CategoriesArchivesJanuary 2009 |
helloHi Everybody. I’m trying to get my sister Becky to do a guest blog! I think it would be fun. Hey, Becky if you don’t want to do a chatty blog, you could post a poem. That would be good. (Psst…I don’t know if I’m going to be successful in convincing her to do it. But I’m nothing if not persistent! Hee..hee!) Love you Becky. Posted by Meg Tilly on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 in Chewing the Fat An Open Letter to Woodstown FarmsI am writing this blog with the hopes that someone reads this who either works at Woodstown Farms or knows somebody who does. I tried finding them on the Internet. I did find a Woodstown Farms somewhere in mid-west America. I called them, but they were a different Woodstown Farms (handled grains and fodder) The Woodstown Farms I want to get a hold of are the Woodstown Farms that make the delicious “Thick Sliced Seasoned Side of Pork Smoked.“ They are a product of U.S.A. and sell this truly sinful bacon at the over-priced, albeit fabulous Whole Foods, for all the organic product they carry. This bacon is truly my favorite bacon in the world. Not only that there are no nitrates added. The ingredients are just: pork, sea salt, raw sugar and white pepper. And a couple of slices of this bacon are a meal in itself. HOWEVER, there is a matter of great concern with regards to this product! On the package they have:
This has worried me greatly! It is fine for someone like me to pick up this package of bacon. I’ve been cooking all my life and KNOW bacon needs to cook longer than that. But for the novice cooker. Someone just married, or a child attempting to surprise a parent with a breakfast in bed…DISASTER! They might not know that the Woodstown people meant if you are microwaving it. (Not that I would ever, ever use a microwave. I just don’t trust them.) But they don’t mention the word “microwave” anywhere on the package. Just tells you to place in a cold frying pan! When I read that I envisioned droves of people being raced to the hospital with gastronomical ailments. So WOODSTOWN FARMS you have wonderful bacon. PLEASE change the cooking instructions on the package so I can get a peaceful nights sleep! Thank you. (I’m saying thank you like it’s already been done, that way the Universe will know I’m expecting it.) Posted by Meg Tilly on Monday, October 15, 2007 in Chewing the Fat my yummy corn breadI lost 5 pounds while I was away. It’s funny, when I’m away from my family, eating is harder somehow. Not so much fun. Anyway, the minute I arrived home I was suddenly ravenous and have been indulging my belly ever since. And tonight, rather than make a bit of pasta to serve the pot roast over, I had a craving for my yummy corn bread. THIS IS NOT A RECIPE FOR DIETERS! If you are trying to lose weight, don’t walk, RUN away from this recipe! For those of you who are not on a diet, feel free to continue reading. I am posting this recipe because my husband said, “What did you do? This is my favorite corn bread you’ve ever made!“ my yummy corn bread ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, buttermilk, eggs, bacon, ham, onion, Parmesan cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, fresh rosemary, 9x13 glass baking pan. mix together in a bowl mix well in another bowl -Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture. And blend just until all the dry mixture is moist. (Don’t over blend, it’s supposed to look a little lumpy.) It should take between 20-25 minutes to cook. Take it out at 20 min. and poke a fork, or a little wood skewer into the middle and if it comes out clean, cut corn bread in to squares and serve pipping hot! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did tonight. I’m embarrassed to admit that I ate three huge squares of it and I was trying to be restrained! (And for all you vegetarians out there. Just delete the bacon and ham. Maybe jack up the onion and use 1/2 instead of 1/3. Use an oil to grease the pan, and when you take the hot pan out of the oven, throw a tablespoon of butter on it before you add the batter. And use 3 tablespoons of melted butter in the liquid mixture instead of the 2 tablespoons of bacon grease. Also I bet you could chop up a little jalapeno pepper and throw that in as well, if you wanted a bit of a zing.) Posted by Meg Tilly on Sunday, October 14, 2007 in Recipes home againI’m home from Calgary. Happy and tired. Porcupine sold out which was nice, but I felt bad for the people who wanted to buy it at my last two events. Felt sorry for