Return of the Three-Eye Pie

Until last night, it had been twenty years since I first made a cranberry-apple pie, and if Mom and Aunt Laurie could be beside you as you read this, they would fall over themselves laughing as they explained why.  Their memories of my first attempt have grown more exaggerated with each retelling, and now, my poor 1996 effort is simply referred to as "Val's Three-Eye Pie." 

I had saved this recipe from a Good Housekeeping magazine and told Mom I wanted to try it while Aunt Laurie was visiting that fall.  I'd been baking alone since I was ten--and I was nineteen at the time--but this pie foiled me.  And I didn't make the beautiful leaf-crust pictured below.  (How gorgeous is this!) 

For me, it was the pie filling that went awry.  The pie filling!  In the words of Paul Simon, "there were incidents and accidents."  And for someone who hadn't yet made many pies, I learned the hard way how not to make this particular one.  The recipe now strikes me as straightforward, and surely, if I had actually followed it, the pie would have turned out.  It called for the juice of "1 large lemon," but I (apparently hadn't bought or asked for the groceries I needed to make this pie?!  Ah, nineteen-year-old Val!) didn't have any lemons so decided I would instead throw in some lemon extract from the back of Mom's baking cupboard.  When I use the word "throw" to describe how I "measured" the lemon extract. . .yessssssss.  Not knowing anything about the extract-to-real-thing ratio/conversion, I must have used the whole bottle.  And I have still never in my life seen Mom use lemon extract for anything, so who knows where the extract had even come from, let alone how very old it was.  Only two teaspoons of vanilla extract are mentioned in the recipe, and that I had on-hand, but I am now-infamous for assuming that if a little vanilla-flavor is good, a lot must be great!  (That logic became part of my defense soon enough.)  Who knows how much of that went into this pie, as well, then.  Raisins, I see are in the recipe too, but I highly doubt I used any, since I've never liked them.  The pie that went into the oven that afternoon was mostly apples, cranberries, and a huge amount of alcohol-filled extracts.  Alcohol bakes-off, it is said, but when probably a bottle and a half of two different flavors are in one pie and that pie is likely already missing one of its called-for fruits, the baker must be prepared for whatever reaction comes. 

And reaction was swift, but the stories have been exaggerated, I tell you!  Mom still likes to imitate how my cousin Amy mysteriously began hiccuping after soldiering through her slice of the finished pie.  She always includes the part about how "poor Amy" soon thereafter bid us all an early goodnight and elaborated that she didn't feel so good.  Aunt Laurie's favorite part of the Three-Eye Pie story--besides the fact that "Three-Eye Pie" immediately became the name for her niece's dessert--is how Uncle Warren's eyebrows instantly shot way up onto the top of his forehead upon tasting his first bite.  On and on the stories go.  We all laughed so much during that visit over that pie.  ("Of course we did," Mom would point out if she were reading over your shoulder right now.  "Val's pie got us all drunk.")  In 2011, a full fifteen years after I had made the pie, Mom included the note and drawing below in a recipe book she gave me for Christmas.  She has drawn that three-eyed girl a few other times over the years too, I should add.  Oh, the hilarity.  :) 

And just last month when I unwrapped my Christmas presents from Aunt Laurie, I oohed and ahhed over a tiny green bag inside which my name was peeking out on a slip of paper.  I tugged out a box of bottled vanilla, momentarily--and naively--thinking she had simply sent me vanilla as a baking supply, since she tends to give me muffin papers, pot holders, and other baking-related gifts at Christmas, but then I read the note that accompanied it.  And notice the three-eyed snowman underneath!  Comediennes, these two.  :) 

I've baked enough now to have a better idea of what I can and can't substitute and how much of what I can add or take away from a pie, and last night's was just fine, thank you, and I even added snowflake-shaped pie crust pieces to the edge and to the streusel topping, so there.  ;)  There is no point telling my mom or aunt, though.  The Three-Eye Pie story has become one of their favorite family classics, and they're still just having waaaaay too much with it. 

And Now. . .Alice Otter (My Favorite Gift I'm Giving This Year)

Whew!  I finished making Alice Otter earlier this morning.  She is part of my Christmas presents for my parents, just as Emmet Otter was last Christmas.  

