Happy Cat

Doesn't get much better than this.

Right, Bumba?

Kentucky Derby Day

In honor of the highly anticipated (by other people, but it's cute that they get excited about it) Derby Day, I made a Derby Cobbler because I was pressed for time and frankly not in the mood to make a pie. The filling was traditional Derby Pie filling - chocolate and walnuts - and I also plooped some dericious Nutella on the top to be exciting... but since the toppings were too light to sink to the bottom, the Nutella got a little burnededed and I had to scrape those bits off. Ah well. I have no idea whether or not it tasted good because I had to work, but I left it with good friends who will let me know if it was tasty, or simply return my dish if not. =)

Pie #7: Black and Blue Mango Pie

I've got to get this posted STAT because I have a busy weekend ahead of me (work, pie, work, cupcakes...) and the day's half gone already. I'm starting to get behind on pretty much everything in life - but don't give up on me yet, there's more pies to be pied, even if I don't make it to my goal in time! In order to do so I think I'd pretty much have to make a pie every day at this point --- ain't happenin'!

But for now... Black and Blue Mango Pie.

So, for starters, if I make this pie again I'm going to buy twice the amount of fruit because I practically had to wedge my arm into the pre-heated oven to stop eating the berries and mangoes. I say "if," because after this pie I'm pretty sure that I've determined an official pie stance: I like creamy pies and fruity cobblers!!!

First of all, fresh fruit is a pain in the Aztec where pies are concerned. Obviously, when you see a delicious berry like the one below you're not gonna be inclined to cook it down to mush.

Secondly, when you get all these delicious juicy fruits into a crust, the delicious juices start becoming annoying because then you've got this somewhat soggy, un-cutable piece of bakework.

And then the #1 complaint for fruit pies becomes the reality: It comes out looking like fruit cobbler anyways, so why not just make a cobbler?! I looove the sweet-biscuit-type doughy goodness involved in cobbler much more than a thin, rolled pie crust! Since fruit pies pretty much require whipped cream or ice cream or whatever anyways, why not just skip the damn mess and time-consuming crust and bad presentation from the get-go...

...And make fruit cobbler wit yo fruits!

General bemoaning aside, this one came out looking quite lovely and was pretty much perfectly baked (I reduced the recommended oven temperature by 25 degrees and didn't use foil bands around the edges and it worked just great). It was also tasty... but if I'm gonna spend ten bucks on fruit filling... I'm gonna eat half of it beforehand and put the rest in a cobbler.

But that's just me, y'all. =)

Rating: ****Pielettes

I'll give this pie a four pielette rating for three reasons: (1) The berries and mango combination was quite tasty, (2) It came out looking great, and (3) I love interesting/unusual combinations. When I think Apple or Peach or PECAN pie... Well, when I wake up after the very thought of the aforementioned pies has put me to sleep, I think BORING PIE PIE IS BORING. But even though I know it's just gonna taste like hot fruit, when I think about BLACK AND BLUE MANGO PIE I get really excited for a couple hours at least. Flavor-wise... it was good. Tasted like fruit, which I enjoy for-to-taste! Didn't really taste the crust since the dang thing fell apart like nobody's business as soon as it was cut - but who cares?! It'll be a delicious cobbler one day!!! *GRIN*

Anthropologie, you cad!

Cobbleh! Cobblah! -Choo!

I'm taking it easy today, as my co-worker was kind enough to take my Monday night bar-tending shift at work *just so* I can relax and try not to get any sicker (cough hack sneeze - you name it I'm expelling it!) Thanks, Kent, you rock! So I thought I'd throw together a little cobbler with some grapes and kiwi and see what happened... I happen to like pretty much anything that's green and tart, so it's kind of a no-lose experiment.

I won't bore you with long, detailed directions because there aren't any. Instead, I'll just give you the easy/tasty recipe from the "Favorite Recipes From the Kitchens of W.C.G. Members in Paris Kentucky" cookbook, courtesy of Katherine Basham of the Paris KY Copher clan.

Fruit or Berry Cobbler

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 stick butter

1 large can/3 cups of fruit, drained

Melt butter in baking dish. Add other ingredients, mix batter well. Pour drained fruit over the batter and bake 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees. (Cobbler should be gooey but not drippy, so eyeball the filling to ascertain whether it needs more time.) Serve in bowls, with optional homemade whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. The end.

By the way, I liked the grape/kiwi mixture. Makes me want to get all crazy when fruits start coming into season - Persimmon and Rhubarb! Blackberry and Kumquat!

Annie Leibovitz Is Awesome.

This post has nothing to do with pie or anything related to baked goods. I watched a documentary today about photographer and portraitist Annie Leibovitz... and I thought I would post a few of my favorite shots of hers because I love her work so much and was really inspired to watch more movies about creative people. *grin* I just ordered one of her books on Amazon -it's called Women and it's a book of portraits...

http://www.amazon.com/Women-Annie-Leibovitz/dp/0375756469/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272330762&sr=8-4

Anyways, I love her style, the colors and the lights in her photos, the depth of field and the gagillion little details... Her photos remind me a lot of Tim Burton's work, and I'm surprised she didn't shoot the Alice in Wonderland advertisements... if the two were to collaborate... Ah well. I didn't know until today that she was the staff photographer for Vanity Fair, so I'll be getting my subscription ordered here shortly...

Nothing like lipstick made for Marines...