Tuesday, July 27, 2010

An Ap'pie'tizing Evening


I am anxiously awaiting my evening after work. Why, you ask? Because I will spend it elbow deep in homemade pie crust, peaches, Mexican rice, and cheese. That’s right, I’m a-cookin’ up a storm tonight and I could not be more thrilled.

My need for pie baking started last week. I started watching Pushing Daisies on Netflix and I was instantly enthralled, both with the show and with the gorgeous pies that are featured in every episode. If you have never seen the show, I heartily encourage you to do so. It’s sweet, mysterious, fanciful, and visually beguiling. I feel as if it was written, produced, filmed, and aired just for little ‘ol me. I hate that it was cancelled, but that’s the way of the entertainment world…good shows like Arrested Development and Party Down are cancelled to make way for another season of King of Queens or some b.s. show like it.

Anyway, back to pies. I have baked pies before, but only with store bought crust. I decided to bake from scratch, but geez, who knew pie baking was such a science? Well, it is. I acquired a recipe on epicurious for a basic pie crust and got an education on pastry making 101. Apparently, temperature of the ingredients is key (which should be expected when something is 80% butter, duh), and you have to be patient because this recipe is not for the instant gratification junkie.

So I made the dough last night and it is sitting in two perfect discs in my refrigerator as I type this…just waiting to be extracted, warmed up, rolled out and baked to ideal gastronomic perfection. I decided on a peach pie. In the market, the peaches are practically begging to be gobbled, sending wafts of ripe peach perfume as quasi-smoke signals to my nose. Though the construction of the dough was challenging, tonight’s activity of rolling out the dough is what will separate the men from the boys. I’ll let you know how it goes…

To accompany the peach pie (and provide a filling element in case the pie goes awry) will be my Mexican casserole. An evening of cooking, baking, and filling the house with all sorts of yummy aromas is like a day at the spa to me. I can’t wait.

Results of my evening posted tomorrow. Or the day after that if I get too busy.

Cheers!

1 comment:

Herrington Photography said...

Sounds GREAT. I love to bake. I'm no good as a cook. I think baking is as nice as a day in the spa too. It's relaxing and just plain fun. I've stopped baking recently in an effort to help shrink my waist line, but anytime I get the opportunity to bake something - I do. Enjoy your peach pie.