 I can't be with my family while they watch Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas on Christmas Eve--enjoying the movie over eggnog and dessert is a family tradition--but now they will have the complete set of "Ma" and her Emmet to hold my place.  :) 

I started creating Alice in November and soon realized that I was mistaken to have thought that Alice Otter would be easier to make than Emmet.  I had expected her to be easier since her body is hidden by her dress, but between the dress-making and simply the ongoing trying-to-making-her-face-look-right, she was quite a challenge.   At least she and Emmet are a two-member family, since I don't think I'd want to construct a third otter next year.  :)  I also didn't realize until right now that I attached her lace-and-red-ribbon trim to the front of her dress upside-down.  BAH!  Maybe I'll attach extra lace under the red ribbon to make up for it.  BAH!  And BAH! again!  Anyway, she is either done or nearly-done, depending on my handling of The Lace Issue now.   :)  Her outfit in the movie is just lovely, so to have gotten it even this close was quite the feat for me, since sewing's not really my thing.  

I began with a stuffed animal I bought to cut up for fur and parts. 

I re-cut it to form the body--

--and re-stuffed it to re-shape it a bit. 

The plan had been to start with her face, of course, but I found myself beginning with her costume instead.  "Measure twice, cut once"-type thinking made me too nervous to add her face, I think, since once it was attached, there would be no going back to correct it.  The collar and bow were made from a piece of leftover lace in my fabric stash. 

I found one button in Grandma's button jar that matched the dress well, and I took the lid off a mustard bottle to make the nose.  :)  

I had bought the fabric back in August after a long search for one that closely resembled Alice's talent show costume in the movie.  (I wanted to make the talent show costume because so many of Mom's other Christmas decorations are blue, and Alice's other dress in the film is a brown-with-gold print.)

I didn't realize until I went to attach the finished arms that I had made them way too big and too long, so I spent at least an hour redoing them. I made a basic wrap dress that I'd later cover with a pleated fabric-piece for a proper dress. 

I remembered from last year to use white paint to add a life-like glint to her eyes.  The eyes and eyebrows were pieces of black fabric cut off a raggedy piece of a bag lining. 

I found a doily in October that I thought would be the right size to use as a cap, and I guessed correctly.  I made blue ribbon/cord from a length of the dress-fabric and threaded it through the doily's holes.  The ball-trim is from a piece I've used for so many other projects.  It all worked. 

And then I stopped taking pictures until I was done with her this morning. 

If I had stopped to refer to the photos of her I'd been using as reference all along, I'd have noticed the upside-down lace-and-red-ribbon-trim, but I'll live. 

Dad will get a kick out of her, as he did with Emmet, but I know Mom will truly love her.  :)

I'm so tickled with this. 

I tried making a mouth a few different ways, but I never came up with one that looked even remotely right, so instead I added extra fur with hot glue and bunched it up until it looked like there was at least an opening there.  The suggestion of a mouth looks better than any of my attempts at a real one did.  I added blush to her cheeks with a little of my lipstick, to make her look different from Emmet, and I used a paintbrush to spread some white eye shadow above her eyes. 

I attached her to a plastic container to make her a bit taller and to give her a way to stand, since it bothered me last year that the boots I'd created for Emmet hadn't worked out and he needed to be leaned against something to stay upright. 

And like last year, I made a gingham label as a finishing touch. 

Oh, I love that cap!  Anything with ball-trim just sends me, I love it so much. 

I go home tomorrow for a way-too-short visit and look forward to seeing not only my family, but also Alice and Emmet together for the first time.  ;) 

And now to figure out The Lace Issue before I pack this into tissue paper and box it up for Mom and Dad.  This is my favorite gift that I'm giving this year, although one for my nephew keeps making me laugh too.  Ah, holiday silliness!  I love it. 

Merry Early Christmas!  ♥

♥

My Parents Make Me Laugh

My parents' Christmas card arrived yesterday with the above note from Mom enclosed.  My laughter turned into cackling pretty quickly at this.  This crazy month.  Since she wasn't able to drive to get out to shop on her own the first few weeks after surgery, Mom's behind with All Things Christmas this year. 

Then I got to the end of Dad's included note and laughed again.  He clearly hadn't forgotten my "demotion" in his last note. 

