Personally, I am very careful when it comes to the crust. Oh, I eat the crust. I'm not one of those wasteful people who disdainfully lop it off and leave it sitting on the edge of the plate like a pile of chicken bones, good for nothing except as an offering for the garbage can. But there's a time and place for crust, and it has to be handled deftly.
Sometimes I wonder about crust. It almost seems like it is one of those things you could do without. Crust, by itself, isn't very appealing. Couldn't you just cook the pumpkin filling in a big bowl and then scoop out what you want and forget about the crust? I think I remember my mother making pumpkin pie and having extra filling which she would pour into a mini pie pan without benefit of crust, and it tasted just like the real thing.
Crust does come in handy though, especially on Thanksgiving night, when you take a break from the football game, and you pass through the kitchen and see the remains of the pumpkin pie sitting there. As long as you're passing by, you might as well slice off a sliver of the pie, grab it by the crust, balance it on your hand and guide it into your mouth -- and it will all be gone by the time you get back to the living room and no one will ever know, unless they smell your pumpkin breath!
But here's my usual method for pumpkin pie disposal. (I'm starting to feel like Martha Stewart!) First, slice off the point, stab it, and slide it into your mouth. Next, slice off the second row, cut it in half and slide those two pieces in. The third row usually divides nicely into three mouthfulls for the slice, stab and slide routine. That normally leaves just the fourth row and the crust. I like to tip the pie on its back at this point so that I can sever the crust with just a little bit of pumpkin with it, leaving the main part of the fourth row to be divided into fourths and dispatched to tummyland.
There are two things you never want to do. First, you never want to eat the crust by itself, without some pumpkin attached. Second, you never want to eat the crust last. Always save at least one full crustless piece for your last bite.
I suppose I shouldn't be so hard on crust. I guess you can't have pie without it. It does hold the pie together. It does provide a certain crunch and texture. It does provide variety in the pie eating endeavor. It does let you know you're getting to the end. And I guess it doesn't taste really BAD. Martha says she even likes plain crust, especially if she can sprinkle brown sugar on it.
There is a lot of "crust" in life,too, a lot of things that seem dull, tasteless, dry and not needed. There's a lot of life that is routine and not very exciting. It's not all pumpkin pie filling. There's a lot of crust. Washing dishes, brushing teeth, vacuuming the rug, taking the trash out, laundry, changing your car's oil, doing taxes: in my book, it's all crust. But maybe some of these things are what hold life together too. Maybe we need a contrast between what is flashy and juicy and the more ordinary things of life. You can do a lot of thinking and reflecting while your brushing your teeth, I have found. This thanksgiving, give thanks for the crust. It's all part of God's generous gift to us.
