Quarantine Edition: Phyllo Pumpkin Pie

The last few weeks. I cannot even.  My mind is blown by how much love and (virtual) community I’ve witnessed as well as worry about the health of our most vulnerable populations and our economy as so many lose jobs and don’t have enough savings to weather the storm.  I am also flooded with gratitude that we have the means and ability to keep moving forward and to shelter our children from some of the most devastating aspects of this global crisis, even as my heart breaks for them that they are missing so many simply pleasures of childhood like going to school, the playground, and exchanging germs with friends! Ugh. Tough people. Tough. But we will get through this and it will have lasting effects on all of us. I believe that most of those will be positive. A course correction for the too-busy lives we lead, too connected with our virtual selves and not connected enough to the people we care about with our actual, in-person selves. Believe me, I’m not throwing stones here. One of the immediate realizations I’ve come to as a result of this quarantine is that MY status quo is rushing through breakfast and getting ready for school so that I can be at work and rushing through dinner and the evening so that I can go to bed (and/or do more work). This can’t be me living my best life can it? I’ve realized in the last couple of weeks that I’ve become so used to it that I don’t really think about it anymore...until now. Mind you, working from home and attempting to “homeschool” the kids simultaneously is no walk in the park, but just being home and present with them more is a huge change for me (even though right now, it means working really early in the morning and late into the night). It really makes a person think doesn’t it? Fortunately, I haven’t had much time to think between work, the MILLIONS of dishes I’m doing, snacks I’m preparing, tantrums I’m triaging and the lack of sleep but still...eventually when we come out of this fog and things “get back to normal” perhaps normal will look different and that “different” will be better. 

Until then, there’s pie. Yes. I’ve been cooking. LOTS. Every meal, every snack, every day for six people and we’ve been eating pretty well - another thing I appreciate - being home to start dinner whenever I please. But I keep forgetting to document our dinners.  I’m glad I didn’t forget to document this beautiful pie. The kids are obsessed with making pie so we decided not to relegate pumpkin pie to Thanksgiving only and made one today, in March! It was truly delicious and SO easy to make. Making the crust with phyllo, something I’ve done before with fish pie, was a great idea and gave the kids an additional task - painting the phyllo sheets with butter and sprinkling them with spiced sugar.

Ironically, these days, I’m loving recipes with lots of separate tasks, like, crack the eggs, mix the filling, brush the phyllo sheets with butter, sprinkle the phyllo with spiced sugar - so every child has some way to contribute.  I used “cake spice” from the Spice House instead of the five-spice called for in the recipe, but pumpkin pie spice would work just fine if your crowd isn’t down with the more exotic (adult?) flavor of five-spice. Otherwise I followed the recipe, which can be found here, verbatim with excellent results. Pie is dangerous. I ate so much I wasn’t hungry for dinner. Emmett wants to make a lemon pie tomorrow. He thinks pie every day is a good idea. I’m not so sure. 

Scenes from a walk.

What I am sure of is that this global pandemic situation is temporary and we will get through it. Together. Even if together is “virtually” for a while. Small businesses are being hit particularly hard by this pandemic and the closures that have been mandated as a result. Our family (Paddy) has weathered over 40 years of highs and lows in the retail environment and we are as committed to our customers as ever. We cannot wait to see all of your faces again as soon as it is safe to do so. In the meantime, please shop on this site and contact us if there is anything specific you are looking for or if there is anything we can do to help you get through this.  We may be able to arrange for delivery. THANK YOU so much for reading. We appreciate your loyalty during this tough time! 

Eating pie outside. Still allowed!