Double Trouble

It's been over 2 weeks since my last post... sorry 'bout that!  Motivation slips away from me sometimes, especially when Christmas is such a shiny distraction!  But now that my gifts are purchased and wrapped, my apartment is decorated, and we have only 8 days until the big day, I can focus my attention on this blog that I've so cruelly neglected.

So, double trouble!  I have two pies to tell you about here!  And I'm making another tonight, so I'll hopefully have another blog up by the weekend (I'm also making mini-cup pies this weekend, so I'll have LOTS to write about come Sunday!).

Let's see, thinking back over what's happened in my oh-so-exciting life over the past two weeks...

Friday, December 4, we celebrated Alison's birthday and I baked her birthday pie... Caramel Apple Cheesecake.  I had been really excited about trying this pie for awhile, but I didn't have an actual recipe, so I was kind of winging it.  Experimenting!  That's what it was... experimenting.  It sounds so much more professional that way :)

So anyway, my brother-in-law, Jerry, told me that all I really needed to do was make a cheesecake batter, pour half of it into a crust, then pour in an apple/caramel mixture that I sauteed ahead of time, and then top with the other half of the cheesecake batter and bake.  Well, the cheesecake recipe I used was my mom's recipe for mini cheesecakes, and, knowing how large my pan is I doubled the recipe.

First, I must point out that I used caramel ice cream topping, rather than make my own caramel or melt actual caramels.  This made a very runny apple mixture, forcing me to remove almost all of the caramel sauce as I feared it would ruin the cheesecake in the baking process.

Second, it must also be known that I don't have a spring-form pan (quite essential to cheesecakes, I've discovered), and that while my pan is large, it wasn't quite large enough for double the mini cheesecake recipe.

Third, the mini cheesecakes, being so mini and all, only bake for about 15 minutes.  Normal cheesecake bakes for closer to an hour.  I had no idea how long this would need, so I just popped it in and checked on it until the top looked done-ish and a knife came out relatively clean.  It took almost an hour an a half.  Also note that I said "relatively clean"... I was ticked off at how long it was taking, so I just decided it was good enough.  Probably not my smartest choice of the day.

So in the baking process in my apparently now too-small pan, the cheesecake rose and expanded far more than I anticipated it would, and the entire thing wound up looking like a giant mushroom.  Which I suppose is rather funny, especially since I always thought that the interior of the Cheesecake Factory in Chicago was supposed to look like a mushroom... not a cheesecake.  I'm something, aren't I?

 

Not how cheesecake is supposed to look.

After an hour and a half of waiting on this pie, I was now late for the start of Alison's birthday dinner (I started the baking process 2 hours before I was supposed to be there... another blunder on my part), so the cheesecake had very little time to cool.  We tried for a rapid cool-off by shoving it in the freezer for 2 hours, but it was still rather warm when we ate it.

First of all, I don't like warm cheesecake.  It's weird.  Second, the texture of this was odd and a bit too fluffy for my liking.  Third, the apples weren't very caramel-y.  Fourth, the crust almost evaporated into the cake itself (most people didn't even know it had a crust).

So basically, I didn't like it all that much.  However, Alison did, which is the most important part, as it's her birthday pie, so it was more of a win than a fail.  I think it just needs to be worked on... a LOT.  I'm not giving up!

So I'm also throwing in a picture of my hilarious dinner for the evening... Alison's birthday dinner was a "peasant's feast", meaning everyone cooked/baked/brought something that sounded good and they had around their house... an un-organized potluck, if you will.  It's a really awesome idea from Rent creator Jonathan Larson, but ours wound up being heavy on the "peasant" part and light on the "feast" part.

Okay, so I'm going to try and keep this as pie-related as possible, but the goings-on of my own life have to slip in sometimes.  And this is one of those times.

Story!

So during Alison's birthday extravaganza, I decided it would be kind of fun to reclaim my childhood adventurous spirit (which I didn't really have, even as a kid, so I guess I was more creating it than reclaiming it) by doing cool jumping moves off of a banister.  It wasn't a huge jump, maybe 4 feet, but on the third landing (yes, I did this three times), I landed rather hard on my left foot.  It hurt a bit, but nothing major, so I hopped around and then carried on with the evening.

