“And this is me kissing the Blarney Stone”, says Carrie, my seventeen-year-old daughter. She turns the pages of her new photo album, recounting her recent ten-day1 abroad, and my mind wanders back…way back to when she was only five.

    “Someday I'm going to Ireland”, she said, holding her Childcraft book in her lap. Her blue eyes 2 as she looked at the beautiful pictures. “Well, maybe you can!” I said. However, it was3 for our family to pay for the luxury of traveling. I was working as a secretary. My husband Charlie had to close his 4 last year due to his poor health…

    Ten years later, Carrie came home from school one day, hardly able to contain her5“Mama, you'll never 6where the class is going. To Ireland!” she smiled 7“You're kidding!” I said. “Ireland! Where you've always wanted to go!”

    “The trip is 8 for year after next, and the $2,100 can be paid in installments (分期付款).” Then she added, “But that's too much… isn't it?” Her voice was9 yet doubting. “Well,” I said slowly, “Daddy and I can't help much10 you have two years to earn the money.” “You think so?” Carrie's face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Well,” I11 “maybe you could use your father's bakery and sell baked goods.” Sell baked goods? We12 at each other. Carrie was an excellent 13! This would work!

    So the plan was14 Carrie began working, making a variety of baked goods. She used dried apples, cooked, seasoned and spiced to perfection. Soon, however, fried apple-pies became the customer favorite. All ingredients were 15—real shortening (起酥油), real butter—and the crust (皮) was handmade and hand-rolled. Finally the pies were fried to a beautiful, golden brown! The finished product was an extremely pleasant treat, winning16from even the little old ladies in these hills who have been making dried-apple pies for decades17 began rolling in, and the Ireland fund grew, and well 18 the given time the trip abroad was paid in full…

    Now I'm looking at her album as she proudly points out the19 she visited: castles of Ireland, historic bridges and churches, cobblestone (鹅卵石) streets of Dublin… so much like those in her Childcraft book. My daughter will forever remember this dream come true, a dream that began in the heart of a five-year-old girl and was completely made 20 by the delicious apple pie!