A pie a week...

2011-12-30T11:44:00.000-06:00

Here we are, only two pies to go (and only an extra year or so in the making). The plan is to finish up soon, very soon.

However, as a diversionary tactic, it appears that I am about to embark on an entirely new culinary adventure. This (moderately?) obsessive personality of mine has glommed onto something new.

I am planning to blog about it (in some form or fashion).

See you there!

Dulce de Pumpkin

2011-11-28T07:53:00.001-06:00

A little over a year ago, I stated on this blog that I could not think of a reason why I would make a pumpkin pie again.

Well, in perusing my RSS feeds recently (hey, I have to follow some foodie blogs so that I can have a semi-intelligent conversation with my food-obsessed wife), I stumbled upon this recipe for Dulce de Pumpkin and thought, "there is my reason to try another."

And, so, I did.

The only real twist of consequence in this recipe is the substitution of Dulce de Leche for the sugar and milk, which as the author states, results in a slightly firmer texture. That was definitely my experience as well. And, I did appreciate the firmer texture.

But (there is always a but, isn't there?), I have to disagree with the original baker that this is in some way a better version because "most pie recipes downplay the flavor of pumpkin." All of the eaters in our household agreed that while this was a good pie, it had even less pumpkin flavor than a Libby's special.

Who is complaining? At the end of the day, it's a slice of pie for heaven's sake. What is there to complain about? It looked good, it tasted good. I am happy.

But (here I go again), I did make my preferred Butternut Squash the very next day...

Stop me if you have heard this before:

I can not think of a reason that I would make a pumpkin pie again.

On a final note: While I am absolutely certain that Becca is a far more accomplished and talented baker than I will ever be, I simply must call ridiculous on the following statement.

I’ve found that for a quick and easy pie like this, the

store-bought crust works out just fine.

Seriously? Such words will never escape my lips, nor should they anyone else's.

I may finish this yet.

Enjoy the Holidays!

Over a month...

2011-03-14T19:44:00.002-05:00

And a complete disaster. It's actually a few weeks in the past now (but, oh, the disgust lingers).

Blueberry-Pineapple pie. Sound good, doesn't it? It even looked good, although I managed to delete all of the pictures I took somehow, so you will never know.

I broke the first rule of cooking (Or one of the first few rules anyway).

Know your ingredients

The fresh pineapple that I used turned out to be anything but fresh. Blueberry-Rotten Pineapple does not sound quite so appetizing. That is because it is not. Awful!

Only a few left now. I'd better get my act together and churn out these last pies in the journey. Hopefully they will not suck as badly as this one did.

French Peach Pie

2011-02-03T19:40:00.002-06:00

I am in grave danger of doing it again. Here I am after another couple of weeks with no pie production and no blogging either.

I did make a pie a few weeks ago. It seems as though ever since, at least one of us has been sick (and me nearly the entire time). That is my excuse, and I am sticking with it!

The last pie... French Peach. It was quite good, although sadly, it was not made with fresh peaches, and included some less than homemade elements. Ah well, it was still pie. It could have been worse. It could have been a lesser dessert.

The obligatory picture...

Hoping for this weekend to get back on track. I would never let a minor distraction like a Super Bowl dissuade me from baking, that is for certain.

Only four left now.

Banoffee Pie

2011-01-15T11:45:00.001-06:00

A strange name, with a simple explanation. Apparently, this is the pie in England. And with the reputation of British cuisine, I knew it had to be good. Anyway, back to that name. Once you see the ingredients list... bananas and what we here call caramel, apparently toffee across the pond (wow, am I culturally illiterate). Banana+Toffee = Banoffee. Some eaters of this pie were partial to Toffanana. Spelled either way, this one was a pretty universal success.

This pie, as much as any I recall, was a true amalgamation of multiple, multiple recipes. In the end, this one is probably the closest to what I actually made. Boiling sweetened, condensed milk was an interesting, albeit somewhere south of thrilling experience. Somewhere deep, deep in the recesses of my feeble mind, I recall hearing of that as a mechanism for producing caramel, but I don't recall where. I am not exactly sure if I should have kept it going for another hour, or if that portion of the pie was supposed to be pretty runny. It did not quite set up as I may have expected (you can see that in the picture below), but that flaw was definitely not catastrophic.

Other thoughts:

I am a week late making this pie. It happens.
I have not made a no-bake graham cracker crust before. I was concerned (change is difficult for some of us), but it turned out just fine
I was floored by the recipe calling for a cup of butter in the crust. I could not bring myself to do it and so I didn't. A 1/2 cup worked out just fine.
I love ginger and in this case it went extremely well with the other flavors in the pie. It has to be fresh grated, though (Does that make me a foodie, or just a snob? Do these jeans make me look fat?). Several other recipes that I looked at used ginger snaps for the crust. I doubt they have the same effect.
I did not get to try the fully constructed pie. The work crowd managed to consume all of it, so this pie's rating will be based on their feedback. That feedback was good enough, however, that I think there is a great chance that I will be making this one for familial consumption very soon.
If and when I make it again, I am really leaning towards making "toffee" from scratch rather than what feels more than a little bit like cheating with the milk boiling. I cannot imagine that going well (remember rule #1: I am an idiot). Should be a blast!

What is next? I have a few listener suggestions in the hopper, and there are only five more to go. I may actually make it; the finish line is in sight.

Christmas: Almond-Amaretto Pumpkin Chiffon

2010-12-30T05:50:00.002-06:00

I cannot really say what my pie baking inspiration was this week. But, I was inspired. And, while there were some bumps in the road, the final product was, for me at least, worth it. I made two pies for our family's Christmas meal. Egg Nog, due to its popularity a couple of Christmas's ago, and a pumpkin variation, based on a couple of recipes that I found particularly inviting. There were some tense moments (one might assume that I would know what I am doing by now, but no... apparently not), and the pumpkin turned out somewhat less than perfect, but despite the difficulties and minor snafus, I really liked both constructing and eating the pie.

I don't remember making many pies where the solidifying agent was gelatin. There must have been at least one because otherwise I do not know why we would have plain gelatin packets around -- and we do.

You may already be able to tell where this is going.

There are steps in the recipe(s) -- and therefore in my bastardization of those recipes as well -- where you have to heat and stir (heat and stir!) until slightly thickened. What does slightly thickened mean? A little bit thicker than I went with is my new and improved answer.

There I was on Christmas, slightly thickening, cooling, adding other ingredients, allowing to set up... and it just did not appear to be happening. Perhaps the fact that several hours of set up time were in a styrofoam cooler in the back of an SUV did not help matters?

