All right — just this ONE LAST THING then I will shut up about pie already — until the fall. Enjoy! (Thanks, for the gazillionth time, to @stevewhitaker for this video and for just being Steve.)

The Pie Down was so much fun — so many people were there and those who weren’t were following along online. It’s a fantastic social media/community building story, appropriately covered by the Daily Progress and NBC-29 (traditional media) as well as the place where it all started: Twitter.

There are SO many people to thank and recognize, so many who made the C’ville Pie Down a huge success:

Steve Whitaker, who took the ball and RAN like Forrest Gump

Jamie Schwartz, who wondered, online, who makes the best pie and who gave prizes to both competitors (because she’s just sweet like that)

Joe Meade, judge and enthusiast, who brought his four adorable children to the event

Cindy Maisannes, judge and cheerleader, promoting the heck out of the Pie Down all along

Sara Gould, judge who loves the chance to meet up with the C’ville Twitter gang (she works in Crozet and doesn’t often get to see us)

Mayor Dave Norris, (yes, he’s my personal friend Dave, too) who remained impartial and as usual, showed up without his security detail to mingle amongst the people.

Congressman Tom Periello for actually showing up, to the delight of many, because we invited him via Twitter.

A HUGE thank you to Mollie Bryan, our special guest; cookbook author and pie-love spreader, Mollie gave Brian and I each a copy of her new book, Mrs. Rowe’s Little Book of Southern Pies which is delightful (yes, I read it last night) and deeply appreciated.

Thank you to Barbara Hutchinson of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, who donated a fabulous prize basket filled with all kinds of baking and cooking goodies (and my consolation prize of a very appropriate bottle of wine).

To Dan at Mudhouse Coffee for being an incredibly generous and wonderful host. (We love coffee with our pie!)

To Jennifer McKeever, esquire, who notarized the results, which means it’s official, Brian Geiger is the C’ville Pie Master (of spring, 2009; no, I’m not bitter).

Thank you to all of you who attended (and WOW there were a LOT of you) and/or followed along online. Photos and video of the event will appear on www.cvillepiedown.com in the next week or so.

And finally, the biggest thank you of all must go to The Food Geek himself, Brian Geiger, for accepting my “INSANE” challenge, for driving his wife Melanie nuts with his persnickety picking of perfect strawberries, for practicing pies (because I made him) and for showing up. Brian, you’re wonderful, and your pies are too.

I plan to return (and hope I’m not the Susan Lucci of local pie competitions) in the fall for the second Pie Down, planned for Crozet. I’m already thinking of apple pies, and pumpkin pies . . . and I bet you are, too.

1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. quick cooking tapioca
Pinch of salt
4 cups blueberries
2 cups mix of blackberries, raspberries and sliced strawberries
1 Tbsp. orange extract

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside. Wash and let thoroughly dry all berries. (I spread them out on paper towels all over the kitchen counters for about an hour. Be sure to invert the raspberries so water does not stay trapped in their cavities.) Add berries to dry ingredients and mix, gently, with your hands or with a spatula, until all berries are coated. Add orange extract by sprinkling over mixture. Let the berries sit while rolling out your bottom crust. Place bottom crust in a 9″ pie plate and sculpt edges into an upstanding ridge. Put crust in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Gently scoop berry mixture into the chilled crust. Roll out top crust and cut eight 1″ wide strips for the lattice top. Add the strips and fold ends into the sculpted edge. Brush top crust with cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, rotate 180 degrees, reduce temperature to 350 and bake for another 50-60 minutes. Be sure to place a foil-covered cookie sheet under the pie to catch any drips. Let pie cool completely before serving.

Extra-Flaky Pie Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 tsp. salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup plus two Tbsps. cold shortening
1/2 cup of icewater

Add all dry ingredients to a food processor. Pulse till combined. Scatter the butter and shortening to the dry ingredients. Pulse till the mixture is crumbly and contains pea-sized clumps. Slowly add the icewater till the mixture clumps, running the processor for a few seconds at a time. Remove the dough from the processor and knead in a flour-coated bowl a few times. Put pastry in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for an hour before rolling.

