I have no clues as to what is going on with most of our young'uns, but der Brucer is still in contact with Jenny. And I know Noel is in contact with her, as well.
As for pies, we have lots of equipment for pie-making at the store. We have pie tins. We have tart tins. We have weights, which help with blind-baking a pie shell. (Blind baking is when you pre-cook the pie shell in the pan before adding the filling. It's easy enough to fill the shell with rice or beans, but we have specially made ceramic weights that do the same thing. The idea is to keep the pie crust from expanding too much and flaking away.) We also have shields that can help keep the edge of the crust from burning, handy to have around.
And a gizmo that I didn't know existed, but some of our customers swear by it, is a circular plastic envelope that is sealed with a zipper. After lightly flouring the inside of the envelope, the cook puts the dough inside the envelope, seals it, and then rolls the dough out to the edges of the envelope. A perfectly sized pie crust every time!
Me, I don't see myself needing that sort of gadget for some time. I'd rather roll the dough out on a flat surface, and then cut the crust to size after I've put it in the pie pan, the way my mother used to do it. She'd lift the pan up, and cut the dough away from the pan with a sharp knife. Then, pretty blue birds would come and whisk the excess dough away, just like in the cartoons!
What, you thought they made that stuff up?
