I don’t, entirely, know where it came from, (and asking if it was flavoured by a certain favourite TV show, and a certain favourite movie both of which happen to be centred around pies, and pie diners is probably a chicken and egg kinda question for me, frankly).
The pies of my youth were not anything special. I do remember my grandmother’s raspberry rhubarb pie being particularly good (although that certainly had something to do with the raspberries and rhubarb freshly gathered from my grandparents back yard). My grandmother also had a little to do with my undying belief that apple pie is best accompanied by a slice of sharp cheddar cheese (making Chuck’s family on Pushing Daisies my kinda people).
But somewhere along the way, I got bogged down with the unnatural flavour and colour of commercial cherry pie filling, (not to mention it’s inevitable pits and stems), the occasional too-sour cranberry pie, and most of all soggy, torpid, unappealing crusts. I avoided pie, at all costs.
I think it was upon a visit to a pie diner in the outskirts of Seattle where my love for pies first emerged. I have no idea what the place was called, all I know is that they served a mean chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles, and a couple dozen delicious varieties of pie. I wish I could go back there, just to hear the pacific north-western waitress rhyme off the unending list of varieties of heaven-by-the-slice.
Things, recently having come to a head as they have, with visions of pies served in lieu of cake at my own wedding swimming in my head, I decided it was probably time to actually cook up my own pie (a seasonally appropriate butternut squash pie, to be specific).
So, I’m going to recommend if you want to do the same, to immediately go to Smitten Kitchen and read pie crust’s 101, 102 and 103 (but especially 102). Although my recipe veered away from her’s a little, in that I used pastry flour and salted butter in my crust - omitting the added salt. However, through the Smitten Kitchen’s intervention, I think I’ve realised that my problem with most pie crusts is solely related to their inclusion of things that aren’t butter.
Butter is better. End of story.
It makes your crust taste like the nummiest shortbread, crumble and flake like it should, and your kitchen smell like butterscotch. Shortening tastes like oil and chemicals. Lard tastes like pigs. Go for the butter, instead.
So. I make pie now.
It’s a brave new world.
Butternut Squash Pie
(This will probably make enough filling for 2 shallow pies, or 1 deep dish pie, or in my case 1 overfilled pie and a half dozen tartlets.)
1 butternut squash
1 teaspoon butter or oil
Cut squash in half, remove seeds, rub with butter (or oil) roast in oven on sheetpan (cut side down) at 400(f) for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven, remove skin and puree meat using blender, food processor, or (like me) your grandma’s awesome old potato ricer.
2 cups butternut squash (roasted and pureed)
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
2 teaspoons chai masala spice (or pumpkin spice)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients
Pour into pie crust (I used Smitten Kitchens pie 102) and bake for 40 minutes, or until filling is set.
Serve when cool, smothered in cinnamon whipped cream.
I’ve been… distracted. I apologize. Lot’s of things in the works, lot’s of things in the air - is it Christmas soon or something?
WHAT?
Less than a month? WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?
Oh, right, the leaves turned, fell, then it snowed, then they started playing carols in the malls, and today is American thanksgiving, and next it’s Christmas. Right. Well, all I’m saying is nobody told me, and - dude… presents! I don’t have ANYTHING yet. Sigh. I don’t think this is the year I get all creative and make everything ahead of time… *sigh*
Oh well. On the upside, this week has been good.
On Friday we went to the ballet. I dragged Liam along (he went surprisingly willingly - probably because he’s supposed to take me to the opera sometime and has yet to actually do so - and because he was seeing a Raptors game on the weekend). It was alright. Not as good as the nutcracker. The dancing was kinda meh, and the sets were boring, although there were some cute costumes (bohemian, Imperialist Russia - good era for outfits). The ending was definitely anti-climactic, although I didn’t really expect anything less from ballet based on a Russian Drama.
On Sunday I had my sister over while Liam and my little brother went to the basketball game (his birthday was last week).
We gorged on wine and Qubecois cheese while they were gone…..mmmmmmmmmm cheese….
Anyways, when they came back I made pulled pork burritos and for desert we had banana gelato with home-made mars bar sauce. Yeah, I’m a pretty awesome sister.
Then, this week, a friend called inquiring about a burger place we had told him about called the Yellow Griffin so we decided to pay a visit. They have over THIRTY FIVE themed burger toppings to choose from, on EIGHT different kinds of meat burgers (beef, chicken, turkey, pork, lamb, vegetable, bison and salmon). AMAZING, right?
I decided to go for something really different this time, so I had the “New Mexican.” It involved some of my very favourite things - salsa, avocado, sweet potatoes, peanut butter - all smothering a nummy hand formed patty. I know what you’re saying - you’re saying “Peanut butter! On a burger! Sacrilege!” And you would be right. It was sacridelicious. In fact, I’ve decided peanut butter with a hint of cilantro is my new favourite hamburger topping.
Don’t get that look on your face.
Don’t pretend to yak.
