Jeanne-ology: Confessional
Hey, hey! It's Thursday and that means it is time for Jeanne-ology. This week Jeanne makes a confession. You are going to love this story, trust me - Rebecca.
This week, I have been training a new employee that started this past Tuesday. He is a joy to work with and has an outgoing personality, which makes for a lot of easy conversation. Today he was asking me various questions. He asked me about my favorite pies and asked which of the fruit pies I like to eat the most. I casually answered that I didn't like any ANY fruit - fresh fruit OR fruit pie - at all. He was shocked and said "how could you own a pie shop and not like fruit pie?" (Rebecca editing to add: she has also never had a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, if you are keeping track of her odd food rules.)
Our fruit pie recipes come from my mother and grandmother. Growing up, I dreaded strawberry season because my mother would make my twin sister Janie and I help her pick strawberries. I couldn't stand to touch them, much less eat one! We would pick quarts of strawberries and later she would wash and slice them for dessert. Janie loves fruit and willingly helped my mother prepare the berries. Sliced and sugared, she would serve them over pie crust. It seemed most of my family quickly ate the main entree (usually something fried) because they all knew the strawberries and pie crust would be served next. As you can guess, I always passed on the desert. Seasons would follow with picking blackberries at my grandmother's farm, gathering blueberries, and in the fall going to the apple orchard. My mom was a great baker and she excelled at making every kind of fruit pie she could. (Rebecca editing to add: strawberries and pie crust is my favorite. Our whole family eats it, except Jeanne. So weird.)
My mother really never questioned me about my dislike of fresh fruit or fruit pie...likely because my father was not a real big fan of fruit either. However, he would make exception to a blackberry cobbler that she would make. He would often say that he ate the cobbler so he wouldn't hurt her feelings. However, after hearing him scrapping his plate after the second serving we all knew better. Of course, a big scoop of vanilla ice cream served on a steaming hot blackberry cobbler didn't offend anyone in the family. (Rebecca editing to add: we get so many calls for cobblers. World Cobbler Domination?)
When Rebecca was a toddler, I fed her fruit and she loved it. I was hoping she would be like me and pass on the fruit. I was glad she liked fruit because it was healthy for her, but secretly sad because it meant I would have to shop the fruit section at the grocery store! She still likes fresh fruit, but not baked fruit in a pie. So I guess she may take a little after me and my dad after all! (Rebecca editing to add: this is true. No baked fruit of any sort. Or dehydrated fruit. And a hard pass on banana chips.)
When she heard the conversation this morning, Rebecca joked and said it was a wonder I didn't have scurvy. Maybe so, but I am a huge vegetable fan. I've never met a vegetable I don't like. Maybe my mother didn't push my no fruit rule because I ate a lot of vegetables from her garden. I have heard that your taste buds change every few years, but I have yet to see a tasty fruit. I see fruit in cereals, candy, fruit flavored chewing gum and even fruit flavored Tums! What is the point? (Rebecca editing to add: Scurvy or not, here is a picture of Jeanne wearing a pirate eye mask that someone made us once. You are welcome.)
Returning to the conversation this morning, Andrew said that he was amazed that I had never eaten any of our fruit pies. How do I know if they are any good? That too is a good question! My only response is that I know what they are supposed to look like, how they should smell coming out of the oven, and even how they appear when they are cut for serving. Sometimes if I have a doubt about a particular fruit pie, some employee or customer is always eager for a sample to give feedback. Thank goodness there are fruit lovers everywhere! Without them PJP might never had been launched. (Rebecca editing to add: she speaks the truth.)