My family isn't really the religious type. My grandfather is one of those folks who liked to joke that tennis was his religion (he did play every Sunday morning), and the rest of us can typically only be found at churches for holiday concerts and the occasional wedding. We are however, a superstitious bunch, and I have inherited/carry on most of these myths in my own life. Some out of habit, and I'll admit some with a shadowy fear of retribution from the forces that be. Most of the superstitions are classic old wives tale-garden variety. Things like: no hats on the bed, throw salt over your shoulder, never give anyone an empty purse/bag (always put a penny in it or they will be doomed to bad fortune), etc. Really, compared to some folks I know, I'd say ours are of the pretty secular, west coat variety (many east coasters I know have far more in their arsenal), but my mom has a few that may not quite count as superstitions per se, but that relate directly to the kitchen and their sway over me seems to be strong. More than one of them revolves around pastry, which, given that my mom makes a particularly lovely pastry is perhaps no surprise.
Of course, there's cold hands = warm heart/good pastry, one which my mom repeats anytime anyone congratulates her on her pastry (my mother, is a petite woman with horrible circulation, therefore very cold hands). This is, and always has been, such a common saying of my mothers that I remember as a little girl wondering if I would be gifted with the cold handed pastry skill or be doomed to a life of tough crusts and toasty fingers. The second she didn't really start to haul out until I started making my own pie crusts. I called her from my one bedroom apartment in the big city to complain that my quiche (using the family recipe) just hadn't had the flaky touch that hers does, despite my attempts to keep everything chilled etc. Rather than tell me that good flaky pastry takes practice she asked me if I was stressed out, or hurrying at the time I made it. For, she declared, if you try to rush a pastry or work out your problems through it, it will be tough. As though this was something everyone knew. Since then, I have taken every quiche, tart or pie shell that I have ever made as a measure of my mental health. (Whether or not this is a very good idea). To tough = too much stress. Too crumbly and difficult to work with = tried to hurry/wasn't being mindful of the process. Etc. And today, as I made a pumpkin pie for Miss P's birthday pie (at her special request), today I made what seems to be a perfect pie crust. Of course, I could be jumping the gun here, as it's not yet baked and filled, nor has it been consumed, but damn it came together easily. And it just lay in that pie plate like it was meant to be there. And, so, I did a quick check-in with my self. It's been a hard week -- to many late nights at work -- and frankly this summer has kind of been a bit lackluster at best/trying and exhausting at worst, but Fall is on its way, and for the first time I can remember I'm really looking forward to it. And, this weekend, which has been filled savoury foods, board games, good friends and plenty of birthday goodness feels like it may portent a more relaxing season ahead.
(As a total aside, I really can't say enough about the value of having small pie plates on hand. I
went on at length about these two years ago, as I searched for 6" pie plates, but really they're the best. As ours is a small family, I typically make a 9" pie and always seem to have plenty of pastry/filling left over. As a pie lover, throwing out that extra pastry always seemed like such a waste, a 6" pie plate is often small enough to house the leftover bits and filling and then you can throw it unbaked in the freezer to have instant mini-pie another day. And really, does life get better than instant mini-pie? I think not.)
, which I can definitely see in my future.
and includes lemon zest, fresh basil and chipotle pepper with the roasted veggies (actually stirred into the veggies after roasting) which I think is lovely. 
I have to admit that pan struck me as too gimicky when I first heard of it, but Megan's selling me on it pretty hard. I'm not sure I could do the non-stick coating though.
. How nutty is that? 
