Share the Ugly

Blueberry heart :)

We were recently invited to a friend's house for a pizza dinner with her family on a breezy beautiful May evening.  Even though said friend asked me not to bring anything, I had already earmarked a pre-prepped pie crust and frozen blueberries that were taking up valuable real estate in our freezer.  It's May, it's time for the summery desserts to break out.

I am known (notorious even) for trying out new recipes for friends and family however did not choose to do that on this occasion.  Instead of doing something brand new (don't think I didn't think about it though), I made this blueberry crumble pie from Sally's Baking Addiction, which I've now made countless times.  There are a number of reasons to love a crumble pie but at the very top, it's because 1) who doesn't love a crumble topping and 2) crumble topping is so much easier to make than a lattice top any day.

Is this post another chapter in my decades long saga to make good pie crusts?  Maybe.  I still need practice in making consistently GOOD pie crusts.  Good to me means still crisp and flaky, not overhandled, doesn't crumble at the edges when rolling out.  And from the reddit posts I've read on this topic, I'm not alone in tackling this long-term challenge.

The pie crust I pulled out and dethawed from the recesses of my freezer was okay, not great - probably not enough moisture.  The edges started to crumble while I was rolling it out and the bottom tore in two separate places when I put it in the pie plate.  Luckily, pie bottoms are easy to patch so that was fine but the crust slumped over a little whilst baking in the oven (I should have put the pie in the freezer for a little after I shaped it all).  Soooo... I warned my friend that the pie I was bringing over was pretty ugly.

Well whaddya know, the pie was a hit.  Not only did all the diners not think my pie was ugly but they thought it was delicious as well with a perfectly flaky crust.  I'm sure the scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream that was served with each slice didn't hurt but at the end of the evening, the pie was completely gone.

So here's the inadvertent lesson I learned from on a Sunday evening in May.  Share the ugly thing that you made.  I am my harshest critic but importantly, people will always appreciate the effort and time that went into something that is homemade.  Sure it won't be picture perfect.  And may not be exactly uniform or perfectly proportional.  But I guarantee you that that's why people will like it more.

Which leads me to the other lesson.  Celebrate the things that your friends / loved ones / coworkers create.  Because to me, creating a thing and then putting it out there is an act of bravery.

So make the thing, even if you're afraid it'll be ugly.  And share the ugly thing because few things in this world look perfect.

*Note, I seriously regret not taking a picture of said pie so you'll just have to use your imaginations