Monthly Archives: July 2013

Urth, Mint, and Pie

31 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Berry Pie, Custard Pie, Pie Destinations

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Just throwing out a plug for LA’s Urth Caffe, best known for its amazingly delicious coffee (not being a big coffee-drinker myself, I’m taking the word of others on that. All their coffee also happens to be organic and fair-trade…you can read about their standards here.  I did a bit of investigation at Urth, as I sometimes feel it is my duty to do, and discovered that their coconut custard pie is nothing short of pure bliss. Honestly. Best coconut pie I have ever had, hands down. And I’ve had a few.

Ooh and then there’s this little guy. A mini blueberry pie that my Kiwi friend Josh ordered. Helloooooo.

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IMG_1014Josh, show us what it looks like inside.

IMG_1015Yes, yes. There are definitely blueberries in there.

Urth also has amazing tea lattes, a commodity hard to come by. This is a Moroccan Mint latte made with almond milk. Levi said, “That looks like grass.” Yeah, yeah. It tasted better than grass. Looked prettier too.

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In conclusion: Check. It. Out.

*Locations: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and downtown.

Summer Solstice

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Apple Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Original Pies, Summer Fruit Pie

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On the afternoon of the Summer Solstice, Grandmother was taking her well-earned daily nap, Aunt Sarah and cousin Matt were swimming off the dock, and Levi and Uncle Joe were shopping til they dropped at Gander Mountain. Granddad and I worked on a puzzle and made this pie. He has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t remember much of anything these days, but I think baking is a relatively familiar territory for the following reasons.

1.       He has eaten possibly hundreds of my Grandmother’s delicious pies (blueberry and apple are the best kinds.)

2.       “Grandfather bread” is a term used in my family to refer to the amazing bread he used to make every week in his bread machine. Grandmother has since taken over the breadmaking (Zante currant is the best kind.)

3.       He used to be a research chemist, and what is baking, really, other than edible chemistry? (Post-Its and Scratch and Sniff were some of the best projects he worked on.)

IMG_0941I told Granddad that we were going to make an “Experiment Pie,” meaning that I had no recipe to follow. He laughed and stirred the filling: rhubarb, an apple, a pear, a little bit of pomegranate-lime juice, a squeeze of lemon juice, lemon zest, orange zest, powdered ginger, and nutmeg.

IMG_0939Butter pats go on top, because more butter is more better.

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IMG_0944IMG_0955That evening–the sun didn’t set until ten–there was a Summer Solstice feast of epic proportions at the cabin.

There was a strawberry jicama salad from neighbor-friend Jackie.IMG_0951IMG_0952There was a pile of crispy walleye and bass straight from the St. Croix.

IMG_0953IMG_0954And to top it all off, we enjoyed a trio of pies (Experiment Pie, the Nectarine-Lime Pie of yesterday’s post, and a Grandmother Marie Apple Pie).

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Cabin Pies

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Summer Fruit Pie

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Minnesota is among my top favorite states in the Union, and my aunt and uncle’s cabin on the St. Croix river is among my top favorite places to hang out. Levi and I have been able to go every summer for a few years now and in between all of the fishing and Adirondack-chair-sitting, I always manage to find time to bake a pie or two.

IMG_0931Upon arriving at the cabin this year, I was disappointed to learn that due to the winter having been long and cold and the spring extremely rainy that the growing season was well behind schedule. I came hoping to make pies with Minnesota-picked currants and raspberries, but not even the strawberries had ripened yet. I heavy-sighed for a while and then went forward with some plan B’s.

Luckily, Trader Joe’s was good for a crate of delicious, juicy nectarines and the Marine-on-St. Croix general store carries limes. (If you ask me what my favorite fruit is and tell me I absolutely must decide on just one, I usually go with the nectarine.) The recipe I used here is called No-Peel Nectarine-Lime Pie. Funnily enough, I made this pie already–four years ago. It was one of the only pies from my cookbook that I tried before deciding to bake every pie in the book…therefore, it had not yet been properly documented or included in the official count of pies. Now it’s rolling in, finally, at number 109.

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IMG_0937This pie has a lovely streusel topping which balances the lack of sweetness in the actual pie (only a little over 1/3 cup of sugar is used in the filling.)

IMG_1026Besides the limes, there was another purchase I felt necessary to make at the general store. I often kick around the idea of having a summertime pie operation based in Marine, and everytime I see a bit of competition pop up, I do some sampling to find out what I’m up against.

IMG_0965A line of mini-pies all flavored with a different form of booze? Genius. I’d give these an A+ for concept, B for taste.

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Watch for another post tomorrow containing more cabin pie-making adventures!