That’s what you did the first time you heard about poutine*, and then you tried it, and it was heaven, so don’t knock beef smothered in peanuty goodness til you try it, ok?
If you’ve still got pumpkin kicking around, (and I’m betting you do - it’s a proving to be a pretty ubiquitous/trendy ingredient this fall) this is a great recipe to try out - especially if you’re not in the mood for something sweet. The pumpkin makes the soup super velvety, and combined with avocados it just drove me crazy with it’s deliciousness.
Umm, so Jamie Oliver put out a video game for the Nintendo DS. Weird, right? As much as cooking and video games are two of my greatest loves, I’m not sure they mix all that well, even if Jamie does put his rather awesome stamp on it. As a very good friend once put it (although I think he was talking about Nu Metal at the time) it’s like mixing soup with ice cream. I love both, but that doesn’t mean I want to eat them together.
Now this is an odd combination I can totally get behind: an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind themed pie, inspired by the movie Waitress. Yes, it’s tangerine flavoured. What’s not to love about that?
Just a new little blog that I stumbled on that combines adorable illustrations with a strong design sense and vegan comfort foods. Sounds pretty nice and cosy right? BTW The girl who writes it is from Portland. You know how I feel about Portland.
I love the home-spun graphic design of Cooks Country Magazine, and of course recipes don’t get any better than those of the editors, (also of America’s Test Kitchen, and Cook’s Illustrated). Even more than all that though, I looooooooove regional and traditional American food. It’s one of my little obsessions. So, fingers crossed that Santa sends me this one for Christmas.
I tend to swoon over adorable, high-end childrens magazines. This one is free and on the internet, so I don’t have to feel weird about paying money for a magazine about something I don’t have (yet).
And really, I would wear every last outfit in there if they made it adult sizes. There is some gorgeous, swoon-worthy stuff. Check it out.
It’s a pumpkiny season, and there is a bumper crop of squashes out there to be scooped up at discounted prices, so a New York Times collection of pumpkin based recipes is pretty timely. Plus, pumpkins are delicous.
Ombre is pretty. Crafts are fun. These pretty and fun ombre crafts live in that unique Martha Stewart universe where crafty projects end up looking high end, and elegant. You know, as opposed our own dimension where the words “Crafty” and “Elegant” are often mutually exclusive.
Karen over at Say It With Pie has long sung the praises of these hand made, artisinal undies. They went on sale, so I finally broke down and bought a set - a days of the weeks set, to be specific - because who doesn’t love an adorable days of the weeks set of underwear? And they’re typographic underwear, no less! Monday is Cooper Black!
Karen says, on top of being really cute, they last forever, and are super comfy. So far I’ve already found the latter to be inordinately true. These things are heaven. Plus, I am strongly behind any operation that simply does not believe in thongs. Sing it, sister.
We’ve been celebrating fall pretty hard-core around here. We even tried to go apple picking this weekend, but it turned out the harvest is over, so we went hiking instead. We also attended a squash sampling party (I liked the turban squash, and the butternut pie the best - yum!). For the party, we brought a little squash-based creation of my own - pumpkin pie squares.
The recipe came about from trying to perfect a recipe for pumpkin bread. The first recipe I tried was dry and flavourless. So I played around until I came up with this recipe - more of a dense, moist square then a bread really.
I also felt the dark chocolate most pumpkin based recipes (which seem to be very trendy these days) call for would be so overwhelming and heavy for the delicate, spicy pumpkin flavour. So I switched dark chocolate chips for white chocolate ones - which was really a genius move, if I do say so myself. The little gooey bits of creamy white chocolate tasted just like tiny bites of whipped cream, mixed into pumpkin pie.
It’s all the flavours of pumpkin pie, in a much more portable square form!
So portable, you could take these squares on a picnic (like we did on our hike), or pack them with your lunch. Just try doing that with a slice of pie!
Which is a method of getting really neat, old-fashioned, artfully flawed images using a digital camera - along with a old twin lens reflex cameras’ viewfinder. I’ve always loved the way these shots looked, I had no idea producing them was so easy. If this works with my little Canon point and shoot (which it should - it has a pretty awesome macro setting), I’m totally gonna start searching for an old twin lens camera when I thrift.
Just a new blog find filled with pretty-pretty things of all varieties. The kind of pretty that inspires rampant and uncontrollable urges to be materialist. But so do many of the pretty-pretty blogs I read. Sigh. It might be time take a break from reading those for a little while. Just until I stop hemorrhaging money.
A retro-revival nineteen-thirties-style carnival - complete with concessions, candy apples, carousel, ferris wheel, and circus show. I was very sad when I found out I missed this entirely this summer. There’s always next summer though.
