The Love of my Life

30 Wednesday May 2012

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….is not pie. It is my husband, Levi.

We’ve been married for three years today. Three whole years! It’s both hard and easy to believe.

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If you’ve read the “Why Pie?” section of my blog, you already know that I received my now well-worn Pie cookbook as a wedding present. What you may not know is that Levi and I opted have pies instead of a wedding cake…much to the initial chagrin of my very traditional Italian relatives. (Although I happened to look through my Nana’s wedding album shortly after our wedding and discovered that she and Pop-Pop had a big heaping platter of Italian cookies instead of cake at their wedding. Needless to say, I drew her attention to this incriminating fact!)

Our reasoning for this decision went something like this:

1. We really like pie.

2. We don’t like wedding cake.

3. Wedding pie it is.

A decision that was less easy to make was, “What KIND of pie should we have?” So we had five kinds. Pecan, Berry Medley, Key Lime, Chocolate Chiffon, and Coconut Cream. Something for everyone. (If you were in attendance, what kind of pie did you choose? If you weren’t, which one would you pick today, three years later?)

Levi and I sampled every pie, I’m not ashamed to say. Each was as wonderful as the last, just as the years of our marriage have been. Three years later, I’d still pick you, Levi. You’re my favorite, favorite one, my very best friend, the love of my life. Happy Anniversary.

(Professional photographs taken by the incredible Elisabeth Millay. Her blog is super gush-worthy.)

Happiness

27 Sunday May 2012

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Arrived at my Bible camp in New Jersey on Friday night. I forgot how frizzy my hair is when I’m up here. The ground is muddy, the nights are incredibly warm. I can’t even explain how much love I have for the people here. My friend Ruth Ann just handed me this piece of rhubarb pie.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

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You say Amaretti, I say Amaretto

23 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in Chocolate Pie

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It was a fortuitous set of events. My friend Erin asked me to make her an Amaretto-Amaretti Chocolate Fudge Pie. I found a recipe for homemade Amaretto on one of my favorite blogs, SoupAddict. I made Amaretto. I put it in the pie. Then I made lots of Amaretto Sours. Oh happy day!

The pie crust recipe calls for amaretti cookies and chocolate. I went to three grocery store and couldn’t find amaretti. I silently cursed the state of California. This would never have happened in New Jersey!!

So I used overpriced biscotti instead, because I was tired of going to stores. Boo.

It turned out pretty nicely though, must say.

Amaretti. Amaretto. Amore.

Belated birthday pie with a side of Sequence.

It turns out that making your own homemade Amaretto is easy and inexpensive. And might (if I may be so bold) even taste better than the expensive stuff. You can get the recipe here.

SoupAddict also has a great recipe for homemade sour mix, if you’re planning on using your Amaretto for more than flavoring a pie. You might want to find strong helpful males to help squeeze the lemons, limes, and orange for you. That worked well in my experience.

I may or may not be drinking an Amaretto Sour at this exact moment.

Strep Throat Pie

12 Saturday May 2012

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Most pie stories have happy endings. And then some of them end with you getting strep throat and missing out on the last three days of your Spring Break vacation and not getting to taste (or actually even finish making) the pie you made the day before you got sick.

*Sigh.* But we won’t focus on these sad things.

A few days after the events shown here, my relations decided that they hadn’t had enough pie. So the same crew mentioned in the above post, plus my cousin Alyssa (who is also an accomplished baker, though she is more of a cupcake girl) made a couple more pies. One of them was the Angus Barn Chocolate Chess Pie that I first made back in February. Let it be noted that this is the first repeat pie I have made since beginning this project. The combination of extreme deliciousness, easily accessible ingredients, and relatively short time until consumption made this an easy choice for a pie we all wanted to eat RIGHT away.

Phone conversation with my uncle at about 5:30 pm: “Oh hi, Uncle Alan. Yes, I’ve got all your kids over here at Nana’s. Have they eaten dinner? Well…er….I actually just fed them all pie and ice cream….yeah…Is there any left over for you? Of course! Come on over.”

The other pie we made was called the Ultimate Rocky Road Pie and needed to be refrigerated for quite some time before it could be eaten. It basically ended up being a massive mess of marshmallows, melted chocolate, and walnuts. We spent some time dipping the nuts and marshmallows into the remaining chocolate scrapings, like fondue. And that’s as close as I came to tasting this pie.

If you’ve never gotten strep throat before, don’t. It’s not a good time. You basically feel like you’re choking on your own uvula and swallowing nearly brings on tears. So I spent the last couple days of vacation lying in my friend Maggie’s bed instead of helping her set up her new apartment, writing her messages on my phone and trying to eat the soft fried tofu she lovingly prepared for me.

My cousin Daniel just got an iPod touch, and so, as you would expect when your 12-year-old cousin gets an iPod touch, you start to get lots of text messages (mainly consisting of rows and rows of emoticons). But he also sent me this picture to show me that the pie had not been forgotten in the freezer. (Although the layer of broiled marshmallow fluff had never been added…ah well. Naked Rocky Road.)

“Hey Jess sorry your not feeling good:( it really stinks you guys can’t come over for lunch…I will take your advice and stay away from strep throat a ya and it turns out that only nana can come to lunch cause everyone else is sick to, so we will have a fun time eating 16peoples worth of food and I’ll tell you how the pie is to.”

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 (That’s for you, Daniel.)

Some Very Important News

09 Wednesday May 2012

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This is a post that I am Very, Very, Very Excited to write and therefore deserves lots of extra Capitalization.

A few months ago, Levi (being the adoring husband that he is) took it upon himself to email Ken Haedrich, the author of Pie, and fill him in on my little project. Not only did Ken write back (and he is just as friendly and gracious as you would expect from reading his work) but he told me that he was working on starting a new website and would like to link me on his front page. Was I game?

Was I game?!!

Ken’s new website is called The Pie Academy, and if you sign up with your email address, you will receive entertaining videos that will doubtless improve your pie making skills. I’ve received two videos so far–the first on rolling a nice, circular crust and the second on using a food processor to make pie pastry. If you have any interest in baking whatsoever, follow the above link and enroll yourself in the academy! Then scroll on down to the very bottom of the page and you’ll see my smiling face 😉

Another perk of the Pie Academy…you can purchase cookbooks at a discounted price! I’ve had quite a few of you tell me that I’ve nearly driven you to buying Pie through all of my pictures and updates. Well, if you’re really hankering to try out some of the recipes for yourself, this is the place to make your purchase. Pie only costs $21.95 here!

I am Very Much Honored to be recognized on a bestselling author’s website and Very Appreciative of how kind Ken has been.

A Family Affair

05 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie

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Lucky for me that most everyone I’m related to (which is a very, very large number of people) enjoys eating pie. My parents, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, brother, husband…all pie eaters. In fact, I haven’t baked a pie in a couple weeks now, and yesterday I was given a joint ultimatum by my brother and husband that if I don’t put a pie on their table by tomorrow night, they are going to go BUY A PIE AT MARIE CALLENDER’S AND EAT IT. Ack!!!!!! Treason!!!!!! Needless to say, I’ll be baking later on.

When I was in New Jersey last month, I enlisted some friends-and-relations to help me try out a couple more of Ken’s recipes. Inspired by the delicious looking blueberry pie I’d seen at Lovin’ Oven and (as always) by the cuteness of mini pies, I wanted to make Junior Blueberry Crumb Pies.

First, I made and refrigerated the cream cheese pastry. Cream cheese makes everything better.

My cousin Daniel apparently had little to no trouble rolling the pastry out, even with a cockatiel on his shoulder. Talent.

Once the pieces of pastry were flattened to our liking, my lovely cousin Leanna cut circles juuuust right for tiny pie crusts.

(Coco just watched and tried to eat the crumbs falling from the table.)

Meanwhile, I mixed up the blueberry filling and let it juice.

Dry ingredients stand by.

Nana was put in charge of pie assembly.

Checking to ensure that the tops are as crumb-y as possible.

*1 hour LATER*

Voila!! Junior Blueberry goodness.

(Thank you to all of the helping hands…this one truly was a joint effort!)

28 Saturday Apr 2012

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I’m having an immensely busy week/weekend, and my cousin Rocco just wrote a post on his blog about pie, so…you can read that here. (Thanks for the shout-out and the pie love!)

