Pie Cubed

Three little kittens, they lost their mittens,
And they began to cry,

Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear
That we have lost our mittens.

What! Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie.
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
You shall have no pie.

The three little kittens, they found their mittens,
And they began to cry,

Oh, mother dear, see here, see here,
Our mittens we have found.

Put on your mittens, you silly kittens,
And you shall have some pie.
Pie, Pie, Pie[1],
Oh, let us have some pie.

The three little kittens, put on their mittens,
And soon ate up the pie;

Oh, mother dear, we greatly fear
That we have soiled our mittens

What! Soiled your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then they began to sigh,
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
They began to sigh.

The three little kittens, they washed their mittens,
And hung them out to dry;

Oh! mother dear, do you not hear
That we have washed our mittens?

What! Washed your mittens, then you’re such good kittens.
But I smell a rat close by
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
We smell a rat close by.[2]

---

With inspirations from m²I

They say: "The secret is in the crust". So, rather than talk about how to make this pie or that pie, I decided that I would give you my secret to perfect pie crust. Makes two 9 inch crusts.

Perfect Pie Crust:

1 Stick of butter

6 T Vegetable shortening

2 ½ C Flower

3-6 T Cold water

1. Place the butter and shortening in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Add the flower.
3. Cut in the flower with the butter and shortening until well mixed.
   If you do not have a pastry cutter, use two butter knives cutting like you do when cutting up lettuce in a bowl.
4. With one hand, add the water about a tablespoon at a time.
5. With the other hand mix using a gentle squeezing motion.
   The secret here (shh… don't tell anybody) is to continue adding the water and mix until the dough feels like Play-dough.
6. Ball up the dough in the bowl and chill for 30 minutes in the refridgerator.
7. Cut in half and roll both halves for your favorite pie.

---

¹ Originally is "Purr-r, purr-r, purr-r"— but I changed it to be "Pie, Pie, Pie" because that is how I remembered hearing it.

² "Three Little Kittens" — first published in Eliza Follen's book:
New Nursery Songs for All Good Children in 1853.

Spooky Cycle: Tails and Tales

This week's Spin Cycle's theme is Halloween show and tell…

Last Saturday, my wife and I went to our church's Halloween party. Whenever we go, we tend to dress up. All week we were trying to figure out what we would wear because we typically throw something together at the last minute and we didn't want that to happen again. I was considering making a dog mask out of a headband and gluing a pair of ears on the sides, but on Saturday while shopping, I saw a pre-made dog mask and bought it to wear:

My wife dressed up as Mary Poppins:

Monday was Halloween and we went over to my step-son's to go trick-or-treating in his neighborhood, then afterwords have scary foods to eat. One of the more requested dishes was the Octopus Hot Dogs:

My wife bought a Frankenstein cake from work:

This past week I was checking my blog statistics (because I wonder who all is reading) and I discovered that my post on Finger Bread sticks got a lot of hits. I checked my page to see if it actually had a picture, and it did not. Here's what they wind up looking like:

---