Once the pie was mercifully allowed to rest in an honest-to-goodness refrigerator things improved, but were still a bit on the shaky side (both figuratively and literally in this case). Nearly 24 hours later, it at least resembled an edible dish, and actually looked kind of nice. Topped with some toasted almonds and amaretto whipped cream it was not too bad.

If I had to do it all over again (I believe we have firmly established that I do not), I would make a couple of adjustments.

Slightly more thickened
Reduce the sugar in the pie (the Amaretto is soooo sweet, with the sugar it is a bit much)
I would not sweeten the whipped cream at all, but would just infuse it with a little Amaretto (same reason)

Even with some adjustments to be made, I still liked it a lot, particularly the toasted almonds as a nice texture change.

I am not making a pie this week due to the holidays and corresponding lack of people around to eat whatever I concoct. I expect that I will compile something over the weekend for the work crowd next week.

The chocolate pie to end all (of my) chocolate pies

2010-12-24T13:45:00.004-06:00

If you're looking for a dessert to spike your blood sugar, do I have the pie for you!

I have made so many chocolate pie variations over the past couple of years that I can not even recall them all. Let's see... there are eight (at least) on the list where chocolate could be considered the main ingredient/flavor component. Number nine, if not the piece de resistance, was my latest, greatest, and final attempt. Far from original, I realize, but I am calling it Death by Chocolate pie.

This venture was at least partially inspired by a co-worker's request. Since I have some experience now with chocolate pie of all sorts, I went out on my own and made up the "recipe" on the fly. As I have mentioned before here, I am not a great lover of chocolate. So, for once, my intention was not to make the pie that I was most interested in eating, but to make a pie for the chocolate lovers. The result was no light snack, but an incredibly sweet, gooey amalgamation of cacao flavors fit only for the truly committed choco-phile.

Some Nitty-Gritty Details

My intention with this pie was to infuse every aspect, from top to bottom, with chocolate of one variety or another. Therefore:

The Crust

I had hoped to make a graham cracker crust using chocolate graham crackers. Unfortunately, our local grocery store did not have any in stock. They did, however, have these. A quick, even replacement and off I went. Other than that substitution, the only addition to a standard graham cracker crust was to add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the mix before baking. The end result was thick, quite hard, and frankly not the greatest, but in the final analysis, it served its purpose as a receptacle for layer upon layer of chocolate.

The main flavors/textures in each of the layers, from the crust up, were as follows:

Layer 1

Unsweetened Chocolate, Walnuts

Layer 2

Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache

Layer 3

Semisweet Chocolate Ganache

Layer 4

Milk Chocolate Ganache

Layer 5

White & Milk Chocolate Ganache - this layer ended up being more of a gooey, sticky layer than a ganache. Perhaps because of the makeup of white chocolate (yes, I know, it is not even really chocolate)?

Layer 6

White Chocolate Cream

It took forever. I'm not the fastest of bakers (or anything else for that matter) and am easily distracted. But, it was totally worth it. It was the most fun I have had making a pie in quite some time. The work crowd seemed to like it, and the family crowd did not complain either. It turned out to look like this:

That, by the way, is a colossal piece. Anyone but the most diligent sweet-tooth would be hard pressed to finish a slice that large. Like I said, it was anything but light.

Christmas pies next... It is looking like an old favorite and perhaps something a little bit new.

Accounting error(s)

2010-12-23T10:45:00.000-06:00

Up until a few short minutes ago, both the "Pies Thus Far" and the "Rankings" sections to your right over there enumerated forty-two pies. The problem was: the rankings included two pies for which there are no pictures (Pumpkin and French Silk), and the pictures included two pies for which there was no ranking (Lemonade Pie and Chocolate Chip Pie). The upshot of all of this being that... I have actually made forty-four pies as a part of this years-long effort to acquire a useful skill.

So, even fewer than I thought remain. A mere eight to go. What will I do with my copious free time then? Suggestions are always welcome -- although they do tend to be acknowledged and then ignored.

Nauvoo Rhubarb Cream Pie

2010-12-20T06:01:00.000-06:00

The last of this summer's rhubarb crop has been burning a hole in my pocket (okay, the freezer) for quite a while now. I was happy to stumble upon a recipe during my weekly search that would finish it off, hopefully in high style.

I have had the Pie of the Month Club site bookmarked for a long time, but hadn't made it around to actually making one from their archives. There are a bounty of strange pies to be found there: beet, vinegar, prune, sauerkraut? But, the Nauvoo Rhubarb Cream was about as exotic as I thought I was up for this week.

If you are interested -- I guess that I was, at least enough to gather some minimal information -- Nauvoo, Illinois has a fascinating history, including elements of Mormon history (which I was aware of) and the Icarians (of whom I knew nothing). For the purposes of this blog, the most important contribution of the Icarians is introducing rhubarb to the Midwest. For all other purposes, there are many elements of far greater import.

Of course, this is supposed to be about pie, not mediocre historical research on Google and Wikipedia. So here it is...

Rhubarb Cream Pie.

I made it. I served it. I ate it. And, I am still not exactly sure what to say about it. I'll start by openly wondering what about it caused someone to call it a cream pie. Relative to what that designation connotes, at least in the pie world, it pales. I will simply say that it was interesting. And strange. And, I will not be making it again. Reviews were mixed, including an emphatic thumbs down on the home front (not the high style I was hoping for). With a now long list of pies, including some actual successes -- even success with rhubarb -- I don't see why this one would leave my own archives any time soon.

Black Bottom Butterscotch Pecan

2010-12-14T21:30:00.002-06:00

I failed to have a selection ready for Pie Club Monday at work last week. And, I am happy to report that I received a bit of a guilt trip, and I think I know why... No names, no names. The guilty will remain semi-, ok, not really all-that-anonymous. I am choosing to delude myself and believe that the pies are so good that people spend their weekends pining for Monday and an opportunity to taste a slice. In reality, it's free dessert. What more is required?

Come Thursday night, I decided I had better whip something up as a special Friday edition of the Pie Club, and eventually came up with a Black Bottom Butterscotch Pecan. Black bottom implies a stiff layer of chocolate between the crust and filling. I ended up with too much chocolate layer, but it was fun, and edible, nonetheless. I combined the recipe that I started with with this one, and I think the end result was actually quite good. No one complained, at least not loudly. Again, free dessert, etc., etc.

Here's a picture of pie #41.

Only eleven more to go. Any suggestions of pie that I just have to make before my mission is complete?

Peanut Butter Pie

2010-12-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

Running up against my Sunday night pie deadline a couple of weeks ago, I once again found myself scrounging around the kitchen for pie ingredients. I have previously made several peanut butter-based pies, but wanted this one to be simple with the filling focused entirely on the peanut butter.

