Friday 13th? Well, not yesterday. In the sense that everything seemed to go just right. We can always find small irritations throughout the course of any day, but yesterday seemed like quite a nice day. Perhaps for some it wasn't, but nothing to particularly set that day apart for nasty events. Jack and Jill behaved perfectly, for the most part.

In the morning I took a deep middling-sized pot, poured in 2/3 cup of granulated sugar, sprinkled two large tablespoons of cornstarch over, mixed that with about 1/4 cup of cranberry juice. Then I took five large Empire apples, crisp and juicy, and washed them but didn't peel them, and cut them into chunks into the pot. Then I set the pot on the kitchen stove to slowly stir occasionally until the apples were partly cooked and the sugar/cranberry juice combination created a nice glaze over the apples. Turning the heat off under the pot I dropped two tablespoons of butter over it all, to melt as the apples cooled.

And then we had our breakfast leaving ample time for the pie filling to cool. After cleaning up from breakfast I prepared the pie crust, with all-purpose flour, pinch of salt, Crisco shortening, lemon juice and cold water, taking care not to add more water than required for a resulting dough on the dry side still amenably pliable, and given to rolling out for a top and bottom pie crust.

I sprinkled cinnamon and cloves, and instead of raisins, sprinkled dried cranberries into the apples instead. The resulting pie was perfect; the interior sweet enough but not too sweet, the apples chunky but well cooked, the complementary spices and cranberry a perfect companion for the apples, and the crust flaky and light. My husband had Oka cheese alongside his serving of pie for dessert.

Using my favourite pie dish, one that our youngest son made for us many years ago, pies bake to a perfect consistency.