Well, as the night went on, extreme shots of pain started shooting into my foot and up my leg.  Now, a few nights prior, my foot had cramped up pretty badly, so I figured that's all this was... a cramp.  It continued to get worse as the night went on, however, and no matter how much I tried to relax it, the pain continued.  By the end of the night, I couldn't stand on it, and it hurt so bad I couldn't help but burst into tears (which I still feel bad about... sorry, birthday girl!).  Still thinking it was cramped, I tried drinking water, eating a banana, taking ibuprofen... anything that might relieve those symptoms, but to no avail.

So after a very rough night with little sleep (I woke up every time I moved, as it hurt like hell), I woke up the next morning and realized that this wasn't a cramp... I had sprained/fractured/torn something in my awesome landing-jumping moves (which trust me, were pretty awesome.  A bit Johnny Depp jumping over the bank counter in Public Enemies, if you will... also, that part's in the trailer, so you've seen it even if you haven't seen the movie).  Alison gave me a crutch (yes, just one) that she found in the attic of the house, and I spent all day Saturday hobbling around.  This was quite hilarious, and I have video documentation taken by Kaitlin.  Which I may or may not share eventually.  I'm leaning towards the "may not" right now.

By Sunday I could walk on the heel, so I went shopping, which was quite the experience.  The whole situaysh now pretty much better, but I've noticed that I changed my walking style because of it, so it's not as healed as I thought... I now walk on the inside of that foot, and it hurts a wee bit when I walk normally.  Oh well, serves me right.

Don't make fun of my pants.

So let's see, back to the pie.  The next week's pie was Lemon Meringue, my all-time favorite!  I cooked up the lemon mixture, whipped the egg-whites and sugar into a very tasty meringue, and layered it beautifully into my perfect-edged crust.  However, somehow, in the 6 days since the last pie, I managed to forget again just how large my pie pan is.  Dag-nab-it!  So rather than a large, puffy pie (as lemon meringue should be), this was a thin, concave one.  Boo.  The top was still pretty though.
 

I really wish I had a blow torch for this, rather than a broiler.

Random, but every time I type out "meringue," I pronounce it (in my head, of course) "mare-ing-gay"... kind of the Spanish pronunciation.  And that makes it sound so exotic.  Which makes me laugh.

Moving on...

So, having failed with lemon pie twice before, I was pretty hard-pressed to find people to eat this one.  Not that I blame them... lemon is a tough one to conquer, and clearly I haven't instilled much faith in my taste testers.

For the initial eating, there were just four of us (there are usually four more), so the comments weren't as varied as they usually are.  Also, I forgot to print off copies of the score sheet, so I don't have those numbers for you.

Anyway, while the pie wasn't a total failure, it wasn't super great either.  It was pretty tasty (and really quite sweet), but the lemon part didn't set quite right and the meringue wasn't as stiff as it should have been.  It turned out a bit runny, and the meringue didn't separate from the lemon like it does on a perfect L-M pie (hey!  My initials!  Maybe that's why I like it so much... subconscious attraction?).

So!  That's that for the two pies.  I'll try not to take as long between posts again... I really am sorry about that.

Before I go... so one of the things that's kind of starting to bug me about this project is that by making a new pie each week, I haven't had the time or money to really perfect the ones that need to be perfected (which is all of them).  I mean, I love that I'm trying so many new things and attempting different baking methods that I haven't used prior (like whipping up meringue), but it's kind of frustrating knowing that I've made okay pies, but I don't really have any great ones to pride myself on.  The only thing I've really gotten good at is the crust.  Maybe my goal for next year (post August, that is) will be to spend time perfecting the pies I really like.  We'll see.

So as I said, another pie tonight (it's going to be totally invented... peppermint patty pie!), and more this weekend!  Which means another new post on Sunday.  I hope.

Enjoy the pre-Christmas magic that's in the air.  It truly is my favorite time of year.

Wedding Bells and Turkey Day Pies and 1 Great Pumpkin Disappointment

Happy Thanksgiving a few days late!

I hope your day was everything you hoped it would be and you gave all the thanks you wanted to (and then some).  I was so full post-dinner (which was actually lunch, as we ate at 1:30), that I couldn't even eat leftovers that evening!  And that NEVER happens.  Yowza, my pants were tight.

