Pie is love

I was explaining to someone this week my food philosophy, coming back to that phrase I'd blurted out with my career counselor: 'food is love'.

And for me, that's true. I enjoy the act of creating a dish, it feels honouring to all the good stuff we have to work with - crisp vegetables, savoury meats, fresh herbs - an act of appreciation. I also am thinking of who will eat what I'm making, wanting them to enjoy, feel satisfied. It's a way of expressing my affection for my guest. And of course, the act of sharing food around a table becomes an invitation to community and even intimacy.

I was at my parents for a midweek lunch this week. My mom, who the day before had had another of the needles in the eye she requires as a treatment for macular degeneration, was feeling predictably wretched, as she always does for two days after each treatment. I hadn't known it was one of her post-injection days. We went out for lunch - good call - but after waking up barely strong enough to stand she had managed to put together a cream pie on graham crust for us to have for dessert. Part of me went - sheesh! Not necessary! Please sit down and put your feet up! But in it, you see the deep, giving love of a mom.

She sent home some for Hubby and I for supper, since she remembers he enjoys cream pie too. Love, I tell you. And it's clearly not original with me, as any passionate cook knows.

And more love this weekend as J and L get married. They're having a volunteer, outdoor wedding and, amongst other things, have asked for pies. I'm bringing two, both blueberry.

I use Edna Staebler's 'speedy pat-in pie crust', a good thing made even better, I think, by using brown sugar and buttermilk.

Here's my tweaked version:

1 1/2 scant cups of flour (our flour is very dry here in Calgary)

1 tbsp brown sugar

3/4 tsp salt

Mix together the dry ingredients in the pie plate.

1/2 cup canola oil

3 tbsp buttermilk

Beat together with a fork until creamy. Pour all of the wet mix over the dry, and combine with a fork until all the flour is dampened. Press evenly up the sides and bottom of the pie plate. Proceed as with any pie crust.

I filled the shells with blueberries and then made a custard for each pie; one was raspberry cream cheese; the other was strawberry yogurt - simply because I had those things in the fridge. I pureed each creamy ingredient with a tbsp of flour and an egg; added a dash of cinnamon to the raspberry and nutmeg to the strawberry and poured each over the berries.

Topped with a brown sugar, butter and flour streusel, they look pretty edible. They'll be warmed on Saturday before they're eaten, and then we'll all toast to love.