Somehow, despite my simplistic intentions, I nonetheless ended up with plenty of chocolate elements in this pie. I am not the chocoholic that many are. Perhaps my mind simply can not get past the indoctrination that chocolate and peanut butter belong together?

So, the final version of the pie was the standard crust, infused with cocoa powder (and some additional sugar). By infused, I mean that I dumped a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder in with the dry ingredients. I just thought that "infused" sounded very foodie of me. To finish the crust, I melted a quarter cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and spread that concoction on the blind baked crust and allowed it to cool before pouring in the filling.

I made a basic cream filling, adding 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter near the end of the process. Here's a picture.

The most noteworthy aspects...

You can see a partial discoloration of the filling in the above picture, near the edge of the pie. That was caused by my failure to make sure that the entire filling was covered with plastic wrap while it set up. That edge was exposed to some air, which caused a skin of sorts to form, and the color change
The addition of cocoa powder caused the crust to become much more dense, hard, and less appetizing
The two chocolate elements tended to overpower the peanut butter flavor. Several eaters noted this. If I had it to do over again (and I suppose that I do), I would focus entirely on the peanut butter and make a simple pastry or graham cracker crust.

Thanksgiving Pies (Family Edition)

2010-12-11T08:00:00.002-06:00

During my sabbatical from organized pie making I managed to forget how easy it is to fall behind. It is easy to fall behind in the making of pies and even easier to fall behind in blogging about the pies that were made.

So, here I am briefly posting about pies that I made several weeks ago for our family Thanksgiving and hoping to get caught up soon.

I made two pies for our family Thanksgiving celebration, neither of which turned out to be very good. If I did not know any better, I would have thought that they were both made by someone who had never baked before. I hated them both and in retrospect am embarrassed to have served them. But, they were what they were, and I can not do anything about it now.

First, a decidedly mediocre "Fudgy" Chocolate Cream Pie. I skipped the meringue and went with whipped cream instead. I really doubt that it would have mattered.

And, a truly dreadful Banana Rum Cream. I really thought that I was going to like this one. Unfortunately, it sucked.

I am really hoping for a big weekend where I get caught up on this blog (I have two pies that have been made and consumed but not blogged about). Wish me well (or not, if you had the misfortune of having eaten either of these two pies)...

Thanksgiving Pie (Pie Club Edition)

2010-11-24T04:53:00.005-06:00

I admit to having struggled to select a pie this week. I went through scores of online recipes in the hope of finding just the right one. It seemed that every one that appeared promising ended up being rejected for one reason or another. In the end, I did not select a pie at all. The pie selected me.

With the difficulties that I was having picking a pie and the treacherous layer of ice on the roads on Sunday, I decided to walk around the kitchen in search of inspiration -- and a pie that could be made from ingredients already in-house. I did hope to keep to a holiday theme since I knew that this pie would be going to work for consumption and it is, of course, Thanksgiving week. Lo and behold... inspiration in gourd form. A butternut squash sitting on the counter was begging to be utilized. There has to be a recipe out there for butternut squash pie, I thought. There was. Inspired by several, I made up my own. The result was a pastry crust filled and baked as follows:

Ingredients

4 cups butternut squash - peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ginger (I used fresh grated)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3 large eggs

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup milk

There are several "combo" ingredients that could easily be replaced by a single ingredient. I used what was on hand. For example, the cream and milk could instead be 1/2 cup whole milk, or half-and-half.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Steam squash in a steamer basket and sauce pan until tender (approx. 12 minutes).
While the squash is steaming, combine the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl
Move the steamed squash to a food processor and process for about 1 minute, until smooth.
Whisk the eggs together, slowly incorporating about 1/2 cup of the warm squash puree.
Add the egg mixture back to the food processor, along with the dry ingredients, again processing for about 1 minute until completely combined
Pour the filling into an unbaked pastry crust
Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F.; bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until the center is just set.
Cool on wire rack for 2 hour, then refrigerate to cool completely.
Garnish with cinnamon-spiked whipped cream

The end result was a tastier, richer and smoother version of a standard pumpkin pie. I can not think of a reason that I would make a pumpkin pie again. This was much, much better.

The Saturday is our family get together for Thanksgiving. The plan is two pies for the holiday and now that pie club at work is back in full swing, I am probably required to show up on Monday with one too. A big week and big opportunity to add to the list here. I have a pie in mind for Saturday that I am particularly excited about. I hope it lives up to my internal hype.

Number 17

2010-11-18T05:30:00.000-06:00

If the name of this post is any evidence, I am acutely aware of the countdown as I slowly approach "done" on my pie-making venture. And yet, I am finding that there is something about it all that I really missed during my hiatus. I guess that for me there is some comfort in the repetitive acts of selecting and creating pies every week.

Mocha

I made a mocha pie at the request of a frequent pie eater at work.

This pie is difficult for me to rank as I am currently on a self-imposed, restricted diet that did not allow me to taste the pie -- therefore the difficulty. So, its rank will be based on feedback received, which was generally positive, visual appeal, and my own perception of the execution.

Overall, I was pleased with the end product, but there were, as always, a few miscues worth noting. Namely:

I made too much graham cracker crust for the pie plate that I ended up using. That plate is eight and one-half inches in diameter rather than nine, and so the resulting crust was awfully thick.
Based on the feedback, the coffee flavor was not very prominent (keep in mind that some of the eaters are coffee junkies). If I were to make this recipe again, I would incorporate additional espresso powder -- likely in both the main filling and the whipped cream topping

All in all, I think it was a good pie, and a smooth transition back to being in the game. One more ramp up weekend to come, and then the pressure of Thanksgiving week pie(s) begins. I am anticipating knocking several of the still remaining sixteen off over the next couple of weeks. I am looking forward to it.

Jeopardy

2010-11-09T03:39:00.006-06:00

Answer: What is 413?

Question: How many days will it take before the weight of not making all fifty-two pies becomes too much for me to bear and I make the final eighteen?

Here we are, just over a year later, and I am claiming to be back on the wagon. I have made an occasional pie in that time, but infrequently, and nearly always a repeat of one of the original thirty-four. In those days, I have had occasion to think long and hard about whether or not to finish the game. Now, 413 days later, it seems as though I am ready to do just that.

This past weekend, we were lucky enough to be invited to a paella party thrown by Diego and Sharon. If you have never had real-deal paella, believe me, you should! It was fantastic. I volunteered -- truth be told I was voluteered -- to provide the dessert. And thus, the origins of this post...

Lemon Meringue

Two pies were on the docket for paella night. Given the opportunity, it seems that I will always make a double crust rhubarb-pineapple, so that was the first. Second, I made a lemon meringue, which is similar to a prior pie (clementine meringue), but a classic in its own right.

