The Pie Project

Post-holidays I feel like some kind of cave-dwelling creature just emerged into the sun, blinking and confused. It was worth it, though! The Guatemala trip was fabulous, alternately gritty and luxurious, and I ate my fill of homemade tortillas. M. was the best traveling companion ever. Not that I doubted she would be. The kitties are happy to have us back (our landlady, not so much) and I'm finally back in the gym and at the laptop. I hacked up the novel and now it awaits me, pitifully. Luckily I read Junot Diaz and Anne Enright while away and they fired me up. Now, to actually do it. The semester starts next week, too, with a new workshop and the Intro. to Drama class I'm teaching. That's right. The powers that be, in their infinite wisdom, switched my lit section on me. Really? Really. In six days I'm teaching Introduction To Drama. The last play I read was Hamlet. IN TENTH GRADE. I also started my new WITS teaching gig, which includes a bilingual classroom. That...

They would probably use corn. Maiz makes Guatemala go 'round (and accounts for approximately three million tortillas per person, per meal). Why is this on my mind? Because I'm going to Guate tomorrow, for ten days! Morgan has never been and I'm excited to show her around a bit. I worked on a coffee farm there, back in my Watson Fellow days ('03-'04) and have been back twice. Me encanta. We'll hit up the world's most beautiful lake, some highland towns, the colonial cloud city Xela, and my favorite coffee farm on the planet , ending up in ritzier Antigua for New Year's. I'll bring a notebook and a few t-shirts and not much else - hooray, simplicity. Okay, I'm bringing underwear, a fleece, and deodorant. But you get the idea. Anyway! If Guatemalans did make pie, they might also go for squash. It's one of the three sisters, after all, a New World staple. Making a pumpkin pie from scratch is an earthy, gooey experie nce that results in THE BEST p...

This pie is seriously wonderful. I didn't know what to expect - I'm somewhat of an apple traditionalist, but as I've said, I'm always up for an experiment. And was this ever successful. The tangy cranberry layer takes the comforting, reliable apple to a whole new level. It's not tooth-achingly sweet, either, so you really taste the fruit. A regular autumn bounty. The original recipe is from Cook's Illustrated; I got it here. Only difference? I didn't make the famed vodka crust, which I do want to try someday, but for which I wasn't willing to drop some cash on a bottle of Stoli. I'm not much of a vodka drinker, anyway. One too many college party memories. Remember those syrupy, too-strong-for-a-human mixtures in plastic red cups? Oh, shudder. Mine were served up at the weird elite engineering/math college across the street from my lovely elite women's college. Okay, fine, I also had my fair share of drinks in Scripps' graceful (but not as pri...

I'm celebrating my b-day morning with the window open to the rain and Nanci Griffith playing in the kitchen. The cool damp air and the music remind me of home and I would like to thank my family for growing me up and instilling in me the appreciation for treats. And for just being wonderfully loving, flawed, funny, and ever themselves. I miss them, though I've got great peeps here, too. Tonight it'll be margaritas and tres leches for my adult Texan life. As a kid it was either cake with Cool Whip frosting or whatever I requested, such as pineapple upside cake, which was not as delicious as the name promised, or pumpkin pie, which has never failed me. Hence, here's my tribute to the perfect birthday pie. (Click on the photo for a close-up of creamy goodness). I made this pie to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with friends this weekend. Who knew they had T-giving a whole six weeks earlier? I think I need to celebrate it from now on. After all, I grew up close to Canada. Y...