Blackberry Pies

26 September 2011Cherrie K

Back in early September before the Saturday night Welcome Back Dance, Rogers House hosted a brilliant barbeque for their Hope House sisters. Copious burgers and chips were consumed, and in effort to reciprocate, it was quickly decided that we, the Hope Girls, would make pies the next day – from scratch – as a surprise for our Rogers pirates.

The pie-making process is outrageously finicky. Any kind of cooking is as much a science as it is an art – this much was apparent as I wandered into the kitchen to find my Hopelings frantically kneading dough and crushing blackberries.

According to the calendar, the year has officially begun – but there are always those spontaneous incidents that mark beginnings better than a date on a calendar: they are the stories that will be retold as “the moment where it all began”.

I could tell you exactly how our beloved blackberry pie slipped off the rock and subsequently exploded in the oven; and I could describe how the blackberry mush oozed into a puddle on the oven door; and I could reenact how our hysterical screams turned into hysterical laughter as we scooped the purple mush of juice and spoiled pastry into a bowl and passed it around as a taste tester (“Well, we might as well eat it now that it’s exploded…”) — but I won’t.

Rogers House throws brilliant barbeques; Hopelings throw brilliant pies. Fortunately, it all worked out in the end: a swift rescue operation was executed moments after the explosion, and we managed to salvage some pies from the carnage, and the pirates received our surprise after their first Numero Uno Inspection on Sunday night. (But fair warning: this spontaneous burst of kindness doesn’t mean we’ll be gearing back on our competitive edge in Inter-House events — the Hopelings will always bleed blue!).

In the same way as Harry, Ron, and Hermione became friends after knocking out a troll together, it’s hard not to be friends once you’ve exploded a pie together. We surreptitiously scrubbed the oven to a spotless gleam before nightfall— and we had a great time doing it too. It’s boarding school life.

There is a profoundly educational lesson in here somewhere, I’m sure — but somehow, in between the laughter, I cannot seem to find it. Suffice it to say that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray…and when they do, remember to laugh. Forget the bonding activities, the stilted getting-to-know-you chit chat: just go make some pies, and see what happens.

Where Students Choose To Be