An interesting twist for both of these pies is that there were some dietary restrictions (essentially no cow dairy), which meant modifications to my standard crust recipe (of course I have my own twists on that recipe, too). I substituted a couple of other fats, replacing about half of the butter with butter-flavored Crisco and the other half with coconut butter. All in all, it did not turn out bad (I have made, and eaten, worse crust), but I am even more firmly of the opinion that there are times where there is simply no substitute for the flavor that butter provides. An alternate option would have been to use goat or sheep butter. Perhaps another time I will try one of those.

To make a long story marginally shorter, here's the only surviving picture of the lemon meringue pie. I think that it turned out quite well. Other attendees enjoyed it too, or they were just nice enough to lie to me and claim that they did.

The recipe that I used for the filling came mostly* from here. Keep in mind that the name of the blog there is gotnomilk.wordpress.com. It turns out that one of the ingredients in the dairy-free pie is margarine. It turns out that most margarine -- Land O'Lakes anyone? -- includes some dairy. It turns out that I am a complete idiot (I know what some of you are thinking... You finally realized that?). So, I was genius enough, after being told no dairy, to serve... dairy. Lucky for me, in this small amount, there was not an issue the other night. But, talk about feeling like a fool. I sure hope to not make that mistake again.

* As usual, I insisted on messing with someone else's recipe in a valiant attempt to ruin it. So, with a nod to the all-powerful Martha and this recipe, I included some freshly grated ginger. In this case, I think it was a good choice and really improved the overall flavor.

I hope and plan to be back in a week with the next installment. I do have a backlog of pies that have been suggested to me to make, so making selections should not be difficult, at least for the next few weeks. Until then, enjoy what is left of the beautiful fall weather.

What Happened?

2009-09-19T06:05:00.003-05:00

Essentially, I traded one obsession for another this summer. Pie baking, and blogging about baking pies, became more and more of a tedious obligation as the summer went along, and other priorities took precedence. One of those was running my first ultramarathon at the Superior Hiking Trail Fall 50-mile. I feel confident in claiming that I was the only runner there whose blog is about pie baking and not running. Anyway, I took a sabbatical from pies while I put the finishing touches on my race preparation. What follows is my account of that race which I sent out to some interested parties.

Having had a few days to reflect on my first ultramarathon experience, here is my race report, such as it is (and was).

 My last run pre-race was a week out.  I did a nice, slow 7 miles on some single track near my house.  That went just fine, but within a couple of hours of finishing my lower back started tightening up.  I have some occasional back trouble, but seldom anything very significant.  This, however, turned out to be quite significant.  By mid-afternoon, if I sat or laid down for more than about 15 minutes I had a really hard time straightening back up again.  I would shuffle around like an 80-year-old man and struggle to stand upright. This continued for all of Saturday and Sunday, getting a little bit better on Monday (Labor Day), but no continued improvement on Tuesday.  So, I spent some time with the chiropractor during the week and crossed my fingers.  By then end of the week (Friday morning) I was still experiencing some soreness and a little stiffness, but I thought I at least felt good enough to go to the starting line and see what happened.  Nothing like adding yet another reason to be really nervous before the longest run of your life.

I had asked one of my best friends, Jay, to help me out during the race by meeting me at aid stations to replenish my food supply, fill water bottles, and listen to me whine.  He was kind enough to accept, so by mid-day on Friday we were on the road, headed to Lutsen, MN, where we would spend the night before driving back to Finland for the start at 6:00am on Saturday morning.  By and large the ride up was uneventful.  The highlight for me was probably watching Jay eat a Double Louie Burger at the Lake View Restaurant in Barnum.  2/3 lb. of hamburger, two kinds of cheese, bacon, and an onion ring.  A real heart-stopper!  I, on the other hand, had to be content with a plate of spaghetti.  Believe me, there were not many carb-loading options on the menu. 

The pre-race briefing at 7:00 on Friday night was largely uneventful.  We hung out and got some additional information about the course, a few tidbits of advice, and talked to a few other runners who sat at the same table with us.  The main thing that I remember noting was that everyone I saw seemed like they were 6 inches shorter and 40 lbs. lighter than me.  I'm sure it wasn't actually that drastic, but I am not the most inconspicuous of runners.  I also remember thinking to myself that I was just going to be happy to be back at that spot in 24 hours, hopefully having finished my first 50 (they label it a 50, but finishers are only to eager to clarify that it's actually 52.1).  I can vouch to never having thought about the extra 2.1 during the run, but it does add something now that it is over.

Race day

I slept fine, was up a few times, but that was mostly to relieve myself since I was working hard to be well hydrated at the start.  We woke up officially at 4:00am, planning to follow the bus (leaving at 5:00) out to the start area.  About all that I remember of that first hour was doing an inordinate amount of talking.  I hope I was not too annoying to Jay.  Of course, he'll never say one way or the other.  The nervous energy had definitely piled up and I think all of the babbling was a manifestation of my nerves.

The ride to the start was supposed to take about 30-35 minutes, but after leaving a few minutes late, we followed the bus for close to 50.  I still needed to check in, fill water bottles, and get my headlamp situation squared away.  Obviously, I had not fully comprehended the low-key nature of these kinds of races.  The bus arrived later than planned?  No big deal, we'll just start the race later.  I do not think that anyone had to rush in any way to the start line.  I actually had a few minutes to take some deep breaths before we got under way.  I am really glad, because that meant I had time to find and talk to my running buddy Scott, who was running too (and who I claim talked me into doing this in the first place -- not really true, I am not that hard to convince), and I also saw Dave and LeAnn who had camped out and were nice enough to show up to wish me luck.  As it turned out, they did way more than that and were at every aid station along the way.  I can not possibly thank them enough for the support.

Finally, the mass of humanity that is the 74 starters of the Superior Hiking Trail 50-mile, 2009 edition, slowly make there way out of the parking lot in Finland and onto the road, where the race director counts us down... 5...4...3...2...  Ok, not really.  All he said was, "Ok, go."  Again, low key.

Off we went, at a nice slow shuffle.  I ended up somewhere in the back quarter of the pack along with Scott and a bunch of other runners, some of whom were there because they were nervous about the distance, terrain, etc. and some because they were well aware of what was in front of them and they knew what they were doing.  After about a 1/4 mile of road running, we turned onto some single track trail under the light of the just-rising sun.  Many people had their headlamps on, but since we were so close together and it was starting to get light out, I never touched mine.  I don't think it made any discernible difference at that point.