We had some on the weekend. They were delicious - totally the best hot-dogs I’ve ever had (although, it should be said that they don’t really resemble traditional hot dogs all that closely, so consider yourself forewarned). They are little artisinal sausages (that taste a bit like teensy fresh salamis) accompanied by one of four (locally sourced) cheeses and a one of a dozen sauces (cooked up individually by the best chefs in the city using fresh, local ingredients). A lot of internet types seem to be upset that portions are small, and the concept pretentious. I would tell them that if they want street meat, it’s readily available. This is not street meat, it’s a culinary novelty (and a cheap one at that - certainly the cheapest way to have lunch made by Jamie Kennedy - via his 25 cent sauce offering). If you’re a foodie, you’ll love it. If you’re more of a steak and potatoes kinda person, feel free to steer clear. I, for one, found it delicious and delightful.
A great sounding mineral makeup company. Vegan, enviromentally friendly, super inexpensive, safe for sensitive skin, tons of colours, cute packaging… Need I say more? Oh, ok then, there are free samples to be had (free! I know!). Go. Run. Get some.
An amazing sounding diner cooking hardcore American comfort foods - but always with a twist. There are over 900 menu items! This place sounds like priority number one for when we finally make it to NYC. The cookbook sounds amazing too.
I’ve been looking for a cute bag for a long time, and I’ve finally narrowed it down to a Moop duffel in black. The bag is sturdy, has lots of pockets and is water resistant, the companies run by an awesome lady, and everything is environmentally friendly, handmade and designed from scratch. What can’t you find on Etsy?
The other day I was in the market, and was in awe of all the beautiful, brightly coloured autumnal produce. This season is wondrous.
In particular, I found some lanky Japanese eggplant, along with some long and pointy red sweet peppers, and thought immediately of my pile of yellow zucchini from the garden sitting on my credenza at home.
“Ratatouille!” I thought to myself.
So it came to pass, and it was delicious, and beautiful - as you can see - just as the little chef intended.
It was a good respite from all my friends who have been making visits to Paris. It’ll be a while yet before I’m able to go myself, so baking this in my little french Le Creuset casserole dish soothed my jealousy a little, and brought a little of France to me.
Blame my meat and potatoes upbringing (where all but the frozen vegetable was variation on a monochromatic theme), but food that looks likes like this, with that pinwheel of gorgeous saturated colour, it just kills me.
(BTW I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe, in case you were wondering - just used ony 1 colour of zucchini, since that was all I had, and sprinkled some julienned purple basil over the top - for an even bigger punch of colour. It was plenty delicious, like most of her recipes).
It was our anniversary on the weekend, and we had a splendid day.
Rather than unnecessarily blow a wad of cash on fancy dinners and shows and things (as we sometimes do) we decided to have the nicest day around the neighborhood for under 100 dollars, and save up for a vacation later on instead. And as a result, I think we had one of the nicest days we’ve ever had.
We bought a coronation chicken sandwich and a tarragon chicken pot pie from the Brick Street Bakery. Both were astoundingly (astoundingly!) good. I am quickly becoming very fond of the rather retro combo of apricots, curry, cream and poultry that is Coronation Chicken. My royalty loving grandmother would no doubt approve, heartily. The pie was stuffed with juicy, spicy meat, and surrounded by pretty much the best crust I’ve ever had on a savoury pie. I am not a huge crust fan, but this crust made the pie. Perfectly flaky and crumbly and moist.
After some gallery browsing, we made our way to Soma where we had some gelato (a scoop each of: sour cream and lemon; raspberry, lemon and black pepper; and pistachio - all were dreamy) and some mayan hot chocolate. Soma has the best gelato and chocolate in town. It just does.
Then for dinner we went to a little restaurant down the street called Batifole. I had heard nothing but good things about it, namely that it is the best approximation of French bistro cooking in the whole city, and that it was astoundingly reasonably priced. Both were true. It was some of the best food I’ve ever had.
When we sat down we got bread accompanied by a little pat of butter sprinkled with grey salt - and it was some of the best bread I’ve ever had. I asked if they baked it themselves, and they said they had it made for them by the Brick Bakery. Of course they did. It’s the best bakery in town, it seems.
We started off with a brule of pate. Yep, that’s right, like a creme brule, in a little pot topped with a layer of crunchy caramel - but inside was chicken livers. For a creme brule addict like me it was a revelation.
For our mains, Liam had a blanchette de veau - a little rare veal steak covered in a calvados, apples and cream sauce. It was as wonderful as it sounds. I had a cassoulet. It was 3 kinds of meat (duck confit, sausage and gorgeous thick hunks of bacon) swimming in gorgeous melted pools of fat. I have never willingly ingested so much cholesterol in my life, but it was wonderful.
With our mains we got a little basket of frites with tarragon mayonnaise. They were perfection - I can not emphasize this enough - the best fries I’ve ever had, hands down. A rough crispiness on the outside, perfectly salted, meltingly soft on the inside. Perfection.
We didn’t get to desert. We would have liked to, but I was much too full of wonderful fats.
So yeah. Pretty much the best food day ever.
Best part is, since none of it was prohibitively expensive we can do it all again sometime.
