i love pie

canon digital rebel xsi

I am started to get excited about making Thanksgiving Day pie. We were watching Martha's pie show on the Tivo, and definitely inspired by the amazing pies.

It reminded me that I need to join the American Pie Council. I had planned on doing it over the summer, but didn't want to spend the $40 for a lifetime membership. But I figure if it keeps me dedicated to the art of pie making, why not? Did you even know that such an organization existed? Also, mark your calendars now - National Pie Day is January 23.

Today I also watched a live online pie crust demonstration by one of the bakers over at King Arthur Flour. Although I have made several pies from scratch now, I still have a few trouble spots. This woman was great! She went step-by-step on how to make a pie crust, and the pitfalls to avoid. Here are a few things I learned:

• When adding the water, do so a few tablespoons at a time, using a measuring cup designed for liquid measuring. It is very hard to get excess water out of a pie crust, so best to go slowly, and watch it.


• There is no magic formula to how much water a crust will need to take shape. It depends on the water in the air and in your flour as a result. At different times of the year, you may need significantly more or less liquid to get your dough to form a ball.


• When rolling out the dough, roll in one direction only. This will help keep the dough circular. [I think this may be my issue.]


• Also, when rolling dough, flip it from time to time. This will ensure that your dough isn't sticking to your work surface. If it does, lift your dough with a scraper, add some more flour to your work area, and continue rolling.


• Make sure you dough is rolled out enough so that you have an inch all around your pie plate. Hold your pie plate over your dough to figure this out - no ruler necessary.


• To get your dough to the pie plate without tearing, fold the dough in half twice. This will give you a quarter pie shape. Center the point of the dough, with the center of the plate, and carefully unfold. [This one I must try!]


• To prevent a pie that is gooey white on the bottom, roll out your top crust before adding the filling to the pie.

Even before I learned of the pumpkin shortage, I wasn't planning on making pumpkin pie this holiday. It truly isn't my favorite. I like it, but not enough to eat an entire pie, which is probably what would happen. I do really think that pumpkin is America's Marmite. I think that like Marmite, if you weren't raised on it, you just don't acquire a taste. We are having Germans to dinner. I suspect they would react to pumpkin the same way the French interns did that one year in San Francisco.

I am making an apple pie along with a chocolate pecan pie. We call the latter one brownie pie. I bet a certain little pilgrim cow might come join us for a slice.

on the night stand :: Pie by Ken Haedrich.

some randomness

Tonight I am baking a pumpkin pie completely from scratch. I roasted the pumpkin and pureed it. I also make the crust.

Today we went to Claremont so B could got his shaggy hair cut. He told the woman who cut his hair that he was going on a job interview. Apparently he always says this to a new hairdresser (or one he hasn't seen in a while). I was a bit surprised when she said, "Good luck - hope you get the job!"

When we walked outside, I asked B if he had something to tell me. Had he been pretending to the office in the morning, but instead going to his coworker's house to play Guitar Hero? He explained his little trick to get a better hair cut.

On the way back we stopped at Fresh & Easy. One of the things I love is that if you spend $20, you can get a coupon for $5 off your purchase. They also will let you try any product in the store.

B found frozen shu mei. He wasn't sure about them, since they didn't have pork, then remembered what he had heard. So he walked over to the samples area, and asked if he could try them. With a smile, the woman said sure. He just needed to stick around for a bit while she heated them in the microwave.

They weren't bad, but not what he was expecting. We ended up not getting them. To be fair, we had just have what had have been called the best dumplings in the San Gabriel Valley last night, so I am not sure what would have lived up to that.

We had been back at the house for a bit when we had two different people come to the door almost back to back. It was like one was waiting in the bushes until the left. The first wanted to clean the carpets at no charge. I sent him away. The second was collecting for this charity that feeds the hungry by painting house numbers on curbs. B gave her a check for the average donation - $13.