the bookstore too though. Must be hard to know how much to order of any one book. Especially when you’re dealing with 80 authors! My boy and husband are at the Canucks game and it’s the end of the first period and the Canucks are ahead. They called me in the break and sounded really happy. The dogs did a crazy celebration dance when I walked in the door. You’d think I’d been gone for way longer than five days! Funny dogs. Sure make you feel appreciated. They are still dancing about, squeaking their finest toys all around my writing room even though I’ve been home for 45 minutes. Oh, now Molly’s collapsed on the floor by my desk and is pretending she’s a rug. It’s funny how they do that sometimes. Flatten out, seem to lose all their bones. Well, I suppose I ought to unpack, take a nice hot bath and climb into my bed. I really am happy to be home. Posted by Meg Tilly on Saturday, October 13, 2007 in Chewing the Fat Dream Pie UpdateI got back from my reading with Richard Scrimger (author of Into the Ravine, and a million other books) and there was a little white plastic bag resting on my bed like a present. Hmmm… I thought, what could this be? Felt kind of like Christmas. It didn’t even enter my mind that it was Maureen’s dream pie. When she didn’t show up at the theater, I figured life ran away with her, as life is apt to do and there simply wasn’t time for dream pie. But no. There was, two containers, lids and all, encased in two ice packs so if I came back late I wouldn’t get botulism. Another example of Maureen’s thoughtfulness. Inside was a note saying that she forgot to say in the recipe that instead of regular cream cheese she uses light cream cheese and skimmed milk. I stood over the hotel bathroom sink and scooped out fingerfulls into my mouth, thinking “I can’t believe something that taste this rich, could be so low in calories!“ And the taste of the Cool Whip brought back memories of my grandmother, who passed away in 1988. And how I visited her when I was 7 and she served me oatmeal, but she didn’t have any milk because she was was allergic to it. And I was thinking as I was eating Maureen’s Dream Pie that this is a perfect recipe for someone who is trying to lose weight and yet still craves rich, fluffy desserts. And if somebody else wants to say, “Calories be damned!“ Then they could substitute butter for margarine, use regular cream cheese, whole milk, and real whipped cream instead of Cool Whip. What a versatile recipe! I was also thinking sliced bananas on top would make another delicious addition. Thank you Maureen for your thoughtfulness and the memories of my Grandmother. Posted by Meg Tilly on Friday, October 12, 2007 in Recipes Dinner at Cynne and Jack’s houseOkay, lets get one thing straight. If you ever, EVER, get lucky enough to be invited to Cynne and Jack’s house for dinner…GO! This was no big pot of stew Cynne made. (Which if it had been, you can bet your guzungas that it would have been the best pot of stew your mouth had the good fortune to meet.) The woman is a gourmet cook of the highest order and Jack, her sous chef is no slouch! I walk in and there are these beautifully laid out tiny pancakes with tasty Peeking duck morsels, elegantly laid out. Each one has just the right amount of duck, plum sauce (which was way better than any plum sauce I’ve ever had in a restaurant) and every single one had a bit of crispy skin for texture. DELICIOUS! Apparently Jack was responsible for the pancakes that were soft and tender with crispy edges and you could taste the hint of butter that he had used in the pan. A glass of red wine slipped into my hand. I tried not to make an absolute pig of myself and failed miserably. Then Jack walks in with barbecued prawns on little wood skewers. I don’t know what they basted them with…but YUM! We chat, David arrives bearing wine, then Betty with a gift of lovely white serving plates in a reusable Christmas bag. And bless Cynne’s soul, not only is she an amazing cook, but she’s wonderfully thoughtful as well. The doorbell rings. “Oh, it’s David,“ she says. Then she goes to the door. “Hi David!“ Then when they arrive in the kitchen, “Meg, you remember David.