The Apple Pie That Fixes Everything

The Apple Pie that Fixes

Everything Brooke Dalgleish

“Apple pie is like duct tape, it fixes everything” – anonymous

Thanks to the pandemic, all of us might have picked up some new skills and/ or hobbies we have never tried. My pandemic new hobby was baking!

I have always been a pie fan. I favor some more than others but I’m willing to try every pie at least once. My favorite has always been pumpkin pie but a close second and third is apple and peach pie, respectively. Back home in America, at least one family member of mine would bake a pie for every holiday we celebrated together. I would always help but I never really took on the responsibility of a whole pie on my own.

I never knew where to even start. The crust or the filling? I don’t know! To be completely honest, I really don’t care for being in the kitchen. I’ve always had an “Eat to live, not live to eat” outlook in life, however, if the pandemic has taught me anything, it’s to slow down and enjoy the small things in life… like baking pies!

I’ve been in Japan for a total of three years and for the first two and a half years I didn’t have an oven. My school owns most things in my apartment like my microwave so when that stopped working earlier this year, my school said they would replace it with a new one, of course within their budget. I wasn’t expecting much so I was pleasantly surprised when I received a microwave oven. This gave me a new freedom of cooking and baking anything I wanted to make! Again, I’m not much of a cook but I do have a serious sweet tooth so I was mainly focused on baking. At the same time, I was really missing home this year. Like many of you, I haven’t been able to go home at all during my time on JET, so I really wanted to bake things that were nostalgic. I started off simple and made cookies and brownies and slowly made my way up to pies.

I live in Kazuno City which is a small town that has more apple and peach trees than it does people. Every year, people from all

over town give me a number of apples and peaches and I normally can’t keep up with eating them all. This time around, I knew exactly what to do! Bake a pie!

Baking in Japan is a bit difficult with their lack of supplies in the baking “aisle” and especially difficult in a small town. However, I was able to find a simple recipe from back home and found “pie sheets” for the crust and called it a day! I started with peach pie and it was delicious, but I do have to say my apple pie turned out the best. I had a Halloween party with a group of friends and decided to bring an apple pie in the shape of a pumpkin as dessert. Since pumpkins are scarce around here, I couldn’t make a pumpkin pie and I didn’t get the chance to carve a pumpkin. That being said, carving faces into the pumpkin-shaped apple pies was oddly satisfying. They turned out very cute and very yummy. I’m not saying I could make a career out of this and I would never want to, but I will say baking gave me a newfound confidence of something I never knew I could really do. On the other hand, It has become a calming ritual for me, an activity I can do when I miss home and feel anxious. This is something I learned during the pandemic. I will share my recipe with you all but of course you can always ask google sensei for help. I think I will try another pie for the holidays, possibly rhubarb or maybe I’ll go crazy and try a chocolate pie! All in all, we probably have all picked up a new hobby or activity during the pandemic whether it’s to kill time, connect with family from afar, or to relieve built up anxiety. I found baking does all of that for me and if something does that for you, share it with us in the Winter edition of the Akitan!

65 Ho-oh-zan, Jody Frye