Pie, Oh, Pie

The first apple pie I made on my own.

Somewhere on a farm just outside of Petaluma, California, I became an apple pie-making expert. Expert may be a stretch, but I certainly make a better pie crust now than I did before my trip last month. (Disclaimer: I never made a pie crust that didn't come from a Pillsbury box prior to this trip.)

I didn't see it coming, really. I planned a spontaneous vacation to the San Francisco area to visit one of my most gracious friends, Meloni. She's an exquisite baker — Martha Stewart named her one of the best in America in 2005 (click "watch video" to see Meloni teach Martha a thing or two) — and a phenomenal chef and caterer. Her mothering skills are something to be envied. So, what else? She has five chickens in her backyard ... right in the city of Petaluma, just a few blocks from a major California highway. That's where she gets all of her eggs. Because she's actually that cool.

Meloni has a lot more to offer than just being an incredibly humble, urban baking mother who gets fresh eggs right from her own backyard. She's incredibly compassionate and came into my life at I time when I really needed some California progressiveness. We both were living in Michigan at the time, about seven years ago.

Meloni ended up writing a column for my section of the newspaper, and she taught me how to live without a microwave. She fed me what were the most gourmet meals you could get in Port Huron, Michigan. Grating your own, high-quality cheese on pasta was not something I would have done on my own. Even seven years later, we still share the same laughs and good times we did back near the shore of Lake Huron. Our visits are not as frequent, but each is met with that pick-up-where-we-left-off spirit.

I have a copy of Joy of Cooking, which Meloni gave me as a gift when our days in Michigan were numbered. On the cover page she wrote, "To my Reed: When you can't reach me by phone — open this up and pretend it's me. Love, Mel." This cookbook, one of the standards in most kitchens, has reminded me how long it takes to hard boil eggs. But it never taught me how to make a pie crust, though I'm sure I could find those instructions somewhere in the book's 915 pages.

When I arrived in Petaluma in mid-September, I knew Meloni had a catering job teaching a pair of apple pie-making workshops on one of the largest organic dairy farms in the nation. Just over the hills, beyond the dairy pastures, the farmer's wife tends to an organic apple orchard. There's a beautiful lodge built on the grounds, and an outdoor oven to the right of the porch. It is such a site to behold, and it's where I learned to make pie crust and apple pie in general.

There were roughly 22 people in each of the two classes Meloni led on the porch of the lodge that soggy Sunday. During the first session, I helped measure out individual dishes of salt and set the tables in preparation for the arrival of eager students. By the time the second class rolled onto the farm, I was playing second fiddle to the well-oiled machine that was Orchard to Oven pie making.

People were asking my advice on whether they had worked the butter properly into the dry ingredients. I just nodded my head, remembered what Meloni had said a few hours earlier and said, "Keep working it. That looks like peas, not sand to me."

For a moment, you would have thought I went on Martha Stewart's show back in 2005 to show off my original Persimmon White Chocolate Bread Pudding recipe.

The entire time I was in California, I didn't make a complete apple pie. I made crust. I cut apples and added just a touch of cinnamon and sugar. But not once did I roll out the dough, add the apple mixture and make impressive, finger-crimped edges around the pan.

Since I returned to Seattle just a couple of weeks ago, I have baked four from-scratch apple pies. I almost have this pie making mastered, though I doubt how it will turn out each time I am working with the crust. It is a lot easier than I would have thought, thanks to Meloni's expert guidance and advice. But the crust still can be tricky every time.

As I think about some of the most memorable moments of my year, I honestly can say learning to make apple pie on a dairy farm will be high on the list. It just felt so rustic, so familiar. It reminded me of the simple things in life and just how precious it can be to share such moments with the people who have helped shape your existence. Thanks, again, Meloni.