“ What a dear sweet woman she is. Same thing when Betty arrived. She found a way to work Betty’s name in to the conversation three times in the course of a minute. Now I remembered both of them, their faces, the things we had talked about at dinner the other night, and now…I remember their names. With a hostess like that, you feel in safe hands indeed. Then into the dinning room we went. Accompanying these beautifully laid out bowls of…well I don’t have the words to do it justice and to say, “soup” just doesn’t seem right. A mix of savory, subtle spice, a blop of something dairy with a sprinkling of tiny chives, the accent, a tang of green apple perhaps? And I’m eating and trying not to dance in my seat. So happy that I’d told her of my secret desire to do an eating tour of France. Now I don’t have to, Calgary is so much closer! Then rack of lamb, on a bed of orzo pasta, a yellow and green peppers that I usually avoid, but these were so delicious I gobbled every last scrap up! And finally…THE DESERT! A concoction of ice cream and the best…THE VERY BEST chocolate sauce I have EVER tasted!!! I’m telling you, I am an expert on these things and this was, without a doubt THE BEST! It was so good that if I had been at home I would have tipped the dessert cup to my mouth to get the very last drops and I might have even had to indulge in sliding my finger around the inside for the bits around the sides. You will be happy to know, dear bloggers that I managed to restrain myself, but just barely! But that was only half of the dessert, also on each plate was a banana and caramel tart. Homemade and fantastic. All complemented with a pipping pot of tea in the most darling teapot I have ever seen with a painting of a clothing line, and socks and knickers and what-not hanging by wood pegs. The conversation was real. Genuine. Nobody posing, or trying to be more-than. A home in which one feels instantly welcome, warm and incredibly fortunate to be in. It made me wish I lived in Calgary so I could have the opportunity to talk more, laugh more, be irrelevant with this wonderful group of friends. Posted by Meg Tilly on Friday, October 12, 2007 in Chewing the Fat Maureen’s Dream PieMaureen’s Dream Pie has arrived! And even better in her note, she said she is going to drop some off at tomorrow’s reading for me! How lucky is that? I think what happened is she read my blog this morning and thought, “She sounds a little bit sad. I think I better whip that girl up some of my Dream Pie! That’s just the kind of comfort a woman needs.“ I’m feeling wonderful now, but the good thing is, the fax was already delivered, the promise made. So even though I’m feeling jaunty…I still get Dream Pie! Yes.
Thank you Maureen. I’m looking forward to tomorrow with a smile! Posted by Meg Tilly on Thursday, October 11, 2007 in Recipes Calgary Girls’ SchoolOh my god. My heart is full to overflowing! I just came back from Calgary Girls school and…oh my. These girls. This school. Caroline Parker. The teachers. What a beautiful gift they gave me. I arrived this morning still carrying my midnight worries in my pocket. Sarah driving me in her husband’s (very clean and classy) car. There was something about Sarah that radiated kindness and helped ease my insecurities a bit. We arrived at a rather nondescript school, but when we walked inside… it felt like home. It felt safe and embracive. And the staff that I met, their eyes weren’t tired. Disillusioned. It’s like this group of educators decided to create a new way, a new mold within to teach, and from the amazing intelligent, curious, insightful questions the girls asked and the enthusiasm with which they participated, this group of dedicated professionals are obviously succeeding. And get this…I walk into the school, insecure, questioning, doubting and Caroline greets us with shining eyes and a warm smile and she tells me that ALL OF THE FIFTH GRADE GIRLS HAVE READ OR ARE READING MY BOOK!!! They’ve read it! Not only that…THEY LOVE IT! (I’m smiling now at my computer screen) And that they are very, very excited to meet me and that the fourth grade is asking to read Porcupine as well, and then on a tour of the school I met the librarian and she said that she thinks the 6th and 7th grades at their other school would enjoy it too! We’d peek into classrooms and I’ve spent half my children’s childhoods teacher’s aiding and working in the libraries and art studios, baking cookies and I have to say, this school is something really special. How wonderful it was to be able to talk with these girls, hear what they thought, see their affection for Jack, her life. A zillion hands flying up. Me wanting to answer all of them. It was scheduled to be an hour and 15 minutes but I read and we talked and we talked and we talked and we went over the allotted time and none of us cared and finally two and a half hours later, we exited the school. I have to say, I could