Blueberry Lattice Top Pie and the Husband Lays Down the Law

On Sunday, I made a blueberry lattice-top pie. It was the first time I’d made a blueberry pie from fresh blueberries. It wasn’t perfect, but it was very good; I particularly liked the all-butter crust. Warmed a bit in the microwave with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, this pie was fresh-tasting and delicious and not at all hard to make.

The husband, though, laid down the law. No more pies every other day or more than once a week. In fact, I’m on a pie ban; one pie every seven days; no more. He has two good reasons for this. One, food prices have really shot up. Each pie I make costs about $10. Two, we have lost a combined total of about 30 lbs. and if we keep eating pie at this rate, it’s all going back on, something neither of us want.

I’m disappointed, though, because my family (mom, dad, sister, father-in-law and mother-in-law) arrive Friday and I know they’ll be expecting pie.

Of course, I still hadn’t figured out which pie or pies to create. And of course, there is the high probability that the pie I might make would be a disaster. At this point, I consider all my pies test pies.

On the other hand, I’m making dinner, breakfast and lunch, cleaning the house and otherwise preparing for not one but two graduations (the boy from H.S., the girl from elementary school). I may be better off without any pie stress. Maybe we’ll just get an ice cream cake from DQ.

You know, I think I like photographing my pies as much as I like making them and, of course, eating them.

It’s fun to think about the right setting for the pie, the right background color. I like the blue wall and the chair with this pie, with its beautiful purple-blue fruit peeking through the top.

So I’ll be pie-free for a few days, scrubbing toilets and floors, dusting (over and over again; what’s up with all this dang pollen?) and cooking.