[*Two disclaimers…Don’t be angry, people who make cupcakes from scratch! Consider this rant directed to the companies that you know you can out-bake any time. 😉 Also, I didn’t buy my cookbook, it was a wedding gift.]

The basic theme of Rocco’s blog (in my estimation) is the importance of eating authentically. Eating real food, food that nourishes your body and your spirit. Although our society has become focused on convenience, there is real joy to be found in taking the time to prepare food for yourself and your family. If you’re interested in where your food comes from, if you’re interested in using food as a way to connect with family and friends, if you love eating, you’ll enjoy Rocco’s posts.

Summers, Falls, Winters, and Springs

25 Wednesday Apr 2012

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I really miss seasons.

I know there are some who would argue, “But California does have seasons…they’re just different!” And they’d be right, technically. But, I must say that the vague, mild “springtime” of southern California is no substitute for the full resurrection glory that East Coasters experience yearly.

My parents are moving to Georgia. This is big news, as I’ve never known them to live in a house other than the one I grew up in. I’m sure most kids are somewhat attached to their houses, but I think I surpassed most. When I was about eight, I took a pencil and drew a square on the wall in my closet and pretended that it was a portal into a secret planet of my own creation. (The continent had several countries, including Girl Land, Starland, and Heartland….Heartland was the most important one, FYI.) Every time I heard rumors that we might move, I would write anxiously about the repercussions of this dreaded idea in my journal…journals…(I went through them pretty quickly.) The gist was that if we moved, some other inferior child would figure out how to enter my secret world!! Oh the indignity.

So now my parents really are moving, it looks like, and this may have been my last visit to the old house. Even though I’ve lived many other places (at least five) since moving out six years ago, it will still be a little bittersweet to hear that this house has been sold. I hope some other little girl can find magic there.

My mom and I made a pie with the last of the frozen raspberries from their harvest last summer. We didn’t need a recipe. We used an olive oil based crust, some honey, nutmeg, sugar, flour, and lemon juice.

Thanks, Mom, for all of the other long-since-eaten pies that have been made on this same little round table!

“hadn’t given it much thought

hadn’t been back here for a while

everything looks so small

seen through the memories of a child

who would dream and stare

from that second story window

that was my whole world,

it was all I knew

like the hull of a seed this old house cracked wide open

and I flew”

~Sara Groves, This House

Lovin’ Oven

21 Saturday Apr 2012

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I only wish I’d thought of that ridiculously cute title myself. But alas. They thought of it first.

When I’m in New Jersey, one of the places I like to visit is Frenchtown. Everything about it is cute. Even the laundromat, which is called the “launderette”. See? Cute. In Frenchtown, there is an amazing store called Two Buttons, which is owned by Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert. I saw her there one time. EEEP!

On my trip out east this month, my friends Maggie and Jen and I made it to Frenchtown. We shopped at Two Buttons, where you are given free red wine and popcorn and you drool over fantastically beautiful things from all over the world. I bought some fossils of extinct squids from Morocco. It’s really a great time.

The NEW and exciting discovery we made on this day was the new business next door to Two Buttons: Lovin’ Oven, the cutest (in keeping with the theme) bakery/cafe that you ever did see.

I’ve kicked around the idea of starting up a bakery someday. Okay, let’s be serious…maybe a farmer’s market stand. Or…maybe a lemonade stand type deal in the front of my house. I honestly don’t know the first thing about being an entrepreneur, but it’s fun to imagine.

My friends Josh and Amber are the ones who have the most fully-formed vision of my future pie-peddling. My company will be called Hipster Pie; I will have a food truck from which I will sell delicious mini pies faster than Sprinkles can sell cupcakes. Another option in my mind is to wait until Levi and I are of retirement age…his plan is to make his own wine and chocolate, so I figure we’ll just move to the country somewhere and have a little shop. Y’all come visit.  If you have any other ideas, I’d love to hear them, no matter how far-fetched.

But none of you are going to come up with a name as cute as “Lovin’ Oven.” And yes, that’s a dare. I dare you to be cuter than Frenchtown, New Jersey.