Strawberry Pink Lady Apple Pie

This past SXSW festival I was determined to get out and see as many free shows as my sleep-deprived body could handle. This was the year, I told myself, to finally take part in Austin's famous, internationally-renowned event. My friend Spike and I hopped on our bikes and slowly made our way through downtown crowds, first to enjoy a light bike ride, then to hit the clubs for some shows. I found the amount of people daunting, reminding myself I hate, hate, large crowds, yet reminding myself further that I was determined to take in SXSW; Spike and I rode along. We stopped at Club DeVille and as approached the door Spike admitted, you know, I am just not feeling this. I replied, hey, want to go make some pie? And that was SXSW 2013 for me.

Blueberries Two Ways

Continuing with my current berry obsession I bought 5 pints of blueberries from HEB the other day because they cost $1.67 each. 5 pints of blueberries - local blueberries - for less than $10! I am only surprised that I didn't go and buy 20. Nevertheless, I was left with 8 cups of blueberries sitting in my fridge, twice as much as I needed for my open-face blueberry - my concession to patriotic desserts. Also, one of my favorite pies to make if only because it is so simple. You prebake a pie shell - homemade or store-bought, I don't judge - then add your slightly cooked blueberry filling. Chill for a couple of hours and slice into berry heaven. The filling takes less than 15 minutes to make and once you've tasted you'll wonder why anyone would bother buying canned blueberry pie filling, anyway.

 The remaining blueberries left me in a bind. Sure, I could leave them to be eaten as snacks or with yogurt, though I had no yogurt, but without fail some of them (most of them, likely) would go moldy before I (or Seth) had a chance to finish them. I hate to let food spoil. And yet I'm not much of a breakfast person in that I don't care for breakfast, at all (I'd rather wait for lunch) so blueberry pancakes were out. I could only see one way out: I had to make another dessert. Le sigh, my life is so very difficult.

Summer Apple Raspberry Pie

I love berries, from the exotic lingon to the oft-despised rasp, the flashy strawberry to the humble blue: I want them all. With berry season in full-swing I have been buying pints and quarts every time I enter a store, then gobbling them by the handful like the candy they are. It's been three years since I've had fresh berries, considering they weren't available in Uganda (not the right climate) and while blueberries and blackberries were occasionally imported to Kuwait, Seth and I looked at the price of a pint and decided to go on a trip to England, instead. But here in Texas I have fresh berries grown right in the states. Not since LA I have tasted anything so sweet.

Cossack Pie

During my short visit back to the States to see my sisters and their families I was struck with a bit of irony: while I enjoy staying with my sister Amanda (whose husband is a vegetarian) because I don't have to eat or cook meat every day (yay!) she looks forward to having another adult omnivore in the house. So while I spent my free time perusing the myriad vegetarian cookbooks in the kitchen Amanda would list the meat products she had bought (ground turkey, chicken breasts, roaster in the freezer - we could buy shrimp!) in anticipation of my arrival; we compromised with meat for lunch and vegetarian for dinner. Thank goodness, because it meant she was able to make the deceptively delicious Cossack pie for dinner one night, a simple (I suppose you could also call it "rustic") quiche-like dish that manages to be both light and filling. Imagine.

Beef Stew Pie

Seth and I returned from England Tuesday night, along with a mean craving for meat pie. Well, I had a craving for meat pie, which seems to me quintessentially British, right up there with fish and chips. I wanted to make something of the steak & kidney or cheese onion variety, only tasty. I briefly searched the internet but was put off by recipes that called for boiling everything in some stock - with no pre-browning! - then covering it with a pastry made of flour and suet and boiling some more. Eck, no wonder British cuisine gets a bad rap. But it only took a couple of these "boil everything" recipes for me to realize that meat pie is just beef stew cooked in a pie crust - almost head-slapping obvious.