the "my first pie" pies.

i usually hate fruit with my dessert. well, except apples. but i watched the movie waitress on sunday afternoon and was completely inspired to make pie. i don't even enjoy pie. but inspiration got the best of me and i was determined. i scoured foodnetwork and epicurious and martha and found paula dean's crunch top apple pie. however, i remembered it's the beginning of cherry season and they are only $1.49/pound in the mission. and as i was babysitting, i dragged emma into sur la table to just look (this is the year of collecting kitchen items, i'll explain later). while inside and repeating to my three-year-old friend, "this is a store where we don't touch anything" i found the new bon apetite (which conveniently had a photo of sour cherry pie on the cover) and a cherry pitter. i was just looking but ended up purchasing. it's a good thing i didn't buy a whole set of all-clad because it is on major sale. i digress. then i headed to the grocery store to get the rest of the ingredients and thought i would browse the frozen section, just to see if i could stumble upon a ready made pie crust. ah ha! i found it. but there wasn't any extra dough to make a lattice. you can't have cherry pie without a lattice! i put my things down on top of the twenty-four packs of beer piled high in the middle of the frozen aisle and i breathed deeply. i literally stared at the frozen pie crusts for at least thirty seconds. do i have what it takes to make a pie? crust and all? it can't be that hard. should i go for it? what if it tastes bad? oh well. so i decided to use what my momma gave me (baking skills [among other things] starting at age six- thanks mom!).

i started the pie process at 2:30 and ended at 6:30. yes, it really did take me four hours to make two pies. but i documented the whole thing. for three reasons in no particular order... one: to show you. two: to remember the "my first pie" pies. and three: i haven't picked up my slr in over six months, it needed some love.

the whole process reminded me that i love to cook and bake and entertain. and this, by the way, is NOT a product of being a woman (we can talk about this later, but you can answer to my uncle and my step-dad if you have any questions). with loving to cook/bake/entertain and being in school all summer with no job (besides emma and ziggy), i've decided to devote these next three months to getting better. and learning. and such.

good thing the pies tasted aright. my community group reaped the benefit (they might have lied and said it was "amazing" because they didn't want to ruin my first experience. thanks, guys!)

next up: sweet potato fries, croissants, tarts, and something with goat cheese.

pie crust before ice cold water is added to make dough:


cherries before being pitted by the most amazing cherry pitter ever:


apple filling ready to go:


rolling and cutting out the lattice:


lattice over cherries:


i think i can work on the looks of the apple pie:


i don't even like cherries but i like this: