| Pie mold. No, it's not the fuzzy stuff you find a week | | | | pattern, and the Minute Pie Mold Company was born. |
| after Aunt Loretta sends you home with left-overs. | | | | As it turns out, he was right about the aluminum. The |
| Campers know what I'm talking about. Pie molds | | | | Minute Pie Mold outperformed the old cast-iron model |
| were all the rage in the Seventies--and they're still | | | | in every way, and sales climbed as campers started |
| popular today. One of my favorite childhood | | | | using them.Upon hearing his story, I called my |
| memories is sitting around the campfire as a kid, | | | | parents, eager to see if the pie mold of my memory |
| feeling the warmth on my face, watching the flames | | | | was a Minute Pie Mold. How cool would that be?Well, |
| dance, listening to the hiss and pop of burning wood, | | | | I'm sorry to say my parents couldn't remember. It |
| and smelling the acrid aroma that will linger in your | | | | seems their divorce had put a damper on camping |
| clothes until their next washing. In this memory, I'm | | | | memories, and since a drop-down-drag-out custody |
| holding the wooden grips of a pie mold, keeping its | | | | battle over gear wasn't in the cards, that old pie mold |
| cooking surface just above the hot coals on the fire's | | | | was lost to the ages. But to this day, I firmly believe |
| edge.The Pie Mold was our campfire cooker, and a | | | | it was a Minute Pie Mold. Don't try to convince me |
| slick one at that. On the business end, two metal | | | | otherwise.So what's my point? Well, I'm not after |
| plates came together, sandwiching a creation of | | | | free advertising for the Minute Pie Mold Company |
| bread and toppings. Stick it in the fire a minute or | | | | (although I'm sure you'd put a smile on an old man's |
| two, pull it out, open it up, and wah-lah: You had a | | | | face if you surf over to and take a peek at what I'm |
| golden-brown pie filled with pizza fixings or cherry | | | | talking about) and I'm not trying to convince you that |
| sauce or bacon and eggs or whatever else got your | | | | providence led me from an old campfire cooker to its |
| stomach growling and your mouth watering. It may | | | | creator's daughter.What it does boil down to is this: |
| not have been the healthiest of meals, but | | | | Memories. If I hadn't married the daughter of a pie |
| remember this is camping we're talking about. Save | | | | mold maker, I might have forgetten those campfire |
| your salads and yogurt for home. When you're out in | | | | memories altogether. But I did marry the daughter of |
| the woods, you gotta live a little.There was a time I | | | | a pie mold maker. I do remember the campfire |
| had forgotten this memory. High School and College | | | | memories, and I did something about them. We have |
| have a tendency to erase some of your past, and | | | | a campfire ring in the backyard and a whole set of |
| for me the pie mold became a victim of that fate. I | | | | Minute Pie Molds thanks to a generous family |
| met a girl. We graduated from College, married, | | | | discount. Most important of all, the kids whoop and |
| started a family--you know the drill. At some point in | | | | holler when we light a fire and break out the molds. |
| this process, I discovered something amazing: My | | | | They love pie mold nights. They're forming their own |
| wife's father makes pie molds. I'm not kidding. Talk | | | | campfire memories, ones they will someday share |
| about an uncanny way of reviving a childhood | | | | with their children.What childhood memories have you |
| memory. Soon after I made this discovery, he told | | | | forgotten? Don't answer now. You can't. Afterall, |
| me the story.Back in 1962, pie molds were around, | | | | they're forgotten. But if you slow down and pay |
| but they were made of cast iron. The iron took | | | | attention, something will come back to you. And |
| forever to reach cooking temperature and it | | | | when it does, don't ignore it. Let it come back. Hold |
| distributed heat unevenly. So instead of a | | | | on to it. Remember it. Then take the time to share it |
| golden-brown pie, you ended up with burnt crust and | | | | with your children.Copyright 2006 Mike Patrick Jr, |
| a lukewarm center. He had the idea that heavy-duty | | | | MDMike Patrick Jr, MD is an American pediatrician. He |
| aluminum would work better. It would heat quickly, it | | | | also authors Pediascribe, a weekly column exploring |
| would heat evenly, and it was light weight to boot. | | | | the issues most important to parents and their |
| Not being a man to sit on the sidelines while another | | | | children. |
| takes action, he called a foundry, invested in a | | | | |