Pie Practice

On Saturday I purchased Good Housekeeping's Party Pie Book, circa 1958, in a collection of cookbooks from the Sparc Sugar and Spice Chilli Dinner. I had a discussion with the lady working with me at the dessert table about our first attempts at pie making. Hers was a dinner for her mother-in-law, supposedly a Queen of pie making. And it was a disaster. Mine was for Thanksgiving. I had some crust issues and still haven't gotten over that. She said now her son thinks she makes the best pies and wouldn't even touch the one she made with a store-bought crust. What did I learn? It's all in the crust and I need more practice! I hope my family and friends like pie, because I think I'm going to try each recipe (except possibly mincemeat) from my fancy new cookbook. I would hope that might be enough practice to get it right.