Well, nothing like EXPERIMENTIN'...

Pie, pie, pie... how I love you so.  Seriously, I do.  Yes, I know I should, seeing as how I'm devoting an entire year of my life to it, but I'm really starting to appreciate it in its perfect, delicious entirety.  The genius of the crispy crust, which manages to be both savory and sweet (even without any added sugar) combined with the wholesomeness of baked fruit (or custard, or pudding, or peanut butter), combined with the presentation that literally becomes eye-candy is about the best darn idea ever... well, after the wheel, sliced bread, and the onion goggles, of course (seriously, have you seen these?  http://www.broadwaypanhandler.com/broadway/product.asp?s_id=0&pf_id=rsvp_onion_goggles).  I. Want.

It's funny how much I notice every distinct element of the pie in each bite... I would've just scarfed it down before, but I'm getting much better at picking out each flavor and texture and noticing even miniscule things that can be changed or improved.

A baker in the making, perhaps?  Ha, I like to pretend :)

Anyway, on to the star of the show... BLUEBERRY RASPBERRY PIE!!!  Please note that today is CAPS LOCK DAY... I swear, it is (look it up on one of those lists of ridiculous holidays).  So I'm celebrating both this FANTASTIC HOLIDAY as well as my excitement over this week's pie.  SA-WEET!

Okay, so I was originally going to make just a blueberry pie (which, once again, is one of my family's recipes and one of my favs), but then I got to the store and they ALSO had fresh raspberries, and I couldn't pass up what are likely the last of this season's fresh fruits, so I decided to combine them.  I had never eaten a blueberry raspberry PIE (teehee) nor did I know if it was going to be a good combination, but I decided to go with it and bake my first experimental/invented pie!

I consider it invented since I didn't actually have the blueberry recipe, so I really just threw everything into a bowl and added sugar (I did call my dad to check on the amount, but I had already added it, so that doesn't really count) and then hoped for the best!

I ALSO (caps lock = way too much fun) decided to try out a lattice top instead of my usual full-crust-with-some-adorable-shape top.  It was suprisingly easy to do, and I daresay it turned out rather beautifully!  I'm working on fancy edges next... for now, I'm still sticking to my guns and using the good ol' bird feet/fork method.

VOILA!  Blueberry Raspberry Pie with a Lattice Top!  HUZZAH!

Now, as for overall presentation, I felt that I could've used more berries... it was concave rather than convex, and the top was impossible to cut without it crumbling to bits.  It was also a bit juicy again, so the slices turned out to be crap-in-a-bowl instead of beauty-on-a-plate.  Ah well... it still tasted AWESOME! 

 

Even Sam the Cheetah wanted to try some!  I don't even feel the need to explain any further than that.

Not as awesome as the blackberry apple, but still pretty darn phenom.  The blueberries were a bit more tart than usual (*sigh* end of the season), but otherwise it was yum-o.  A definite win/keeper!  Oh, I think it would've been SUPER phenom had I served it with ice cream.  One thing (and by thing, I mean expense) at a time though, I shouldn't get ahead of myself...

Also, yay for fruit experiments!  I think my next invention will be a pudding/custard/chocolate sort of dealio, which will also be interesting.

So I've also been reading into food photography, because I want really cool shots of my pies to accompany the recipe book that I want to put together when this is over (for myself and anyone who would like a copy... Christmas presents?  I think so!), so I've been experimenting a lot with different focal points and presentation and all that.  These are fairly boring ones here, but I just discovered a close-up setting on my camera, so more interesting ones will hopefully be coming soon.

That being said, I really like this one.

I think that's where I'll leave you for now... I'm heading home tomorrow to visit the fam and celebrate my sister Sarah's Bachelorette Party!  I'll swing by to visit Erin at school tomorrow, and then it's homeward bound.  Pray/cross your fingers/cast a protective spell/do whatever you do to bring me luck... Wall*E (my super awesome mini-van) is up for his first big trip in 2 months!  So let's hope we make it.  Also, I'll have to give you some Wall*E stories soon... I'm working on a list of everything that doesn't work and will hopefully turn it into an essay.  He's a joy and an adventure, let me tell you!

Also, I'm baking a pie for the fam tonight to bring with me... I'm making the chocolate peanut butter pie that I made a few weeks back (you know, the one that was like eating Canada), but this time with some improvements based on the notes I jotted down.  I'll let you know how it turns out!  This is the first time I'm re-making a pie, and I'm excited to start working on perfecting it and making it my own.  Woot woot!

K, LATOR GATORS!

P.S.  Wear PINK!!!  Lydia and I participated in a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk last weekend, which was a great experience.  Here's a pic from our completion of the 5k!