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Category Archives: Pear Pie

On a Chilly Thursday in March

10 Saturday Apr 2021

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Apple Pie, Mini Pie, Pear Pie

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Tags

apple, Granny Smith, pear, pie-in-a-jar

Hi friends, here’s an everyday sort of pie story for you – catching up from March here (and honestly, patting myself on the back a bit that lately my blog posts have been about fairly recent history.) It feels good to be here and writing for you so regularly.

Sometimes, circumstances collude to create just the right conditions for a batch of mini pies in jars. I’d added some Granny Smith apples to my Imperfect Foods box the week before, I had streusel topping in the freezer, and I needed a small but meaningful gift to bring over to a couple from church. (Over the last eight or nine months of Covid-era-life, our church has had a pairing list to connect families on a weekly basis. It’s been really great to have the opportunity to give and receive creative gifts and gestures when we aren’t able to see our church family as a whole on a regular basis.)

Granny Smith apples, pears, a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg, lemon juice…a simple, can’t-go-wrong filling. In addition to two jars for our church friends, I made a pie for my friend Erin (it was her birthday week, hence the included candle). I also had to make a airplane pie-in-a-jar for our Matt (Uncle Teo to Pippa) who was getting ready to go back to his hometown of KC after a few months of writing his dissertation from our dining room table. And, of course, I made one in a ramekin for Pippa Pip, who helped me make the pastry and thinks there’s hardly anything better than homemade apple pie.

After a morning of pie-making, Pippa and I met up with Erin and her daughter Emery for a girls’ sushi lunch. I love that these two sweet girls are good buddies despite being many years apart in age. (Click the link to see the last photo I posted of Emery on this blog. Boy oh boy. To continue the Head and the Heart quote I started in that post from 2014, the months turn into years!)

This churashi bowl was gorgeous! Eating in a parking lot isn’t always the most picturesque, and we had a chilly day for it, but you’ll never catch me complaining about anything our restaurants have had to do to stay open this year. The food service world has been on my heart constantly.

Pippa can eat a lot – but not THAT much fried rice. (She’s enjoying it, despite the quizzical look on her face.) I hope she takes after her friend Emery’s love of sriracha and all things spicy someday.

It was a happy birthday celebration for a dear friend!

Have a wonderful weekend! ❤

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Heartdepths

30 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Apple Pie, Berry Pie, Pear Pie, travel

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Tags

apple, berry, Chile, home, South America, travel

Three Aprils ago, a pie was born in Santiago, Chile. Some pears and some apples lent themselves to the creation, along with, I believe, some blueberries and strawberries, and perhaps another odd fruit that I’m forgetting.

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This feels like another lifetime now, in several ways. During our visit to Chile, we probably pinched ourselves daily, saying “WE’RE IN CHILE!” And yet there wasn’t anything terribly surprising about it, not for us; affluent, educated, healthy, non-parents. We marveled at our ability to go to sleep on an airplane and wake up halfway around the world as often as we did it; we marveled that it was…well…easy. Whether or not it should have been. It was just so easy. And now?

It would be easy for me to get caught up in wondering what is next. If we’ll ever leave the U.S.A. again in this lifetime. If so, when. My toddler has been to Spain. She’s been to Canada. Mexico, twice. Traveling feels like part of our nature, and there are places in nearly every continent of the world that are deep deep down in my heart. It is a blessing, a blessing that sometimes makes my heart ache and that I’ve never wanted to trade for anything.

Last night, I was listening to a friend go live on a social media platform. She talked about a perspective she has been trying to take, in light of all the uncertainty we’re entering Summer 2020 with. She shared that, instead of focusing on her sadness at very likely missing out on quality time with family and friends at a beloved second home of a campground, she is trying instead to focus on being grateful that she has something to deeply miss.

In other words, when we have those strong feelings of missing something or someone, it’s a sign or indication that those things are planted very solidly in our heartdepths. And that, in and of itself, is something to be profoundly grateful for.

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Tonight, then, I poured a small glass of port and sat down here at my laptop to share with you a few photos of this trip to Chile that we’ve been reminiscing about QUITE a lot recently. Just thinking about it brings me such joy. We coordinated our travel with our friend Matt (who now lives in Canada), were visiting our friends Shaye and Andrew and Brydyn (who are all from New Zealand), and made a new friend, Rosie (who, along with her husband, just made it to her new temporary home in Bolivia before the borders closed due to COVID-19).

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These are just some really home-y photos. I have photos from Pablo Neruda’s house, from Santiago’s incredible restaurants and wine shops, from mountaintop monuments, the beach, the Andes mountains, a nearby pottery village. But that’s not where we are right now, physically and mentally. Do you know what I mean? The memories of those adventures feed my soul, no doubt. But what I’m pulling out from my heartdepths right now are not tourist destinations. I’m pulling out feelings of togetherness. I’m pulling out memories of beautiful home cooked meals and a round of Pisco sours and a cat sleeping on a dining room chair and KIDS that keep us all in a state of delight.