have stayed there all day. That’s how much fun I was having. Much love to Calgary Girl’s School. Thank you for taking me and Jack into your hearts. Posted by Meg Tilly on Thursday, October 11, 2007 in Chewing the Fat Sleep eludes meWhy is it that on the days were you need sleep the most, it dances out of your reach laughing at you? It’s 5:27AM, my time (6:27 Calgary time) My wake up call isn’t for another hour and a half, and yet for the last 45 minutes I’ve tossed on the bed trying to sleep. Same thing last night. I came back from author frivolity, talked to my husband on Skype. He tried to get my dog, Molly, to do that funny thing of looking into the camera and trying to figure out why I was in there and why I wouldn’t come out. But she’d already figured it all out on Tuesday night. So it was sweet that he was trying to get her to do it because it had made me laugh and feel loved the night before, but his efforts were kind of pointless. He was like a little kid, “Molly! Molly! Molly!“ But the more he tried, the less interested she was. Finally I had to gently steer him away from his determination to make this have the outcome he wanted. Anyway, we hung up. I went over my talk tomorrow and then finally around 11:30PM, washed my face, brushed my teeth and went to bed. I was very tired, but thoughts chased around my head like starving mosquitoes, driving sleep away. When I woke I tried to hang onto my sleep wave but I was seeing all these authors faces, hearing their voices, and feeling small. I read a lot, but names, titles elude me. Whereas they pull them out of the air by the fistful. It seems that this writing world is a very small community. Everyone knows everybody and every single book that anybody has ever read or reviewed since the beginning of time. They all have tons of awards and all their books are best-sellers and published in a gazillion languages…And then there’s me. I feel like that Sesame Street song. “One of these things is not like the other…“ Interesting huh? Here I am, a woman, 47 years old, I’ve accomplished a lot, have a wonderful life, and yet I feel like I’m six again, at a new school, standing in the playground at that very first recess, not sure what the rules are and where to go and if anyone is going to want to eat lunch with me. In the Authors Hospitality Suite yesterday evening, everyone was talking about what one should read and what one shouldn’t. “Humor. You have to read something funny.“ “Or something gossipy. Everyone loves gossip.“ “Never read something serious.“ “Oh god no! Not with teenagers. You’d never hold them.“ “If I notice them getting restless I have them to get up, run around the room.“ “Don’t read for longer than 5 minute segments.“ And I’m panicky inside, because I don’t do any of those things. The information they sent us said to read for 15-20 minutes, so that’s what I prepared, but apparently that’s a no-no. The humorous things that happen in my book aren’t laugh-out-loud-clutch-your-belly humor. Now there are some exciting things that happen in Porcupine that I’m dying to read and talk about, but they happen later on in the book, and I don’t want to ruin or give away the story. I want it to unfold for the reader, catch them up in the pages. Anyway, this is what I discovered last night. The section I’m reading is apparently the polar opposite of what I’m supposed to do. Phooey. The upside is I got to see Hal Niedzviecki (don’t ask me how to pronounce it) again. I met him at BookExpo last fall. We were reading together and it was my very first reading EVER of Gemma! I was terrified and he was kind. And there is this really sweet author Cary Fagan, who wrote My New Shirt. I am struggling mightily with myself. It’s the kind of book I want to buy for my grandchildren, but I don’t have any yet. And I worry that if I start buying stuff for these someday-in-the-future-someday-maybe-not grandchildren, that it will put undue pressure on my children. Another good thing that happened was that at the fancy dinner on the very first night, the Gods were looking out for me, because I was lucky enough to be seated at a table of wonderful, interesting conversationalists. (Most of their names have evaporated like a mouthful of mist. Big surprise huh? For those of you who know me.) I had a marvellous time and was really surprised at the end of the evening when I turned around in my chair and realized that the rest of the banquet hall had already left! Well…Cynne and Jack (I hope, think that’s his name…) have invited me to dinner tonight and she’s