Tag Archives: rhubarb

Pinnacle Pie

09 Monday May 2016

Posted by in Berry Pie, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , ,

In the past, I’ve demonstrated to you time and time again the merits of pie-in-a-jar. It can pass airport security checks, it travels securely to faraway bake sales, it can be mailed to Australia with no incidents whatever. Just in case you were looking for another reason to add to your mental list of “Why Pie-in-a-Jar is Truly Awesome,” I’ve got you covered.

Pie-in-a-Jar can climb mountains.

IMG_8710

We had the privilege of visiting Pinnacles National Park this weekend, with the added privilege of Allyn and Ali’s company and conversation along the way. I highly recommend catching up with a friend you haven’t seen for nine years/making a new friend while walking for five hours. A lot of territory can be covered, literally and figuratively.

Along with other feats of Creation, we encountered talus caves, a nocturnal red frog, an exalted reservoir, Mariposa lilies, monkey flowers, and FOUR CALIFORNIA CONDORS. I’m still a little bit giddy just thinking about how incredible the views were from the tops of the pinnacles the park is named after. No wonder the condors love it up there.

IMG_8740

IMG_8719

IMG_8741

IMG_8717IMG_8765

All this beauty aside, let us turn now to a matter of practicality. To paraphrase what Ali said so wisely, one of the best parts of hiking is snack breaks. Which brings us back to our strawberry rhubarb pies-in-jars. I mean, who doesn’t like the idea of eating pie on a pinnacle?

Also, do you readers wonder if I bring pie everywhere I go just so I have a reason to tell a story about it on my blog? I wonder that too sometimes. I like to think that the answer is no, that it just happens organically this way, but I’ll ponder the question some more and get back to you. For now, lay all doubts aside and enjoy these last few pictures of happy people and pie in the middle of nowhere.

IMG_8749IMG_8752IMG_8709

What Everyone Else Is Doing While I Am Making Pie

11 Sunday Oct 2015

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

When we visited Montana in May, we spent a day in Yellowstone having our breath taken away and a day at Levi’s aunt and uncle and cousins’ house with my aunt and uncle and cousins. That second day was rainy and the house was full of good smells, and I asked my aunt to walk around and take pictures of what everyone else was doing while I was making pie.

I like these pictures because I think they show the reality of what pie is to me. It is important, but it’s not the whole story. I enjoy it, like others enjoy sketching or playing games. At the end of the day, pie is just something I can bring to the table.

I love it when the table is full. IMG_6421IMG_6439 IMG_6408 IMG_6423 IMG_6422 IMG_6413IMG_6426IMG_6415IMG_6427IMG_6432

Summer Solstice

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

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

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

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.

IMG_0943

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).

IMG_0963IMG_0956

Pie Upon Pie

22 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by in Berry Pie

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Levi starts to get really happy right around Memorial Day Weekend, because “It’s almost summer, and in summer the pies really pick up the pace.”

True.

Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching. But it kind of consumes my life during the school year, and by the end of May, I am as squirmy for summer vacation as my eight-year-olds are.

LOOK AT THIS RHUBARB! Thank you, Whole Foods, for actually having some awfully decent stuff. It’s hard to come by in California.

Photo1To kick off Memorial Day weekend, much to Levi’s disgust, I made a Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Pie and gave the whole thing away to my cousin Alisa for her birthday. (I had made it once before.) Hope it was delicious, Jennings family!

Photo1-1We had guests for the long weekend, Celia and Ken from Baltimore. On Saturday night we had our first chaotic bring-something-to-share-don’t-mind-the-mess-or-the-dog-he-just-wants-to-eat-all-your-food barbecue on the patio. Good times. For this event I did make a new pie…Three-Berry Shortcake Pie. Man, berries are just SO delicious at this time of year.

photoMaybe it’s just cause I’m writing this post from Minnesota, but I can’t help thinking that little berry juice formation in the middle of the pie looks just exactly like Lake Michigan and Lake Superior…right?!! Or am I crazy?

photo-1Other highlights of the weekend included an excursion to the Getty Villa in Malibu and a jaunt to Chinatown. It was fun being in Chinatown so shortly after being in China. A bit anticlimactic though, to be serious.

Photo1-3

Photo1-4I found the mini pies. I tried the Black Bean variety. It was satisfactory. I’m now a bit interested in figuring out if there is some sort of pie in every culture. Besides bean paste pies and egg tarts (which I had in China) I can think of empanadas, quiches, savory meat pies, pasties, Jamaican patties…Could a samosa be considered a mini pie? Hmm. Will have to consider this further.

Photo1-2

Photo1-5Now that it really is summer, I’m making pies much faster than I can post about them. Stay tuned, and–as always–thanks for reading.

 

Pie Sold Here

21 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie, Chocolate Pie, Freeform Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Nut Pie

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

And for a good cause!

If you back up a few posts, you’ll find the flyer I posted prior to the auction. It went off pretty much without a hitch, I’d say, and we raised about $500 for the Glendale Relay for Life. Thanks so much to everyone who baked, bought, or just came and participated in some good, ol’ fashioned fun.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing close-ups of the 5 pies I baked, move on over to the Pie Gallery page and check out pies 91-95. Which one would you have placed a bid on?

All-Rhubarb, All the Time.

28 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Minnesota checklist:

  • Jump in the river X
  • Canoe 15 miles X
  • Eat licorice ice cream X
  • Catch fish X
  • Bake pie X
Would you just LOOK at this gorgeous rhubarb?!

When I saw this growing in a friend’s garden, it was easy to decide what kind of pie to bake first. All-Rhubarb.

Here’s a question, but don’t think too hard, because it’s not a trick.

Q: What’s more fun than baking a pie?

A: Baking a pie while drinking beer.

I have a few items to discuss in relation to this pie. Let’s take them one at a time.

1. Rhubarb. Do you love it? Like it? Hate it? I think it’s one of the most wonderful plants I’ve ever encountered. Ken Haedrich gave me the following tidbits that I thought worthy of sharing: rhubarb is also called “pie plant,” (makes sense) and the only two groups of people who customarily eat rhubarb RAW are Afghans and Eskimos. Random. (Disclaimer, in case you have never eaten rhubarb and are so inspired by this post that you immediately go find yourself some: don’t eat the leaves. Poison.)

2. Oranges. Add half of a large orange’s zest and half of its juice to a rhubarb pie for a very pleasant flavor enhancement.

3. Zesting. My Aunt Sarah (whose wonderful place by the St. Croix River I am currently luxuriating at) did not have a grater in her possession. I went down to the general store and found the grater/zester that is shown in the above picture. IT IS AMAZING. I can’t believe I’ve been using a second-rate grater to zest citrus fruit for so many years. Never again. I’m immediately buying one for myself when I get back back to Cali Cali.