she pushed & pulled, pummled & thumped till I cringed. When she rolled it up into a ball & began all over again. I pointed out she was well on the way to turning the dough into leather. Oh! She didn't know that. No, I know she didn't know, which is why I pointed it out. Just as I had to point out I needed the rolled dough quite a bit larger than the pie dish to accommodate the sides. Oh! Ditz's eyes widened as I lined the pie crust with a sheet of baking paper. I mean, she knows mum's a tad loopy but cooking the paper? I explained 'baking blind'. Meanwhile the workers were starving. Teachable moments always arrive at the most inappropiate times.



I am not the world's greatest pastry cook so why did this particular crust turn out so well?