going to make a big pot of cozy home-cooked something and I am really looking forward to it! Oh and one more thing. Maureen (who did the introductions at our talk yesterday) said she has this recipe that everybody begs her to make every time there is a big get-together. “Dream pie” She says it’s delicious and easy to make and I told her if she faxes it to the hotel I’ll post it on my Blog. So bloggers, get your mouths ready for some of Maureen’s Dream Pie! Posted by Meg Tilly on Thursday, October 11, 2007 in Chewing the Fat WordFestI just did my first WordFest reading. They bused kids in from a school and we read for them. Afterwards, looking into their faces, it felt like I was looking at, remembering myself as a child. What an honor it is for me to have the opportunity to share Porcupine with them. My book that is such a big part of me. I talked with one of the teachers from the school who teaches band and language arts. And he told me this was not something that these children would normally have access to. That WordFest paid for their tickets and paid to bus them here so they could experience this. You could tell that some of them didn’t have a soft comfy existence. Not by their clothes or the way they behaved, because this group of kids was truly wonderful. It was more a look in the eyes, that said, “I’ve seem more life than a lot of kids my age. I know what it is to work.“ I wanted to scoop them up in my arms. Tell them my life story, let them know that many of the most accomplished people I know come from places and homes like theirs. Like mine. What a privilege that WordFest has given us authors access to kids like these. Who I believe need books and the written word even more than those who have so much. I feel very lucky to be here. Posted by Meg Tilly on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 in Chewing the Fat Housing trickle down worriesWhen I read this article by, Leva M Augstums, AP Business Writer on Yahoo, and how this huge home furnishing convention she went to was basically empty, I got that clenching in my stomach. “Hold on,“ it said. “It’s starting.“ I’m not going to reprint the whole article, just a paragraph where she’s wrapping up towards the end, to give you the general gist.
Why I got scared is because I worry that this is just the beginning, the tip of the enormous iceberg that our ship in grinding into. I think the housing slowdown is going to have a much bigger effect than expected. And not just in construction, house sales, and home furnishings and the financial sector, the mortgage companies (like American Home Mortgage who was cut off by Fannie Mae, had to file Chapter 11, and who I read recently, has apparently been bouncing checks all over the place.) Many banks as well have made ridiculous loans and what-not. I am concerned. Ever since the Variable Mortgage rates have began to come due, there has been an epidemic of foreclosures. Now, if people are having a hard time coming up with the money for their mortgage, they aren’t going to run out and buy a new car or new furniture. Those are not purchases that are necessities. Then the next tier to cut back on is fancy vacations, visits to the spa, fancy meals out, private schools for the children and the list goes on and on and on. Now if you’re somebody who already is not able to indulge in the above list you might think, “Well, that won’t effect me…“ But the thing is, it will. Because these businesses employ a lot of people, teachers, waiters, financial advisors, bank tellers, factory workers, truck drivers who transport the goods. Anyway, I could go on all day with my worries. And I don’t want to worry all of you. It’s just I feel that if you see a whole crowd of people sitting down to have a picnic on the train tracks and you can see that there is an enormous train bearing down on them at full speed. You have an obligation to say something. So please, be careful everyone. Try to cut back on your spending. Save for a rainy day. Feeling safe, having a safety net is way more important than buying that gorgeous pair of shoes, or going on that vacation that your high interest credit cards are financing. And I know that sometimes when people get scared about not having enough, scared about bills and money, what do they do? Run out and buy something, to try and fill that hole. And it helps short term. But long term, it is a killer! Try build up a minimum of six months living expenses, while making sure to put away for retirement. I hope that I am wrong, but if I’m not, and this financial