Aid stations

 There are some sections of the race that are really a blur to me, but I'll try to at least relay some of what I was thinking during the parts that I do remember.  Mainly I remember moments and brief experiences, but in some parts I recall an overall feel for the difficulty of the section or some defining characteristic.  Here is what I recall:

Finland -> Sonju - 7.5 miles (0-7.5)

I recall three main things from this section.

We were all in a single file line on the trail, which is not really wide enough to pass on without someone stepping aside.  So, for the most part, the position you go in at is the position that you come out at as well.  Runners were very good about accommodating if you asked to go by, but I really did not feel comfortable asking.  For one, I had no idea how my back was going to respond.  If I was going to have a total meltdown 10 miles in, I would have felt like a complete idiot if I had spent most of that time telling people to get out of my way only to drop and have them all go streaming past an hour later.  Since I was pretty excited, I also wanted to use the terrain and other runners to force me to slow down.  By getting myself into a pack where it was hard to pass I thought I could throttle some of my enthusiasm and slow down the pace.  In the end, that was a good strategy, but there was one big problem with it...
I claim that there are two categories of runners (I am sure there are many others, but I can only comprehend the simplest concepts).  There are those who view it as a social activity and those who do it as a solitary activity.  I am definitely in the latter camp.  I do nearly all of my training alone and that time is always some of the most revitalizing time of any day for me.  Unfortunately, the group I was in for this section included a number of runners whom I would put in the social category.  Over time, runners who talk while they run tend to get on my nerves.  This is especially true of runners who talk loudly while they run.  I was on the trail with a few of these on the trail Saturday morning.  I have no doubt that runners like me who don't talk could be just as irritating to those who enjoy having a conversation while they run.  But, from my perspective, five miles was about all I could take.  Scott and I had a good laugh this week when re-hashing the race.  He told me that he remembers thinking to himself that "if they keep talking so loud, he (that's me) is going to bolt for sure!"  He could not have been more right.  I practically sprinted through the aid station at Sonju to get back out onto the trail where I could get some alone time.  As it turned out, that turned into nearly 12 hours of alone time.  
The other item of note in this section was that the humidity and temperature caused my glasses to fog up repeatedly.  I am not completely blind without glasses, but it is a challenge to see and with the roots and rocks that are everywhere on this trail, it added another obstacle to surmount.  Thankfully, this only lasted for the first half hour or so of the section and did not turn out to be a recurring problem.

Sonju -> Crosby-Manitou - 4.2 miles (7.5-11.7)

I was eating almost constantly thought these early sections.  Since your body does not store enough carbohydrate for a run of this length, you have to eat and/or drink to replenish what you burn.  The basic rule of thumb is that a 150 lb. person can absorb 300 calories per hour while running.  Since I am quite a bit heavier than that, I burn more and I was hoping I could eat more as well.  For these early sections, that was true.  I was able to stick to right around 400 calories per hour for the first 20 or so miles, and kept at around 300 for a while after that.  

I don't remember a whole lot about this part of the run other than the last half mile or so.  It is the only stretch that is run on a road from the time we enter the woods in Finland until we empty out of the woods in Lutsen with around a mile to go.  I was still moving pretty well when I got here, but did some hiking while finishing off what was left of the food that I had brought with me from the start.  I stuck to what I brought with throughout the race.  It went pretty well, but I can't say that I was too fired up to eat any of these things for a few days afterwards.  My diet:  Welch's fruit snacks, Honey packs, and Clif Shot Blocks.  It does not cover much of the food pyramid, but they are all things that I had practiced with and that I digest well; stomach issues are common in races of this duration, so that is very important.  Some consume drinks that have carbohydrates in them, but that has never worked very well for me.  I stuck with water.  Most (all?) ultra runners also take something to replace electrolytes.  I was taking S!Caps for that purpose.  My plan was one per hour, although I started taking them more often later on.  In retrospect, I probably could have taken them even more often.  c'est la vie!

This was also the first aid station that runner's crews had access to, so I got to see Jay, Dave, and LeAnn.  Jay was completely on top of things here and got me through the aid station really quickly.  I soon was checking out and working my way down the trail on what is generally regarded as one of the tougher legs of both the 50-mile and 100-mile races.

Crosby-Manitou -> Sugarloaf Road - 9.4 miles (11.7-21.1)

Scott and I had purposely run/hiked this section in the spring so that we would have some idea what to expect.  I have to admit that I did not really remember the first few miles, but it all came roaring back to me when we crossed a bridge a few miles in and started a series of steep, long ascents.  Along the way here, I hooked up with two young guys from central Illinois and we ran together for I would guess 5 or 6 miles.  We talked a little bit, but mostly just kept each other company by our physical presence together on the trail.  By this time it was starting to get pretty warm, especially for that part of the state at this time of year.  It had been muggy from the beginning, and I was starting to feel the effects already.  

When we tried this section out in the spring we both agreed that it was extremely difficult and definitely a section to worry about.  I don't disagree with that now, but after a summer of conditioning, it was not really all that bad.  On the other hand, I can not imagine tackling it at mile 60 in the middle of the night when many of the 100-mile racers had to.  It was tough enough when we did it.

Right around when we crossed the Caribou River, things flatten out some and I was able to run again instead of just fast hiking.  Towards the end of the section I got passed by a few other runners, who I would leapfrog with for the next few hours.  All in all, I came into the Sugarloaf Road aid station feeling pretty good.  There were a lot of runners in this station working on recovering from the section they had just completed, and I think, rehydrating due to the heat and humidity.  I should have spent a little bit more time there and taken in some additional fluids, but I did not and was soon on my way.  

Sugarloaf Road -> Cramer Road - 5.6 miles (21.1-26.7)

This entire section was largely uneventful except for a couple of noteworthy fellow runners, a change in the weather, and the quote of the day.

First the runners.  I was about a mile or so in when a couple of young (mid-20s) guys came running along behind me.  They were talking to each other a little bit and seemed to be working together.  Up to that point, I had been doing about 3/4 running and 1/4 walking in this section, so they definitely seemed to be moving faster than I was.  Just after I stepped off the trail for a few steps to allow them to go by I heard one of them say that he thought he had about 10 more good miles or running in him.  Then he planned to gut it out to the final aid station and walk it in if he had too.  My legs were definitely starting to feel the effects of the terrain and heat and so I estimated that 10 more good miles sounded pretty good for me too.  So, I started shuffling along with them.  It turned out that we ran at a similar pace and if I just forced myself to hang with it, I kept up with them pretty well.  If they had not happened along, that section would undoubtedly have been much slower for me, so thanks to them!