Okay pie is ready.

on the night stand :: This I Believe IIou

my lattice needs work

I made my first ever cherry pie from scratch! Started with two pounds of bing cherries and pitted those puppies by hand. I used a pitter, but the kind that only does one cherry at a time.

When we bought the pitter at Sur La Table, the guy working there tried to upsell us the one that can handle multiple cherries at a time. You just turn a handle and presto - all your cherries are pitted in a matter of seconds! It was triple the price, so we went with the hand held model by OXO. I wasn't sure I could actually commit to cherry pie. We were just working on ice cream that day.

Once the cherries are pitted and halved, the rest of the process is pretty easy. You add a half a cup of sugar, two tablespoons of cornstarch, and the juice of a lemon to the cherries. Put that in a chilled pie crust and then do a little lattice work....

Oh wait, did I say easy? Okay, maybe not easy easy, but nothing that a bit of practice wouldn't make perfect. I think part of my problem is that I don't have a truly flat surface. The counters are all tiled. I also know that I overworked the dough a bit. Oops.

The end product was still very tasty. We served it with homemade coffee ice cream that B made from his own recipe. I would definitely do it again.

Honestly, the hardest part was probably waiting the three hours for the pie to cool. I think next time I would plan on leaving the house so it wouldn't be so tempting. Now I know why in those old movies the women always got so upset when some jerk came by and stole a pie off their windowsill.

on the night stand :: I Was Told There Would Be Cake

a trip to the farmer's market

We have been making an effort to visit the farmer's market on Saturday. It gets me out of bed and we get some great produce.

It is strawberry season, and there are few things sweeter than a California strawberry that was just picked that morning. We got four baskets for ten bucks. I made three jars of jam and these amazing strawberry coconut almond muffins. You can get the recipe from NPR.

We were running a bit late this Saturday, but in addition the strawberries also got some broccoli, green onions, and basil. We even made it to the luggage shop before they closed so B could drop off his backpack strap to be fixed.

There were a couple of vendors that had blueberry bushes. I think it would be cool to pick your blueberries, but I don't know how they would do in the heat of the San Gabriel Valley.

I have a feeling if we arrived earlier, we would get even better stuff. I know we missed out on the blueberries. There are a couple of bakeries that show up, but by the time we arrive, their tables look very well picked over.

We have visited three different markets in the area, plus a farm stand. One in Irvine, one in Pasadena, and another in Diamond Bar. Irvine is the largest, but also the farthest away. Diamond Bar is the smallest of the three.

Hopefully we will keep it up and start getting to know the vendors better. We have tried several varieties of strawberries, and definitely can taste a difference. I am hoping for cherries this weekend. I will make a cherry pie and serve it with coffee ice cream.


on the night stand :: Things I Learned About My Dad

pushing pies

It's kind of ironic that after somehow getting my hands on a copy of the pilot of Pushing Daisies before it aired, the Tivo didn't record the second episode or the third while we were in the Bay Area. So now we are behind in our viewing.

Last night we started to catch up. All I can say is that I really really wanted pie (with a glass of milk). I also wanted to know where they got those peaches.

But it was after midnight by then, and even in Los Angeles County it would take some doing to produce a really delicious pie at that hour. Polly's and Marie Calendars are both closed. The Apple Pan might still be open, but that's a good 40 minute drive from where we are, even without traffic. There are some 24 hour grocery stores, but I suspect that what would be found at the hour would be extremely disappointing.

I fear that I may have to start baking pies. Thanksgiving is coming up. But even with that, it is rare that I crave pie. I crave chocolate and I crave cake, especially chocolate cake. Last night I would have been happy with a slice of cherry pie.

Speaking of which, the DVD set of Twin Peaks recently arrived on our doorstep. I don't remember much about the series beyond the Log Lady and coffee and cherry pie (oh and who killed Laura Palmer). This doesn't sound like things are going to bode well for my waistline.

on the night stand :: Killer Pies