Figuring out one's future is a funny thing. And by "funny" I mean a combination of excitement, stress, and fear, repeated simultaneously.
Trying to decide what to do with my life once my AmeriCorps position is done hasn't been easy for me. For the past two years, I had been planning on going to grad school for publishing and editing, but now that I've worked a bit in the Real World, I'm not so sure. Devoting 2 years of time, energy, and money into grad school when I'm not 100% sure it's the right thing for me seems like a bad plan.
Especially when I've enjoyed baking so much this year. But I'd never thought of baking as a seriously viable option. Sure, I joke about opening my own pie shop(pe), but never with much of a tone of seriousness.
That is, until my super awesome boyfriend stopped by with a stack of papers he had printed out with information on baking and pastry classes at a local community college! Seriously! After only 4 classes, I can get my baking and pastry certification, enabling me to work in a bakery! How cool is that?!
I'm waiting to get more information about possibly enrolling in a class this fall, but if I do just 1 class a semester, I can have this done in 2 years. SWEET!!!
And if I hate the classes, I hate them. So be it... no harm, no foul. But if I love them, then I may just have a new vocation path! Which I think is a pretty fantastic option. I'm super excited about this idea. I LOVE baking, and I think I'm pretty darn good at it, so what the hell, right? Why not?
:)
So now that I've shared that tidbit of my life with you... on to the pies!!!
For the Fourth of July, I kind of neglected to make a patriotic pie, but I made up for it the following week! I baked a Strawberry Blueberry Blackberry Pie, which isn't all that patriotic-sounding, except I made the top crust look like an American flag, so WIN! I laid stripes of crust across half of the pie, and then above that I scattered crust-stars. I swiped the idea from Martha Stewart, and it was adorable!
As almost all fruit pies are, this one was pretty tasty. With minimal ingredients added, you could really taste the natural flavors of the fruit. I LOVED it! Yum :)
The next week I headed home to the great state of Michigan to visit my fam and attend a friend's wedding. I had a GREAT time and got to hit up my favorite summer eateries... if you ever get to Grand Haven, you must try some Ray's, Pronto Pups, and Fricano's! I also got some Marge's Donuts and Olga's snackers... my sister and I named the weekend "Food Fest 2010" for good reason :)
And whilst at home enjoying some much-needed family time, I baked them a pie... they've only gotten to try a handful of my pies, so I didn't want to disappoint!
I made a simple Blueberry Pie. Of course, when I say simple, I mean I used 3 pounds of blueberries! It was heaping, or as my sister and I like to call it, "Pushing Daisies-esque."
The blueberries themselves were a bit tart, but I sprinkled enough sugar on top of the crust prior to baking (to give it a shine) that the sweetness of the crust balanced out the tartness of the berries. And my crust was awesome! Although it was kind of funny... the berries shrank as they cooked, but the crust didn't shrink with them, so there was a huge gap between the bubble of the top crust and the berries themselves. So it didn't slice well, but it was tasty!
The following week things got a little hectic, and my boyfriend's friend was getting married the next weekend, so I was cut short on pie-making time. So I made a quick and easy pie instead... Layered Chocolate Pudding Pie.
I purchased an oreo crust (I was seriously short on time!) and filled it with a few delicious layers. The bottom layer was chocolate pudding (made with half the milk), followed by a layer of chocolate pudding mixed with cool whip, followed by a layer of cool whip. Simple!
It was quite tasty, and while I always feel like I'm cheating a bit when I make easy pies, I think it's a good thing to have some fast recipes handy for any last-minute desserts. Much better than just pudding in a cup, but made without breaking a sweat! How can you lose?
Last weekend some friends of mine came to visit and I made Peach Pie! I've never really had peach pie before (peaches aren't my favorite), but as they're in prime season right now, I couldn't resist.
I bought what I thought was a sufficient amount of peaches (7), but wound up being about half of what I like in a pie, and had an awful time peeling them. They kept slipping out of my hands and mushing and the juice went everywhere! This is the exact reason I don't like eating them, by the way... mush and juice dribble. Yuck.
But anyway, I got them peeled and sliced and mixed them with some sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and (most importantly) nutmeg. I poured them into a crust, sealed it with a top crust and baked it.
We couldn't wait for the pie to cool, so we ate it warm out of the oven with scoops of ice cream, and HOLY DELICIOUS, PIE MAN! Wowza, it was GOOD! The nutmeg seriously made that pie... it brought out all the right spices within the peaches... they tasted a bit like spiced peaches, actually, which are amazing. So anyway, I devoured my slice, and we still had about a third of the pie left, so we just scooped some ice cream into the pan and ate it family-style right out of the dish! Nom nom nom!!!
I really want to make some cup-peach-pies soon... it was so good!
The final pie I have to write about is Paula Deen's Kentucky Pie. I don't know why I tried another Paula pie when the last one was so terrible, but I did. And I shouldn't have.
This was promised to be a "brownie in a crust" which I figured was an absolute WIN. Except it was an absolute FAIL. So basically it was eggs, sugar, butter, chocolate, and flour all mixed together and poured into a crust to bake. I was supposed to get "self-rising" flour, but didn't see that line in the recipe, so I just added a bit of baking soda instead to make up for it.
Anyway, the mixture went into the oven to bake, and when I went to check on it, a bunch of the batter had spilled over the edge as it rose. Still, I figured it would work out. So I went to poke it with a fork to test the "done-ness" of the inside. The top crust was solid as a rock, and when I finally broke through, the inside was pure goo.
So I baked it a little longer and then took it out so it could set up on its own. It did not. I ate it warm, and it was like eating warm brownie batter with burnt edge bits mixed in. I wasn't a fan, even with the added help of ice cream.
I stuck it into the fridge and brought it into work today so everyone could at least sample it (yes, I allow others to sample my fails. It helps the learning process, I think.), and while it was better than it was (it now just tasted like a slightly crispy brownie), it was still a fail. I pretty much hated it.
Dang it, Paula! You're supposed to be my BFF!
Alright, folks, less than a month to go in this project!!! CRAZY!!!
Elizabeth and Mrs. Salisbury, please note that I stayed after work to finish this blog, just for you! On a Friday, no less! I owed you both :)