The last 20+ minutes of this section saw a pretty significant turn in the weather.  We got rained on pretty hard, which actually did not feel too bad.  The trail got pretty greasy in spots and there were some big puddles to soak your shoes, but overall it was not too bad.  The only downside was that once again, my glasses came into play.  I pulled down the brim of my hat to try to shield my glasses, which apparently cranked up the temperature and fogged my glasses up.  So, the last quarter mile before the aid station I spent squinting my eyes trying to see the flags leading me on.  By the time I got to the station it had largely stopped raining and after a quick cleaning, putting on a dry shirt, and ditching my hat, I was off once again -- as usual thanks largely to my near-professional crew.

Oh yes, the quote...  The young guys came into this aid station a minute or so before me, but I left much quicker.  On my way out, I heard them talking to each other and one summed up my thoughts.  "This isn't the dumbest thing I've ever done, but it's in the top 3."  My sentiments exactly.

Cramer Road -> Temperance River - 7.1 miles (26.7-33.8)

I was still feeling reasonably good as I started this section.  I definitely knew that I was approaching a time where I would be much closer to splitting running and walking evenly, and I did not really know what to expect from the terrain, so I just started out at a slow jog.  I do not think that I encountered a single other runner for about the first 4 miles of this section.  I was pretty focused and thought long and hard about what the right strategy was to get to the finish.  I considered really throttling back and trying to keep a good combination of running and walking through to the end.  But, instead, I decided that I would continue to try to run as much as possible, for as long as I could and then live with whatever consequences there were in the last 18 miles or so.  As I look back, I think that was the right decision.  I was going to be doing a lot of walking in the last few sections in any case (the last and 3rd to last are very hilly), so it would not have made sense to conserve.  

A long stretch of this section follows along the Cross River, which was quite fun and offered a nice change of scenery and sounds, although huge tree roots and rocks came along with it.  Not the most runnable, at least not for me.  I actually caught several other runners in the last few miles of this section and eventually got blown away by the same two young guys I ran with earlier (at least one of whom ended up over an hour in front of me!).  The last mile or so of this section was a long, steep, and seemingly straight down hill descent to the aid station that absolutely fried my quads.  Until that point I was definitely feeling the fatigue of what we were doing, but that last stretch really took the life out of my legs.  They would eventually recover to an extent, but I would not run very well for any length of time again.  Believe me, I could not have been the only one because I did not get passed by very many others after this point even though I walked the majority.

I did spend some extra time at this aid station, just working on recovering as best that I could.  In the end though, I knew I was not going to completely recover and the only way to get to the finish is to plow forward, one step at a time, so off I went.  I am pretty sure that I told Jay that I would be walking the majority of the next section to try to get my legs back together.  As it turned out, I am sure that I walked over half of it, but a large portion was due to the elevation changes and terrain and not as much because of my legs. My legs actually recovered well enough to run/walk fairly well.  If I had it to do over again, I think I would have to have a better strategy for that downhill.  I am not sure what that would be, but perhaps just bombing down it and letting momentum carry you rather than braking with your quads is the way to go.  Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but then there is not much at mile 33 of 52 that isn't such a recipe.

Temperance River -> Britton Peak - 5.7 miles (33.8-39.5)

Looking back, this entire section seems like it was one long assault on Carlton Peak.  Whenever I have seen or heard runners enumerate the most difficult sections in the race, they never mention this one, but I truly do not know why.  I found it to be really difficult.  There is a pretty steep and reasonably long climb up Carlton and there are parts that are simply bouldering, you really could not run at all, no matter how good you feel.  Two things, though, stand out for me here.  It was in this section, while climbing the last bits of Carlton Peak that my legs really cramped for the first time.  I was climbing with another runner when I almost fell over when trying to step up a rock.  My calves were really fighting me and I even had to stop for a minute to sort things out.  I do not think that they ever actually improved.  I just learned to alter my gait and climbing style enough to get by.  I am sad to say that I really did not consider here that I probably should have been pounding down electrolytes at the next aid station and also making sure to fully rehydrate.  After one break about 8 miles in, I did not urinate at all for the rest of the day.  That is a pretty good sign that I had really fallen over into dehydration and I think that the strong cramping was a good indicator that a more experienced ultra-marathoner would have recognized easily and worked to correct.  Me?  Plow forward, one step at a time.  My mantra.

Right near the end of this section I happened upon two runners who it turned out were a 100-miler and a friend who was pacing them.  One of them was in pretty rough shape and was limping very noticeably.  Right around that time we got a few sprinkles of rain and the pacer said, "We asked for rain and an aid station.  We got the rain."  I found that pretty humorous and could not have agreed more.  I'm not sure the guy limping along found it to be quite so funny.  I know they sought out some help once we got to the station, but I do not know if they ended up finishing or not.

Britton Peak was the aid station that I volunteered at least year, so it was nice to see a familiar area, even if mainly it just reminded me of the distance still to go.  This was the first section where I really did not do a very good job of eating.  I have no idea how much I gave back to Jay, but it was quite a bit.  He did a great job of reminding me of the importance of continuing to take the electrolytes even if I could not choke down the food.  I even took an S!Cap in the aid station and almost immediately asked him if I had taken it yet or not.  I was definitely a little fuzzy at that point, but knew that the next five plus miles were not terribly difficult and hoped that I could get in some extra water and do some recovering.  So, after a few minutes with an ice-filled towel on my neck -- I'm telling you, the guy thinks of everything! -- I was off once again.

Britton Peak -> Oberg Mountain - 5.5 miles (39.5-45.0)

This was probably the least interesting section of the entire race for me.  I really was not in any condition to do significant running (I'm sure I ran less than a mile total) and there just were not any real distinguishing characteristics of this section for me.  I did manage to get a little bit obsessive, for maybe the first time in the race, about my time.  Once I got this far, I was calculating that if things went reasonably well I may be able to get all the way to the finish without having to crank up my headlamp and slog up and over the last few hills/mountains in the dark.

By the time I got to the Oberg parking lot, I thought I was still on pace to sneak all the way through before it got dark, so I refilled water, made Jay load me up with electrolytes, switched shirts one last time, and sprinted on my way.  Ok, in this case sprinted was more of a slow walk, but in my head...

Oberg Mountain -> Lutsen (Caribou Highlands) - 7.1 miles (45.0-52.1)

The rule is that if you arrive at Oberg prior to the last cutoff it does not matter how long the final 7.1 miles takes you.  If you make it to the finish line, you're official.  So, it was a good feeling to know that unless something absolutely crazy happened, I was going to finish.

This spring when I had run this section solo, I had made a navigational mistake early on and added almost two additional miles of climbing to the route.  Needless to say, I did not want a repeat performance.  Thankfully, the trail was well marked for the race.  Whew!

