When I was a child, my mom used to bake pies for dessert almost every Sunday. My favourite was blueberry. As a child, I always thought my mom was a great cook and that she could do almost anything. The truth was that she grew up as the youngest daughter in a family with many children (my grandmother had 15 children, although only 8 survived to adulthood)  My mother was a 2-pound premie, born at home in February in Manitoba in a house without central heating.  She wasn’t expected to survive. Growing up, she was considered fragile and she says she got out of a lot of chores that way:-)

By the time she married at 30, she really didn’t know how to cook, clean, sew or take care of a home. She had to learn by herself, and I think it was mostly via trial and error. She told me once my father went fishing and brought home his catch and she sat down and cried. She had no idea how to prepare or cook the fish.

Eventually, my mom became a decent cook. She made simple meals like roast beef, boiled potatoes and a plain veg, or chicken pot pie. She overcooked most meats and I think that’s why I grew up disliking meat dishes. She was very good at making soups and she taught herself to bake bread. I have fond memories of sitting beside the table watching my mom knead a huge lump of bread dough bending down to scoop flour out of the huge container on the floor. She did it all by ‘feel’, no measurements needed! Pretty impressive. She was also very good at extending ingredients to feed many on a tight budget. I’ve always been impressed with how my parents managed to raise 5 children on one salary and end up mortgage free in their early 50′s.

Once I became an adult, I realized there were a few things I could improve on from my mom’s way of cooking and baking. Pastry is a major one. I remember learning to make an apple pie in class at school. I came home and made it for the family and everyone exclaimed about the incredibly flaky, light crust. Even though my mom made pies regularly, she overworked the pasty dough, kneading it until it was smooth with warm hands and re-rolling it over and over. She didn’t worry about the fat being chilled or the water being ice cold. Her pastry didn’t taste bad, but it was pretty tough to get a fork through!

So, here is the blueberry pie I made last night. I love the pastry star cut-outs for the top crust. Not my idea, but looks great anyway. I could never get my head around doing a proper lattice top. I had fun making it, using a combination of several recipes I found online. We didn’t wait for it to cool completely, so it was pretty juicy, but I must admit it tasted fabulous. How can you lose when you’re using delicious local berries (these were frozen from last Summer)  This is what’s left this morning.