Confessions of a Pie Eater

I love sweet little old ladies. I always have. Thanks to Bible studies, ladies' luncheons, and mentoring programs at my church, I have managed to find a bevy of wonderful little old ladies who graciously allow me soak up the wisdom they inevitably spout. It was at a Bible study that one of my sweet little old ladies said something so simple yet so wonderful that it has now become one of the mantras by which I live. "It's just as easy to make two pies as it is to make one."

It just so happens that my 91-year old grandmother, another one of my little old ladies, is in town for the summer. Notice that I did not refer to her as sweet as she is, indeed, one of those precious old ladies who somewhere along the way lost her filter, though I'm not convinced she ever had one. God bless her. My grandmother, thanks to all of her years she spent baking, instilled in me a love of pies and other assorted desserts. She used to make the most wonderful coconut cream pie. If I close my eyes, I can almost taste that creamy vanilla coconut goodness. Well, of course seeing my grandmother this summer has brought back those same coconut cream pie dreams to my mother who loves to tell (ad nauseam) the story of how I ate a whole coconut cream pie all by myself like a thief in the night while my parents were dreaming about coconut cream pie for breakfast. In my defense, I was 15, and I had a much greater appetite and a much faster metabolism. I didn't intend to eat the whole pie. I merely wanted one slice but it was so good that I went back for another and another until there really wasn't enough for my mom and dad to share, so I, in an effort to spare them just a tease of a piece, finished off the pie. Yes, I ate the whole pie while they slept and it was delightful. My only regret is that there wasn't yet another pie for me to eat.

So I decided that since my grandmother is no longer able to bake, I need to carry on the tradition. I have mastered peach cobbler, chocolate chip cookies, buttermilk pie, and pumpkin pie, but I have yet to even attempt to duplicate her almost famous coconut cream pie...that is, until today. So I dug out the recipe, my rolling pin, and set out to make my grandmother's coconut cream pie, whose exact secret recipe somehow ended up in my Better Homes and Gardens red and white cookbook. Hmmm. Because it's just as easy to make two pies as it is to make one, I made two; and because all these years later, I still owe my folks a pie, I have invited them over to dinner tonight. Maybe this will finally put that woeful tale of the night of coconut cream pie gluttony to rest.

I only wish that I had the metabolism of a 15-year old and a third pie.