A community minded little pie shop located in Downtown MHK. We share our space with another local business, the Hungry Chickpea . Pie Understands My Soul
One of the things that originally pulled me in to my love for food was the connectedness it created. You take ingredients that may or may not seem to belong together and you take a person or person(s) of varying skill level and somehow food is cr
eated. Food that has never been created exactly the same way by any other person. Even if a recipe is followed, it was never made in that exact same moment by that exact same person feeling those exact emotions. The food tells a story and its flavors inspire conversation and a course of direction for a meal or a snack or day. The person creating it put their time and energy into creating it for the sole purpose of nourishment for the body and you can taste that. Although I feel this way about all foods, the food that has me by the heart and understands my soul is pie. I was introduced to pie at age 5, crying at the dinner table because my Grandma Thera had made something brown and I wasn’t going to eat it. That something brown was Apple Pie and my Grandma was known in our small town for this delicious treat. Thankfully, my family is full of stubborn women, so mid-cry with my mouth wide open, my mom shoved a fork full of Grandma’s Apple Pie into my mouth. I chewed and chewed and sniffled and chewed. I then asked “Grandma, may I have some more pie?”
That memory makes me smile and so do many other memories that I hope I have the opportunity to share. Thank goodness for Apple Pie and stubborn women who weren’t going to let me go through life not knowing the pleasure of the best pie in the world. As time went on, I became one of Grandma’s helpers, along with my Aunt Karen (who is the best cook I’ve ever met) when it came to making pie. We would spend time on a Saturday (peeling?) what felt like hundreds of peaches by hand, as the sweet juice from the fresh peaches slid down my forearms and dripped off my elbow onto the Parsons Sun pages spread on the floor of the den. We would crack and pick pecans until our hands cramped. It was during this time that Grandma would sing or tell stories or (we would) watch a show while listening to Grandma’s commentary. Grandma Thera had a heart of gold, but she was a battleaxe and had a really hard outer shell. These times that we spent together, making or prepping pie, I later realized were her way of letting me in and showing me she cared. She wasn’t quick to say “I love you,” but she showed it through her food she prepared for the people she loved. As an adult, I turned to pie-making as a stress reliever and a way to work through things in my own life. I have learned that pie creates memories. Making pie, sharing pie, and eating pie does that for not just me, but every person I connect with about pie. It makes your taste buds sigh and pulls your lips into a smile. It takes you down memory lane and reminds you of the people you love. I hope that my pie memories and of course some recipes shared along the way will help you remember someone you love or inspire you to bake. When I do that, I call it TheraPie and in my opinion, everyone needs a little.
