# 237: M is for the Most-est
The ingredient that comes from the heart plus a recipe for Apricot Tart for Father's Day.
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It’s not hard to make a fresh fruit pie. The basic ingredients are flour, salt, fat, fruit, and sugar, but the ingredient with the most-est is the one that comes from your heart and hands. Today, I share with you one way to add some love, plus a tender memory for Father’s Day, and recipe for an Apricot Almond Tart.
Love: The Ingredient with the Mostest
Small acts—so precious and beautiful. A simple gesture can change another’s day…and perhaps even a life. We will never really know how far words and actions ripple out from us but, if the fluttering wings of a butterfly might cause a hurricane, I believe that positive intentions and words may change lives, too.
Finding beauty and meaning in simple everyday acts like baking, gardening, and walking is something I’ve done for decades. I have often thought that there should be a Church of the Blue Dome—the dome being the sky above—and that we all are members. It has only one tenet—Live in a way that harms none and perhaps brings a little happiness and beauty to the world. I try to practice this at my kitchen counter by putting intention and love into my baking and cooking. I have no idea if there is a scientific test that can quantify the ingredient of love but I do feel a different sort of nourishment when I eat something that has been made with it.
Live in a way that harms none and perhaps brings a little happiness and beauty to the world.
When making a pie dough, I put flour, salt, and fat in the bowl but before I combine them with my hands, I add one more ingredient, the most important one of all—Love.
As I make dough, I think of those who may be alone, having a rough time at their jobs, in relationships, or facing medical challenges, and also of those who are embarking on new and joyous journeys of travel, partnership and perhaps parenthood. I invite pie makers in my workshops to share an intention either out loud or in silence, too. Then, when ready, hands go into bowls and we begin.
Waiting for Pie
Jill, Bobbi and Kay came to a class on a night the patriarch of their family was in hospice. He was barely hanging on, they told me, but they chose to come anyway.
“He’s already left us.”
“It’s so stressful waiting”.
Their hearts were heavy but, as the hours passed, they filled the work-bowls with memories of him. Stories were told, tears turned to laughter and, although there was sorrow, there was also joy. At the end of the our time together they had created three beautiful pies filled with love.
After they left, I tidied up, took off my apron and headed for the ferry and the long drive home. Before the boat docked, I received an email that I will always remember.
“When we got home and walked in the door, my husband was on the phone with hospice…Dad had passed five minutes earlier. I think he was waiting for the pie.”
Recipe: Apricot Almond Tart
Apricot season is short and sweet so make this Apricot Almond Tart while you can!