'Too funny all-around.  Both blessed and charmed, I am.  ♥

The surveyor's house was full of secrets. ~ the opening of the Christmas Eve chapter of Laura Ingalls Wilder's _By the Shores of Silver Lake_

One of the Christmas traditions that my dad and I laugh about how is how Mom still leaves a "Keep out!" note on top of her blanket-covered pile of Christmas presents in the basement even though my dad is the only person she lives with now that my brothers and I are all out of the house.  "Who are these notes of hers addressed to?!" my dad muses when I return home each December.  "I'm almost seventy years old!  I'm not going to snoop!"  Mom still makes her little warning sign every winter, though, and what makes it funny is that Dad and I laugh at her for doing this but also leave notes of our own.  My "Keep out!" is above, and it remains wedged year-round into an antique suitcase in my former bedroom's closet, since I sometimes buy gifts during my visits throughout the year and just store them at my parents' house until Christmas. Mom's note, below, contains no smiley faces or hearts, however.  She means business.

She is also artistic in her approach, clearly.  A very Mom-like combination of Don't-you-dare-ruin-your-Christmas-surprises! and Ooh!-Christmas!-Here's-a-cute-little-tree!  And Dad. . . .Well, Dad takes a different tack, and one that is all the more amusing both because he is so affronted by Mom's note-writing each December and because Mom is the only person to whom he could be addressing his own words:

The Ingalls family, we are not.  :)  But our Christmas home is, indeed, full of secrets every year.  ♥  And Mom and Dad (and brothers and sisters-in-law and niece and nephew, as well) loved Emmet, yes.  :)  That was one of the sweetest and most fun gift-giving moments I've ever had.  Oh, how everyone laughed as they inspected him!  Sweet, sweet, sweet.  One of my all-time favorite Christmas memories. 

And now off to make some more.  Christmas Eve tomorrow, my favorite day of the year!  ♥

The Making of Emmet Otter: Part II

He's finished.  :)  And just in time since Christmas with my family will be early this next week.  I go home to my parents' house Monday afternoon, and I haven't decided whether to give him to Mom and Dad when I get home that evening or wait until the official gift exchange.  I am betting they will receive Emmet early.  ♥

I finished planning his outfit yesterday afternoon.

A quick jaunt to Goodwill led me to two hats and a tiny pair of boots.  The navy blue hat became Emmet's coat, the brown hat became his pants and boot laces, and all I ended up using of the ready-made boots was the black sole. 

The stuffed animal I was re-purposing for its fur and stuffing was trimmed into an Emmet-size body, using my drawing as a rough guide.

Next time, I will know to attach and position the arms differently so they don't just stick out at the sides.  Live and learn. 

I didn't have enough blue material to make a proper coat--or to make a coat properly, I should say--so I just sewed and hot-glued it piecemeal to Emmet's body until he was covered in a little blue coat from all sides.  The blue hat's brim ended up making the perfect collar for a coat, which tickled me. 

I worked on Emmet a couple hours this morning until his coat was done, head was attached to body, red scarf/chin-strap (formerly my gloves) was lengthened and tied in front, pants and boots were made, and Emmet's traditional "Christmas branch" was secured to his left paw.  His tiny tree/branch seemed more festive to me than the washtub I'd been planning to construct out of foil-covered-stuffing.  Emmet's rudimentary little tree stand (once a wooden clothespin) originally matched his fur, so I colored it with a brown permanent marker to make it stand out more against his paw. 

 Below is Emmet as he looked when I stopped working on him this morning. 

And below is dear Emmet this afternoon after I painted specks of white onto his eyes to help bring him to life. The glint in his eyes makes such a difference.  ♥

For only coming up with this whole idea few days ago, I'm delighted by how he turned out. 

Like my mom, I don't really enjoy sewing, but I find myself doing quite a bit of it.  Mike rolled his eyes as I set up Emmet's photo-shoot this evening, but for someone who doesn't love! love! LOVE! sewing, I had to document the process and the final product, of course. 

I added front pockets to Emmet's coat and soles to the bottoms of his boots. 

I'd intended to make little brown work boots for him, and I tried and tried, but my attempts didn't work, and I was soon out of shoe-looking material, so instead, Emmet appears to be standing almost en pointe in shoes made out of a rather ratty old catnip mouse of Stuffed's.  Ah, well.  My parents will understand.  :)

I painted a tiny tag and sewed it to the side of Emmet's coat.

That I worked in even that small bit of red gingham will thrill my mom.  Emmet looked "real" and complete to me once the tag was attached. 

And now Emmet can be packed away in tissue paper for the trip home to his new owners.  

And even more than usual, I will be with my family in spirit during their Christmas Eve Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas-watching.  

♥