Of all of the sections, this is the one that I am most familiar with (2 previous runs, better than nothing), and I actually think that helped.  It allowed me to put some milestones along the way in my head and break the entire section up a little bit.  I did run into a surprising number of other runners in this section, although only one of them was actually running.  I passed several (4?) 100-milers in the section along with a couple of 50-milers.  I also got blown away by one 50-mile runner who was still running.  I, on the other hand, could not have run more than a mile or two total prior to the finishing stretch once you come off of the trail onto the road to the finish.  Still, it is not like I was getting passed by a sea of other runners, so I could not have been the only one.  I had some reasonably severe cramping on a couple of the climbs (especially on Moose Mountain) and worried for a little while that I would not be able to do it, but I kept pressing on and eventually my legs complied -- complied here is a relative term, it's not like I was feeling great.

Roughly a mile from the finish, you can hear the Poplar River shortly before you cross it and head out of the woods to the finish.  Believe me, that was a sound for sore ears.  I made a deal with myself in the last few miles that I did not even have to try to run anymore until I got to the road and then I had to run all the way to the finish.  It was not the most elegant of runs, but I held up my end and shuffled/ran that last stretch to the finish.  I have to admit that hearing so many of the runners who had already finished the other races as well as the 50-mile cheering as I ran the final 100 yards sounded pretty great.  I finished with a flourish by tripped on my very last step across the finish line and almost taking out the volunteer taking numbers.  Thankfully, I kept my feet, but I doubt anyone would have used the word graceful when describing my performance.  The clock is running for all three races, so it does not necessarily tell you your time, but the minutes were :35, so I knew I had finished in 13 hours, 35 minutes.  As it turns out, at least in the preliminary results that have been posted, they pulled off the eight minutes that we started late, so my unofficial official time is 13:27.  24th of 54 finishers and 74 starters.  I'll take it.

At the finish

If you have read this far, you must be related to me.  I'll try to keep the rest of this brief because enough is enough already.

After the finish I just wanted to lay down, so I did.  Unfortunately I started cramping so bad that I really could not get back up.  I am so glad that I did not fall down in the last section (or even one of the two before that) because I am not sure how I would have gotten back up by myself.  Does LifeAlert work from Moose Mountain?

I hung around the finish area for probably an hour or so, got a chance to talk some more with Jay, Dave and LeAnn, as well as with Scott and his family.  He had a great time and cannot wait to do it again.  As for me... this was my first and only.  Who knows for certain what the future holds, but I definitely do not have any interest in doing it again at tis point.

Finally, if anyone ever needs a crew for a trail ultramarathon, I know just the person.  Jay was unbelievable all day long and made the aid stations so easy for me.  I couldn't possibly thank him enough.  As well, it was so great to see Dave and LeAnn at every single aid stop.  It definitely made it a lot easier to keep going having people I knew around.  It is appreciated more than they know, I am sure.

That's it.  A piece of cake.  Let me know if you want me to crew for you next year in the 50... or the 100.

Having finished that, I can confidently swap back once again. I'll be resuming pie baking in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully consistently blogging as well. I'll have to go back and re-tally the counts; there were a few pies that I never posted a picture of nor blogged about, but there must be about a dozen pies left to get to 52. Stay tuned, I'll be right back!

Weeks 30 - 33

2009-06-09T20:55:00.001-05:00

I have completely fallen off the wagon the past month or so as far as blogging goes. I have been keeping up on the pie baking, but obviously not the blogging. So, the past four pies...

Week #30: Kiwi - http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/1540/kiwi-pie.html

The pie bird made its first appearance in the making of this one, so there are a few extra pictures...

It tasted a surprising amount like apple.

Week #31: Cherry - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Classic-Sour-Cherry-Pie-with-Lattice-Crust-242514

Horrible picture quality and most pieces looked better than this, but they all tasted good.

Week #32: Blueberry - a combination of the following, http://elise.com/recipes/archives/000608blueberry_pie.php, and http://www.pickyourown.org/blueberrypie.php

Week #33: Raspberry/Cherry - http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Raspberry-Cherry-Pie/Detail.aspx?src=etaf. I loved this one.

I'm loving (making and eating) the fresh fruit pies.

Week #28 & 29 pies

2009-05-15T05:23:00.004-05:00

Mostly pictures of the past two pies

Lemonade cheesecake. I maintain that this was definitely not cheesecake, it is just unfortunately named. Anyway, it is a nice, reasonably light pie that is extremely easy to make (perhaps the easiest so far) and would be a great summer pie. You can find the recipe here.

If you looked at the recipe and were wondering, I ain't piping whipped cream any time soon.

And, from the ever so slightly off-center mind of E.S., chocolate chip pie...

I added my own slightly more off-center touch and made up this pie. It consisted of:

The usual pastry crust
A big chocolate chip cookie laid on top of the crust
A layer of home made vanilla custard
A layer of chocolate chips
A layer of the above custard mixed with whipped cream
A sprinkling of chocolate chips on the top

I think it turned out okay, if a little bit strange for a pie.

C'mon, I know you think the rose is a nice touch.

We probably should have waited a little bit longer for it to set up, but sometimes you just get impatient, right?

Pie of the Week - Week #30

2009-05-15T05:18:00.003-05:00

Kiwi Pie.

Once again, I have no idea what this might/will look like, which only adds to the fun.

I will be out of town most of the weekend, as well, so I will likely have to endure another Monday of whining at work regarding the lack of a "pie day." Oh well, at least they're not begging me to stop forcing them to eat my experiments.

Have a great weekend!

Pie of the week - Week #29

2009-05-08T05:05:00.002-05:00

I solicited pie flavor advice from one of the more creative people I know this week. Her response was immediate. "Chocolate Chip!" We discussed the idea briefly and neither she, nor I, knows what a chocolate chip pie looks like. That leaves it open for interpretation, and I am sure that it could go in many directions.

Thoughts, anyone?

Pie of the Week - Week #28

2009-05-01T04:40:00.002-05:00

I am undoubtedly going to get bludgeoned over the name, but I assure you, it is a pie.

It is called Lemonade Cheesecake Pie. Despite the unfortunate choice of name, it fits the definition. And, it is a request, which seems to have become the theme lately. That is fine by me.

I have seen the recipe, and it looks simple to make and oh so good. Maybe those are the new criteria...

Week #27 - Chocolate, Banana, Peanut Butter Cream

2009-05-01T04:04:00.005-05:00

As I mentioned in last week's post, this week's pie came about as a reaction to some comments about flavors that go well together during the semi-weekly pie tasting at work. Since no particular pie was mentioned, that gave me another opportunity to make up a recipe rather than follow a script.

