Tag Archives: travel

Natalie’s 21st/Four and Twenty Blackbirds

12 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Pie Destinations

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Happy birthday to my beautiful little Natalie!

Your last birthday was one of my favorite days in recent memory. We had a delicious brunch at Le Salbuen, and then after I stopped to visit my Nana at the rehabilitation center (she had fallen the week before) and sneak her some blueberry peach pie, we were off to NYC! I remember how hot and sweaty of a day it was…quintessential July East Coast weather. We made it to one of my ultimate pie destinations in Brooklyn, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, and ordered six pieces for five of us. One of each flavor, naturally. The lavender honey pie changed my life forever. You would later paint me a beautiful painting inspired by the picture below of all the pie slices on the table. We sat outside at Sycamore Bar and Flower Shop and you were given a birthday flower as we left. These activities were all my ideas, places I had been wanting to visit, and you were just so happy to do them on your birthday. This is one of the things I love about you; your sweet excitement over just being with friends and your enthusiasm for most things, whether it’s painting a porch, teaching children about the Bible, wandering and laughing. You are so good at showing up with no other agenda but joy.

We ate dinner-Italian-I don’t recall the name of the restaurant, where some more friends joined us. At Rockwood City Music Hall we heard versions of “Valerie” by two bands, then found ourselves sitting in a pedestrian street eating ice cream sandwiches from The Meatball Shop. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Enjoy the memories and I hope this year is full of even more beauty and wonder for you. xx

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Pinnacle Pie

09 Monday May 2016

Posted by in Berry Pie, Summer Fruit Pie

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Gifts

21 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by in Coconut Pie

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There are some people you just don’t have to explain yourself to at all. Some people who you’ve seen once or twice or maybe never before but after approximately 30 seconds in each others’ presence you feel remarkably at home. Especially once you notice you have the same asymmetrical haircut.

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Our friends Ben and Naomi arrived in California from Australia in mid-February, bicycles in tow. They went on to fly to New York and begin to bike across the country (last I checked they were at Yellowstone. Amazing.) Luckily for us they had planned to take a couple weeks just to explore our beautiful state and so we were able to share a few adventures, incredible meals, songs, and poetry readings. Ben is an old friend…it had been eight years since either Levi or I had seen him and it was truly a happy occasion to be reunited. And we’d never actually met Naomi, but like I said, there’s a type of person who is an old friend within moments.

Ready for a plot twist? I didn’t end up making a pie for these friends while they were visiting. Naomi made a pie for us!

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And she said you guys can all have the recipe. It’s simple, crustless, gluten-free, and pairs well with a multitude of other flavors if you’re inclined towards an ice cream, sorbet, or topping (N suggests chocolate, cherry, lime, or mango).

Naomi’s Coconut Impossible Pie

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 cup flour or tapioca starch

1 can of coconut milk

1/4 cup coconut (or any vegetable) oil

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

4 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

Mix all the ingredients well. Butter a pie dish and pour mixture in. Bake at 375 until pie appears set and is slightly golden. 

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There was something about this turning-of-the-tables that was very special to me. While I love baking for, cooking for, and otherwise trying my best to look after my guests, I can get overwhelmed. I can get tired from late nights of visiting followed by early mornings at work, though I wouldn’t trade those late nights for the world. But sometimes there are people who make themselves at home so much that the roles of guest and host become blurred and you’re all just sharing in whatever needs to be done so that you can continue sharing in each others’ company as much as possible. It’s a beautiful thing when your friends serve you in your home.

Thanks so much, you two. God keep you safe on the rest of your ride, until we meet again. And to everyone reading: it’s summer! Have a beautiful first day.

“On the World”                                                                                                                  by Francis Quarles                                                                                               The world’s an inn, and I her guest.                                                                          I eat; I drink; I take my rest.                                                                                My hostess, nature, does deny me                                                                    Nothing, wherewith she can supply me;                                                                Where, having stayed a while, I pay                                                                         Her lavish bills, and go my way.

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Pies, Pies, and More Pies

08 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in Apple Pie, Berry Pie, Mini Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Original Pies

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It’s March already? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Let’s get down to business. First of all, I would like to announce that the Five-Spice Pear-Apple pies I mailed out during Thanksgiving week made it safely to their destinations.

timIronically, I’m pretty sure that standard mail to Australia is faster than priority mail to Georgia, Illinois, or Virginia. What in tarnation?! Lesson: The United States Postal System is an abject failure.