storm hits at least this way you won’t be caught unawares. Posted by Meg Tilly on Tuesday, October 09, 2007 in Chewing the Fat Rosie’s bookI’m very excited. Rosie O’Donnell’s new book Celebrity Detox come out in bookstores tomorrow. I’ve read a previous draft which I found very brave and honest. She really nailed what the experience is like to find oneself suddenly famous. Personally, when it started happening to me, I found it terrifying. I remember very clearly the first time someone recognized me from one of my films. It was at San Vincente Foods 1982. He was very nice, complimentary, but the idea that someone who I didn’t know, would know me, scared me. I guess again, it goes back to my childhood, and how I kept myself safe by being a good hider when my step-dad was in a beating mood. And then suddenly, I was famous and I couldn’t hide anymore. I loved acting, but the famous part sucked. Imagine. You are pregnant with your first child and suffering from severe morning sickness, you are in a restaurant bathroom with throwing up and someone is banging on the bathroom stall, sliding paper and pen underneath for you to sign. They can hear you throwing up, they know you are sick, but they don’t care because in their mind, you aren’t a person anymore. You are a monkey in the zoo. Just one of thousands of incidences that just boggled my mind. Binoculars trained on the house, the bedroom, the bathroom? What?! Some people might say, “Well, why did you become an actress then?“ An understandable question. You see, I liked acting, thought I would try to make a living, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would get leads in movies become recognizable. I just liked diving into other people’s skins is all. And if I had known what being famous was like and that it was going to happen to me I don’t know that I would have made the same choices. Rosie takes the mask off the cult of celebrity and generously lets us peer inside to the human. It took a lot of courage for her to write this. Even more to publish. And I have to say, it moved me deeply. I’m flying to Calgary to participate in WordFest and I’m going to buy her book to keep me company. I’m planning on blogging, but if I can’t figure out the hotel’s Internet situation (i.e. make it work) then you won’t be hearing from me for a few days. I have five events to do in five days and the big question is…do I have the foggiest idea what I’m going to wear? Did I learn from my last near fiasco? Of course not! And I don’t have to even wait until 8:30 pm to start packing because today is Canadian Thanksgiving and I imagine all the shops are locked tight. And to make matters even more dire, I received an Author’s Information Pack from Ian, (the lovely man who’s in charge of organizing this whole thing.) a couple of days ago, and there was a mention of media. “ You can expect a fair number of television Cameras and news crews to be at the major venues, especially our official photographer and our major media sponsors (the CBC and the Calgary Herald) Eep! So it won’t be just a school full of children, or some kindly white haired gentle readers who shall witness my lack of apparel finesse…No it shall be recorded, photographed for all of those people out there who were unable to attend WordFest, but still wanted to have a good laugh. And yet, what do I do? Am I scurrying like a mad woman, throwing clothes by the armload onto my bed. No. I’m figuring I won’t be reading at one of the “major venues” They didn’t mention which ones were major. And then of course, I have the old Mark-of-the-hiking-store-string trick in my back pocket. So I’m set. I’m good to go! I’ve got all these outfits from days-gone-past that surely will fit now that I’m armed with my new weapon. It would make sense I suppose for me to have tried out the string trick before I started counting my clothing chickens. Oh well. I like to live dangerously! Hee…hee…hee! Hmm… I just read back over this blog. I think it’s interesting how these two subjects (Ro’s book, Wordfest and my lack of preparation) are side by side. I suppose how I deal with my fear and being public now, is by being me. Refusing to act or be seen as anything other than who I am, foibles and all. Because I have to tell you, when I walked away from being an actress, I thought that would be it, I would be able to finally disappear again. So many new films, actors, but I hadn’t counted on Cable. That the films would still be playing. I had thought if I let my hair go grey, wore my glasses and wore