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As we’ve been singing a lot with Pippa: I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart.

Down in my heart to stay.

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The More, the Merrier

11 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Apple Pie, Pear Pie

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Christmas, collaboration, five-spice, holiday, pie-in-a-jar, Thanksgiving

Good morning my friends,

I am honored to have been recently featured on my friend Jolie’s blog, The Forgetful Files. Jolie is a freelance writer (currently working on a novel), a mom of five, and generally amazing human being. I highly recommend checking her blog out if you enjoy tales of real life family adventures (and foibles, as Jolie puts it!)

This weekend I’ll be baking up some Five Spice Pear-Apple Pies in Jars, and one will be heading towards Mark Ishman from Texas, whose little rhyming ditty of a comment on Jolie’s post Pie Giveaway Time made him a winner! (Check out all the comments on this post, there are several poetic gems present.) For the recipe, read the Sweet As Pie Winner follow up post.

Since my sleeves will be rolled up to bake and I’ll be braving the post office during Holiday season ANYWAY, I’ve decided: The More, the Merrier. Here’s another chance to win a Pie-in-a-Jar! Any comments left on this post before Friday (December 13th) at 9 pm PST/12 am EST will be put into a vessel (likely a pie jar) and a name drawn at random…for winner #2!

For fun…in your comment, will you please tell me either 1) your favorite pie 2) a pie you baked or ate for Thanksgiving 3) a pie you plan to bake or eat this holiday season (presumed Five Spice Pear-Apple Pie excluded ;)) 

Here’s a picture of the fourth pie – the apple pie – that my family ate this Thanksgiving week (is it cheating that my mom made it, not me?)

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I look forward to hearing from you and selecting a second Pie-in-a-Jar Giveaway Winner!

Happy Holidays, be easy on yourself, and get enough rest! ❤

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An Heirloom Pie

07 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Pear Pie

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cranberry, cranberry sauce, holiday, pear, Thanksgiving

Two years ago, I was given this recipe for a Cranberry Pear Pie by my friend Marilyn. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that it took me this long to make it, but make it I did for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner, and I want to say a great big thank you to you now, Marilyn. Thank you so much for sharing your special recipe! Everyone who tried the pie was absolutely delighted with it.

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The method of assembling the filling of this pie was the reverse of what I’m used to. Usually I start with the fruit in a bowl and add sugar, lemon, spices, and later on (after the fruit has had a chance to juice) the thickener, whether it’s cornstarch, tapioca, or flour. For Marilyn’s Cranberry Pear Pie, start by mixing together the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt) and then mixing in lemon juice, cranberry sauce, and finally the pears, gently. For pears, this makes so much sense; it’s better that they weren’t stirred around so much but were just coated in all the other ingredients before being tucked into the pie. If you try this pie yourself, please do use absolutely beautiful, flavorful, perfectly ripe pears as I had the fortune of using. (Here I go with my advertising again, but mine were Trader Joe’s Organic D’Anjou.)

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Marilyn, since we share some family members, I was excited to let my aunt and your granddaughter Jenna and my cousin and your great-granddaughter Kylie know that this pie I had made was from your recipe.

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I hope all of your holidays were wonderful, with full plates and full hearts! As always, thanks for reading.

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Pears of Yore

19 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Pear Pie

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Tags

brandy, Christmas, christmas eve, holiday, pear, streusel

Why have I not posted for two months? Why have I not posted the pies I made for CHRISTMAS when it’s MAY?!

These are the burning questions that I constantly struggle with.

I made the delightful Streusel-Topped Pear Pie with Walnut Crust last Christmas Eve. Levi’s family has a get-together on that night and I’ve brought pies to the celebration for as long as I’ve been grafted into the Sommerville clan…Pear and Fig with a Pine Nut Crust and Chocolate Cream with Cinnamon Meringue were last year’s stars. Dried Cranberry and Walnut Pie the year before that…

I love it when pies have secret ingredients.

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Yes, very often “secret ingredient” is synonymous with liquor. After adding this pear brandy to the pie, we sipped it alongside the finished product and it was not at all a bad plan.

Nutty Pie Pastry made with walnuts…check. IMG_5267

Christmas Eve Morning Piefie…check. IMG_5268

Along with brandy, these pears are tossed in lemon, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and a pinch of salt and are warmly luminescent in the morning light.

(Sometimes I just make up flowery sentences to see if you’re still paying attention.)IMG_5269

The pears are topped with what Ken calls a “blond streusel” which basically just means it has none of the dark ingredients that often make it into a pie topping (brown sugar, cinnamon…) and all of the white ones (cream, butter, white sugar, you know, all the healthiest food groups. If you know me you know I have no fear of the butter.)

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What’s next??

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What a trick! That’s not a pie, that’s a baby nephew on his first Christmas!

Here’s the pie, in all it’s pear-ish resplendence. I’d heartily recommend trying this recipe at any time of year. IMG_5277

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