An apple pie is not a pancake,
Don’t flip it in the air.
For when it lands, a mess doth make,
T’will leave you in despair.

I purchased an apple pie from the local store one Friday night to celebrate something that had happened; I can’t remember what we were celebrating, but an apple pie with cream always seems to fit the bill for a celebration. Once I had followed the instructions on the box and it was piping hot and ready to eat, for some unexplained and not pre-planned reason, I thought I’d flip it like a pancake out of its tin foil plate and catch it beautifully on the serving dish. 

In the ideal conceptualisation of this obvious hare brained scheme (hindsight is a beautiful thing they say), post-flip the apple pie would be all ready to eat. Beautifully centred on the serving dish. The cinnamon smell wafting through the kitchen and dining room to encourage participation in the celebration. Dessert bowls and spoons set out for easy access. The bottle of cream all whipped and standing by ready to serve in great dollops. 

What could possibly go wrong?

A lot, it would seem. While it didn’t affect the taste quality of the said apple pie, its hard landing and immediate splattering across the serving dish and bench very much affected its visual presentation. This would definitely not pass a cooking show competition, not the least being that it was purchased rather than lovingly hand constructed under time pressure and the watching cameras of the TV crew. But even that aside, the presentation would get zero out of ten.

But some things in life have to be tried, even if only once. Despite its poor visual presentation, after the celebration was done, I’m happy to report that zero apple pie remained. Which, when you think about it, is basically a 10 out of 10.