LARNED — The 47th Annual Antique Show was held in Larned recently.
The Pawnee Valley Community Hospital Auxiliary provides the pies one day of the sale. The service provides the Auxiliary with $10 per pie as well as giving this organization and others who contribute a part in a good promotion.
Everyone wins.
I volunteered the previous year to make lemon meringue pies. I had not made this kind of pie in years, but after much guesswork, many dirty pans, and a totally decimated kitchen, I did it!
I thought, “There. Now I know how to make Lemon Meringue Pie.”
So, this year, did I volunteer to make that kind of pie again?
Are you kidding?
No, I volunteered to make two Sour Cream Raisin Pies. I have never made this kind of pie before, but I thought, “How hard can that be?”
Smug of me, wasn’t it?
I thought that it would take a few hours on Saturday evening to put together my pies, and never suspected that after four hours, I would be still at it!
Myrtle gave me the recipe, and I put it in a safe place. Carrying it around in my purse would spell disaster, so I took it out of my wallet and put it somewhere.
When it came time to get things bought and ready, I began to look for the recipe card. I looked. And I looked. But I never did find it.
I then searched the internet and retrieved another recipe on Pinterest.
Off I scooted to the grocery store and bought the ingredients. I figured that counting all the ingredients, that the pies would cost me about $10 apiece.
Yes, I know I am overestimating a bit, but you see, I was buying a full dozen eggs when I needed only 6, and so on. Of course, I didn’t count the flour, the corn starch, the sugar, and the vanilla that I also had, so the cost probably was $10 per pie after all.
Oh well.
Finally, the night before, I began my project.
The first phase went well. The mixture of the eggs, sugar, raisins, sour cream, etc was supposed to boil to thicken. And the recipe called for a bowl of ingredients to be immersed partly in boiling water so that it wouldn’t scorch.
Not a good idea!
Two hours later, I was still trying to get the mixture to thicken. I decided to google a question. “What does the recipe mean when it says to cook pie ingredients until it thickens?
How thick? REAL thick, partly thick, or just a little runny?
After wasting all that time, I dumped it in a regular pan and stirred. The mixture thickened in five minutes instead of two hours.
By now, the mixture had boiled down to ONE pie. I tried to spread it into two shells, but to no avail, so I made one big pie. It looked like a giant cow pie.
Next, I started on the meringue. Meringues have always been a mystery to me. Myrtle had told me the egg whites needed to be room temperature. I did as I was told.
I mixed everything in order, and began to run the electric mixer.
But, it didn’t thicken. I mixed and mixed. I tipped the bowl. I re-read the instructions. By now, Fred had gone to bed. He certainly couldn’t sleep through all of this.
By then I hated the dang meringue!
Dang meringue! Dang meringue!
Everything in me wanted to keep trying, but I know when I am beat. The meringue mixture wouldn’t form peaks. It had won.
It looked like a milk shake. I dumped it down the sink.
Smartest thing I had done all evening!
Finally, I headed for the grocery store and buy some whipped topping for the pie.
But, the grocery store was closed. Fred was in bed, the kitchen was demolished, and I looked like I had been through a blizzard.
I finally got to the grocery store at 6:15 the next morning. I put another pie together, and with flour covering my hair and face, and sticky pudding on my shirt, I delivered the pies to the show. They were masterpieces!
I figured that the pies cost me $37.36 — just in case you are wondering.

“A Woman’s View” is Judi Tabler’s reflection of her experiences and events. She is a wife, mother, writer, teacher, grandmother, and even a great grandmother. Contact Annie at pprarieannie@gmailcom