If you recall, the flavor's mentioned were chocolate, peanut butter, and banana. With those flavors in mind, I attempted to cobble something together.

Here is the fallout...

The Crust

I started with the usual pastry crust recipe, with some additions:

1/2 cup of cocoa
1 additional tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

The crust did not turn out too bad, but the consistency ended up being a little bit off. It definitely was not flaky like the pastry crust normally is. I assume that the cocoa was largely responsible for that change. Overall, it was not a horrible crust, but it ended up a little bit thick and hard. Not the highlight, although I did not think that it ruined the pie. The peanuts added a little bit of texture, but were not as noticeable as I had expected. If I had it to do over again, I think that I would just skip the nuts in the crust.

The Filling, part 1

I blind baked the crust and then borrowed the "truffle" layer from an earlier pie for this one. The crust itself did not end up with a strong chocolate flavor, so I am glad that I included this layer, otherwise I do not think that the chocolate would have been a strong enough component.

The Filling, part 2

The rest of the filling was simply layers of sliced bananas and a peanut butter custard/cream. This part of the filling went well. I have made several similar pies now and so it was not a completely foreign experience. Maybe I am actually starting to get it! Probably not, but maybe...

Here is a full shot (just some grated chocolate on the top)

And a slice (you can make out the layers if you squint really hard). Nothing cute about this one. That is one manly, deep-dish slice of pie!

I shared some with the whole family after it had set up for about six hours and it was pretty nicely balanced among the three major flavors. By the next day, however, the bananas had really started to overpower the peanut butter. There is surely some lesson to be learned there. Do not use bananas that are too ripe perhaps? Ah, it is all lost on me. I just make a pie a week for crying out loud. If you like it, eat it. If not, throw it away.

Next week... controversy

Week #25 & #26 - Chocolate/Peanut/Caramel & Margarita

2009-04-24T05:51:00.002-05:00

I'm finally getting back on track with the pie baking after several stressful weeks of pie baking too near to the last minute. I doubt that anyone who knows me well would say that I am an organized person, but I do not enjoy leaving things until the last minute either. Can't handle the pressure of a deadline, I suppose. So, finally, this week I made two different pies within a couple of days to get back on track.

Week #25 - Dark Chocolate, Peanut, Caramel

Technically, this is suppposed to be a tart. But, with 24+ weeks under my belt, I just figured I could make a few modifications and I would just have some little pies, right? Needless to say, if you follow this blog with any regularity, things did not turn out as intended. Do they ever for me?

First, this was by far the most complex recipe that I have tried to execute. There were all kinds of tools required, of which I had... none. And, there were a lot of steps to construct the different elements. The recipe includes some instructions for constructing the "shells" that I could not complete either, so I just thought I would throw individual crusts into their own ramekin and all would be well. It wasn't.

In the end, I would not even consider what I ended up with to be a pie (not even through my deluded eyes). The crust ended up being far too runny to roll into a crust. The consensus is that the lack of the proper stand-up mixer implements infused too much air into the mix and it was overmixed, so what I ended up with was basically tiny cakes covered with chocolate, peanuts, and caramel. You can kind of see in the picture below that this supposed pie ended up being just a layering of different elements on top of each other.

It ended up tasting okay, actually, but it was not a pie by any reasonable definition. Say it with me: "They can't all turn out."

Week #26 - Margarita

This one was a straight recommendation from a friend at work (including a link to the recipe; thanks, A.P.) and is a brilliant addition to the menagerie. I have this one ranked in the top five. It is easy to make and would be a refreshing, tasty summer pie. Plus, it has a nice tequila bite. What more could you ask for?

This is not the most beautiful in full pie state; the presentation is much more about individual slices. Nonetheless, here is the full pie.

And, a slice. Much cuter!

The simplicity of this recipe really allows the flavors to shine through. You can taste each individual component, the fresh-squeezed lime juice, the tequila, the whipped cream. And, the lime zest gives it a nice textural component. This is definitely one of my favorites. It did not last long at work either, so I apparently was not the only one who enjoyed it.

Oh, how I love the Martha! Convicted felon or not, makes no difference to me.

Time flies

This is becoming more and more of a blur, but the margarita pie makes twenty-six weeks. I can not believe that I am half way done already. Now, the fun should really begin as some local fruit starts to become available. Hopefully I have learned something over the past months and can produce some worthy pies over these next few.

It is should be a glorious summer of pie in our household!

Pie of the Week - Week #27

2009-04-22T20:46:00.002-05:00

At today's pie fest at work, I heard this: "You know what is good? Bananas and peanut butter. Maybe throw a little chocolate in there."

So, next week the pie will combine those three elements in some way. I have some ideas and so I am leaning toward doing a little bit of invention. Should be fun.

Blame it on Tiger and Phil

2009-04-15T21:09:00.001-05:00

What do you think? Is this the way Coconut Custard Pie is supposed to look?

Apparently I am going to stick with the "they can't all turn out great" theme for at least a little while longer. All was well with this recipe, at least until I got to the part about broil, about 3 or 4 inches away from heat, for two to four minutes. The pie even looked pretty good, if reminiscent of the custard pie that I did not have the palate to enjoy as much as the resident foodie.

The other recurring theme of this blog seems to be that I aint really good too many smarts. Enter Tiger and Phil.

I had to make a pie on the last day of the pie cycle this week, in other words on Saturday. I whipped up the usual crust and coconut custard pretty easily. The finishing touches were supposed to applied on Sunday, as based on the recipe "before serving..." That means it is quick and easy, right?

You would have thought so, but this was the juncture at which my lack of focus/intelligence kicked in. Hard.

But, really, who can resist a good final day at the Masters? And even more, a dual between Tiger and Phil? Ok, it didn't end up to be the day to remember that either one of them may have hoped, but the drama sure was fun while it lasted. What, you may ask, does this have to do with pie? Well, who can honestly be expected to pay attention to the broiling of pie topping when heavyweights are trading blows in high definition? Needless to say, do not expect it from me. The suggested two to four minutes turned into five. Which, as can be seen from the result, is long enough for the sugar/coconut mixture to ignite, but not long enough to run out of fuel. At least I got to see the flames!

So, not my finest hour as a pie baker. But, we were able to peel off some of the burned parts and still eat some of the custard. It wasn't too bad, but not quite fit for public consumption. As always, there's next week.

Also

I still have not made the dark chocolate, peanut, caramel pie that I have been blathering about for the last month. And so, I am still running six days behind the usual schedule. One of these weekends I have to make two to get caught up. Maybe this will be the weekend.

Whether I get caught up this weekend or not, the next pie on the list is by request once again: Margarita. This time, the request even came with a recipe attached. We shall see what Martha has in store.