undistinguished, disappearing clothes, no one would know it was me. But people did, do. So I’ve had to make my peace with it. Allow people in, to see the real me, hence this website. That way at least, hopefully, I become more of a person to people than a thing. Because this strangers knowing me situation, is not going away. Posted by Meg Tilly on Monday, October 08, 2007 in Chewing the Fat a turkey gravy noteThis is another quick note. I just got my turkey in the oven, and in this particular bird there was no heart or gizzard tucked inside. If that happens to you, no worries, a turkey neck alone makes perfectly wonderful gravy stock. There was however a turkey liver inside and I forgot to mention this in my gravy recipe. I don’t like liver. The taste or the texture. So I don’t put the liver in my gravy stock, I find I can taste the slight tinge of it. Maybe it’s my imagination, but I leave it out. If you like liver, go ahead and plop it in. If you are like me and hate liver, do what I do and cook it up for the dogs. They love it! For those of you who don’t know which piece is the liver, it’s the darker colored one that has a swidggy texture and if you spread it out it has two sides of it. The gizzard has two sides as well, but it is much, much firmer. That’s all for now. Back to the family! Love you Emily xxxooo. Miss you! Posted by Meg Tilly on Sunday, October 07, 2007 in Recipes turkey gravyThis is going to be very quick as I just picked up my boy David from the airport and since we’re going to be having our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, I have to get shopping and then make the pies. Good luck with your Thanksgiving Day feast. Much love to you and your family from me and mine. And Emily, I’ll give you a call tomorrow, but if we aren’t able to make contact, know that I’m loving you and we’re missing you and wishing you were here! Love, Mom xxxooo Posted by Meg Tilly on Saturday, October 06, 2007 in Recipes A flaky pie crust & Meg’s fancy super duper pie dough rolling out secretSeventeen years ago when Will was just a little baby I was shooting Leaving Normal in a minuscule town in Alberta. I don’t remember the name of the town. I do remember the flat beautiful horizon that went on forever, broken up only by the relief of a tall grain silo. Broad skies. We were staying at a rather tired looking motel, with a small diner attached. Yes, the motel wasn’t much to look at, the cast and crew complained. Generally we stayed in more upscale places. But me…I was in heaven! That diner had the best pie I had ever tasted! And every day when we finished shooting I would race to the diner to have another slice, warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I could have staying in that dusty, windswept motel forever! On our final day of shooting there I worked up my courage and asked the woman behind the counter if she’d consider giving me her recipe for pie crust. I was so nervous, because some people are very possessive about their recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. But she didn’t get mad. She laughed. “It’s tenderflake,“ she said. Well I’ve been making Tenderflake pie crusts for 17 years now. You can’t buy it in the stores in the States, and don’t try to substitute another lard because I tried that and it sucked. So I’d always bring a couple boxes of Tenderflake lard to the States with me if I was going to have an extended stay there. BUT the good news is, once I was in LA with no Tenderflake and a hankering for pie, so I phoned and ordered a bunch of it and made pie to my hearts content! That’s the good thing about that stuff, it’s probably really unhealthy for you because it never goes bad. So that’s my pie crust recipe. Buy Tenderflake lard and make the recipe on the back. (And no, I don’t know anyone who works at Tenderflake, nor do I own stock in the company.) However I don’t recommend their already rolled and frozen pie crusts. I don’t know why but…not so tasty! Now for the next part. If the idea of lard grosses you out, or you are vegetarian, or you already have a crust recipe that you like but can’t get it into the pan, you are in luck because my super duper rolling technique will work for all pie dough recipes! Meg’s super duper pie dough rolling secret! I personally don’t wait until after dinner. When I make hot apple pie, I want it right away! Sometimes I love eating dessert first. That way I’m sure I’ll have room for it. Posted by Meg Tilly on Friday, October 05, 2007 in Recipes |
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