So in this Thanksgiving blog, I want to thank you for reading, commenting, voting, taste-testing (for those who are so lucky), and being just plain awesome.

So first off, I ventured home for my sister Sarah's wedding last Saturday (10 days ago Saturday, not 3 days ago... it's been a little while).  I don't think any of us could have asked for a more beautiful day... the weather was perfect (snow, where in the H are you?); Sarah was gorgeous; and everyone laughed, cried, danced, ate, and smiled until our faces froze.  A lovely, lovely day, and I am so blessed to have played a part in it.  Sid and B.I.L., you two are fantastic, and I wish you so much happiness and love... great big bear hugs worth, in fact!

So another thank you goes out to them and my parents and everyone involved in making the wedding so lovely!

After the wedding I was busy, busy, busy, and I haven't yearned for sleep so badly in a long time.  It wasn't quite the "vacation" I was hoping for, but I had a blast anyway.

The next thank you goes out to my family for such a great time at home... I love spending time with you :)

So after all the wedding madness was over, Thanksgiving madness began!

And I do NOT say thank you to Meijer, because you were out of pumpkin and therefore turned the pumpkin pie I was so excited to make into a frozen one made by Marie Callender.  BOO to you!

Not mine.  Stupid.  But still tasty.

Although I found out that there's been a pumpkin shortage due to the crazy weather we've had this fall, so I guess it's not entirely Meijer's fault, but STILL.  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, HISS!!!

So instead of making pumpkin pie, my dad and I made the infamous Blackberry Apple, as well as a good 'ole Pecan Pie!  This pecan pie recipe was different than the last, so huzzah!  New pie!

Lydia sent me the recipe for this one, and I must say it turned out nicer once baked instead of the near-catastrophe of last time.  So THANK YOU, Lydia!  I like this "thanks" theme :)

We had to improvise a bit, since I didn't have the dark Karo syrup the recipe called for (we had light instead), so to make up for it, my genius dad swapped out some of the regular sugar for brown sugar.  Bum ba da dah! Pecan pie!  I even made a super fancy crust that actually turned out!  Woot woot!

 

The other pie also turned out rather well, although my dad and I both decided that something was missing... it was like it lacked that final punch or something.  It was good, but definitely not as great as it could've been.  Lack of cinammon maybe?  We couldn't quite put a finger on it, but it just didn't have the "wow" factor it usually does.  However, we FILLED the crust and made a pie worthy of Pushing Daisies... it was all round and giant and delicious-looking.  AKA, win!

 

YUM!

So as I said, my dad and I made these pies together, and it was interesting as we swapped techniques and tricks and discovered that while I learned pie-making from him, I do things a bit differently than he does.  It was especially interesting, as both of us took charge and it wasn't as though one of us was delegating to the other.  It was a good experience, and I had fun... it was a bit strange though, making pie with someone else after making them on my own so regularly for the past 3 months (!).  But thanks, Dad, for being my pie buddy for the week!  I had a good time!

So the wedding was a win, Thanksgiving was a win, I saw some great movies (Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Blind Side), I got to see my favorite people... a lot of things to be thankful for!

The final thing to be thankful for here?  MY NEW CHAIR!!!  I swiped my parents' old recliner that has been in storage for a few years and it's now sitting proudly in my apartment.  I love this chair and have huge sentimental attachment to it... it's where I read Deathly Hallows, after all!  It reminds me of the dad's chair on Fraser, just minus all the duct tape.  Awesome City!

Ooh, and I just finished decorating for Christmas!  This holiday is the best!

Final quick story before I let you go... so my mom and I were shopping on Wednesday for our Thanksgiving meal, and I grabbed canned fruit off the shelf and threw it into the cart.  Well, we got home, and we suddenly couldn't find the fruit, so I searched the car while my mom searched the house, but still no luck.  Upon checking the receipt, my mom discovered that the fruit was never purchased, though we both distinctly remember putting it in the cart.  The only explanation we can think of?  Amidst the chaos of last minute grocery shoppers at Meijer, I threw the cans in someone else's cart!  Haha, I hope they were pleased with their surprise purchase, and thankful for it too!  :)