Eric Lange, my official domestic tester in Virginia, sent me this lovely ditty after receiving and consuming the pie:

“O Apple-Pear 5 Spice

You are so good and nice

You make my taste buds sing

You are the greatest thing!

A brown box in the mail

Delivered, without fail

A complete, delish pie

I was one lucky guy!”

Eric, you are the greatest thing.

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Following that mini-pie episode, I embarked on another of epic proportions before Christmas, making about 30 pies to give as holiday gifts to the wonderful and devoted teachers I work with and some of my faraway family in New Jersey and Georgia.

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Just one of the fillings I used was a recipe from Ken Haedrich’s book: All-Pear Pie with Maple and Candied Ginger. I’d been meaning to try this pie for so long (it’s one of my cousin Carly’s favorites, and she gave me the cookbook so she ought know). Funny thing is, I didn’t gift myself one of these pies, so I’ll be no doubt re-doing this recipe so I can actually have some. (I did have one bite of a friend’s, to be fair. But it wasn’t enough.)

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The next two fillings were my own made-up combinations. Here’s the Cran-Apple Spice; I love how beautiful the fresh cranberries are and the sourness they bring to the table. I choose sour flavors over sweet every time and I have to say that I thought this pie was a win-win combination of both.

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And here is the Honey-Apple-Raspberry filling, looking like a bit of a mess. But yum.

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Mini-pie manufacturing is no piddling job. By the time you make multiple batches of crust, a few fillings, crumbs for the topping, labels for the tops…you’re looking at a long night.

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The three pies below traveled not by car, not by mail, but by carry-on. This conversation happened.

TSA agent: I’m going to have to re-run your bag, miss.

Me in my head: Crap.

TSA agent: What are these?

Me: They’re pies….in jars.

TSA agent: Pies in jars?? That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!! (Calls other TSA agents to marvel over the coolness that is pie-in-a-jar.)

TSA agent: I think I’m going to have to keep one of these…*laughs*

Me: I’ll make an extra one just for you next time I come through *smiles*

Would this have happened at any other time besides Christmas? Doubtful. But I loved it.

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While we’re on the subject of mini pies (which, as it turns out, is more often then not…) for the third year in a row, I had the opportunity to contribute pie to a bake sale supporting my students. (Last year I sent this batch of minis…the year before I had not yet perfected the art of sending pie traveling and sent two whole pies to be sliced and sold.)

I made another Honey-Apple-Raspberry filling (since they had been pretty popular the last time ’round) and a Blueberry-Pear filling with cardamom and maple syrup, both my own recipes. I think I have figured out a pretty exact ratio for mini pie filling; the amount of filling that would fit into one largish normal pie fits roughly into nine jars. Okay, perhaps “exact” isn’t the right word, but it’s a helpful rule to follow. So the filling below made 18 mini pies. And the filling overflowed, so I really could have done 19, or 20.

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This was the first year I was able to see the bake sale in person (and I forgot to take any pictures, wouldn’t you know!) By the time I got there, the sale had been going on for perhaps two hours and most of my pies were already gone. I hope they were thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks so much to those who bought them or supported the Palm Springs bake sale in any other fashion. Over $1600 was raised for the Christadelphian Heritage School!

As always, thanks for reading. I’ll leave you with a reminder…PI DAY IS NEXT FRIDAY!

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Let me know if you’re planning on celebrating.

Shanghai Pie

08 Saturday Jun 2013

Posted by in Apple Pie

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We spent most of my spring break this year in Shanghai.

*pinches self* Yes, that’s true. Wow. Amazing. We are so blessed.

The week was kind of a whirlwind, involving overnight trains and Great Wall hikes and all kinds of culinary…intrigues. But best of all was the time we were able to spend with our good friends Dan and Sylvia and little Grace. On the day before we left, we were ready for some down time, and Sylvia (who is Chinese) asked me if I could teach her how to make pie for Dan (very American). I thought I’d just share a few of my favorite pictures from our baking session with all of you.

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IMG_7653I love this last picture because it’s such a perfect image of America in China, apple pie with rosebud tea.

Also…

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If you’re interested in seeing more pictures from our China trip, send me an email at the.pie.diaries@gmail.com. I’d be happy to send you a link to our PhotoStream.