As American as...

Week 2 = check.
Cherry Pie = check.

This time = GGGGGGOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!


I know, I know, I'm supposed to be making either pies I've never done before or pies that are really out there. So, 'how has a pie maker never made a cherry pie before?' To answer you, I have made a cherry pie before. The difference, this time, is that I used sour cherries, instead of sweet ones. (Sorry, my Michigan friends.)

I've made a few pies with sweet cherries in the past: there was Sweet Cherry Pie with a Coconut Almond Crumb topping and I vaguely remember making a Blueberry Sweet Cherry Pie. Both were delicious, however none of them lived up to the cherry pies I remember my Grandmother making. The taste just wasn't there. They weren't at all sour.

Sweet cherry pies are easy-peasy. The cherries are bigger, so you don't need to seed as many. But, those teeny tiny sour cherries... They are bitter little buggers. I seeded over 225 of them; All for one pie! Also, on their own -not so tasty. But, man, add in some sugar and some lemon... As Mr. Campbell would say, it's mmm...mmm...good.

So I think this is one pie I will keep in my repertoire. And ya know what, I think my Grandma would be proud.

The Summer Pie Challenge♠

Lately, I've been lazy. No, not the 'store-bought pie crust' type of lazy. The 'throw on a pair of pants with a top and head to work' type of lazy. The 'come home from work and move to the couch' type of lazy. The type of lazy that doesn't make me feel good.

Something smacked me like brick wall and I realized the err of my ways. Thus deciding to change.

First, I gave up pants. I know, that sounds weird, but I did. I'm no longer wearing pants. You might think I'm just trying to emulate Lady Gaga, but, actually, I'm taking more of the Scarlet O'Hara approach. Skirts and dresses. Dresses and skirts.

And my garden! I weeded half of it today. It took me over an hour and a half. See, I told you I had been lazy. Crabgrass, dandelion, those incredibly annoying helicopter seeds let off by maple trees the world over. Do you realize how fast those turn into actual trees? It looks so nice now. And clean. Now I just need to get top soil so they don't come back so easily...

Then there were pies... I hadn't made any sort of pie in months, or at least what had felt like months. So I decided to try something to get me going on them. I grabbed my recipe books, and a bunch of those green topped page savers and I went to town. When I was done, the plan was set:

The 1st ever Summer Pie Challenge
*16 weeks
*16 pies
*16 posts

I began last Friday, June 4th with a relatively simple, deliciously appealing, slightly odd: Baked Strawberry Pie.




Baked? I know, weird. I've only ever had the cold strawberry pie. You know, the one that uses strawberries and jello as the filling, with whipped cream on top. It's a good pie, but I wanted to make something I had either never had, or never done. So, I baked them. And, just as you might have expected, it was a rather runny pie. Delicious, yes, but quite runny.

It tasted like fresh strawberry jam. With crust. All I kept thinking was that it needed peanut butter. Which makes me wonder, what if I make it, using only half of the filling, and after cooling, I fill the rest with peanut butter pie filling. OMG, it would be heavenly. A peanut butter and jelly pie. I've just taken the greatest sandwich ever created and turned it into a pie. And it would be good.

Maybe after my challenge is over I'll make that one. But, I don't have time now. I've already got my insanely random 15 pies remaining: I mean, pies like Wild Blueberry and Maple, Peaches and Cream, and Pear with Jalapeno Jelly.

Yeah, some sound great and others (jalapeno jelly, anyone?) weird, but this challenge is to get my off of my couch and into my kitchen. To get me trying new things. To get me learning and working and eating.

Which is the problem...After having a slice, what do I do with the remaining slices?

Do you have time for one?

The One

I'd like to apologize to anyone who may read this: It's been a long time since I have posted, and there have been some darn good pies I should have written about.

Here's one, for example:

Calvados Apple Custard Pie. I'm not even sure how to describe this pie to you. Maybe the work 'Perfection' would be best. No, not that I am perfect in my pie making, but I think I did a pretty bang up job with this one! What I mean, is that, this pie...This pie might just be the perfect blend of flavors:

-Apple flavored brandy from the french region of Lower Normandy, twice distilled, to the appropriate level of deliciousness.

-Apples, sliced thin, and slowly sauteed in butter and sugar, until fragrant.

-Homemade custard, with a slight hint of the brandy, thick and creamy.

When put together into a deep dish flakey crusted pie shell, it's luscious, rich, divine. Equal parts apple, brandy and custard, all floating around your taste buds, like wisps of cloud in the vast noonday sky. One bite and it's as if you've transformed into this cigarette smoking, skinny jeans wearing, little dog walking frenchman. You just want to sit down at an outdoor cafe, drink your cafe au lait and talk about how zie AmeriKanz are zo stupeed.

So, what I'm really trying to say is that this is one delicious pie and that if it wasn't snowing, I would go to Giant right now to get some apples and heavy cream.

I have plenty of time for a slice, but no apples. What a sorry day this is...