Downtown Charlottesville Pie (aka Chocolate Town Pie, Derby Pie)

2 eggs, beaten
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup bourbon
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup pecan pieces

“I’ve Found the Lard” pie crust

Prepare single-crust pastry and refrigerate for one hour. Roll pastry, place in pie dish and sculpt edges into upstanding ridge. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs, add butter, then sugar and flour. Mix until well-blended. Add bourbon. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Place pie plate on the center rack of the oven, then, using a spatula, pour the filling into the crust. Carefully slide the rack back into the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees.

“I’ve Found the Lard” Pie Crust

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold lard, in pieces
3-4 Tbsps. icewater

Pulse dry ingredients in food processor to mix. Add lard. Mix till pastry forms pea-sized clumps. Slowly add water till pastry clumps into a ball. Knead once or twice in a flour-dusted bowl. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate.

For a moment, I considered making a pie I’ve never actually made before . . . my husband, wisely perhaps, has advised against it, but that doesn’t stop me from considering it, even now.

For those of you on piewatch . . . this is where it stands.

Today, I bake.

Actually, more accurately, today I will prep crust, shop, plan, bake, think, panic and start over. It may be a long day.

I spent the last three days working in St. Louis, Mo. (Hello St. Louis!) It was a great trip, very energizing and exhausting, and took my thoughts far away from pie for a few days — probably a good thing. But here we are, mere hours from the Pie Down and it’s time to get going. I’m reminding myself of all I’ve decided in the weeks leading up to this event. Calm down. Relax. Take your time.

These things I know: a perfect pie crust requires patience and attention to detail. The conditions must be right; the water ice-cold, the fat mixed with the flour just right to create that flaky condition that results from those tiny pockets that result from the butter/shortening/lard baking in layers within the infrastructure of the crust. Brian, The Food Geek (who, really, I consider a friend and only arch nemesis for a day) wrote a great article about the components of pie crust for Fine Cooking. I’ll say this: Brian’s a worthy competitor.

Got to get back to my crust prep, shopping, etc. I will periodically update and share Pie Down news here and on Twitter (I’m @Marijean in case you’re not following). I still can’t reveal my pies specifically, but know this: one berry; one signature pie. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.

Browse the Web site for bios of the competitors and esteemed judges, the rules, event details and MORE!

We’re hoping for a nice turnout of pie enthusiasts. What’s extra fun for me is that people planning to attend are bringing their families — so, kids, coffee, pie, wi-fi and brutal, nail-biting competition; what could be better?

Meanwhile . . . The Food Geek and I have been thinking, baking, testing and eating pie. I wasn’t going to bake another test pie this weekend but lo and behold there was a big sale on a certain kind of berry and I attained a special secret ingredient (by traveling to a small, locally owned grocery where I was the only English-speaking customer) which meant: test pie.

Saturday afternoon there may or may not have been smoke pouring out of my oven into my kitchen. I may or may not have run upstairs to crank on the attic fan yelling, “NOTHING TO SEE HERE! DO NOT BE ALARMED!” (Kinda surprised the smoke detector didn’t go off; pretty pleased the fire department didn’t feel it necessary to show up.)

Such as my pie baking sometimes goes . . .

I can’t tell you about my test pies . . . nor am I to reveal the specific kinds of pie that will be submitted for the competition. It will be a blind test, meaning the judges will not know who made the slice before them as they judge it. That’s a good thing, I think.

I cleaned my oven today. I’ve made my final decisions about my pies for Saturday. I’m ready to rock and roll. Get ready, Geiger. I’ll see you downtown.

Cran-Raspberry Lattice Pie

On Friday, Jamie Schwartz @brownautogal of Brown Auto in Charlottesville pondered via Twitter who might bake the best pies in Charlottesville. In a moment of extreme hubris, I replied that I, of course, am the Pie Master and then challenged The Food Geek, Brian Geiger to the C’ville Pie Down; a pie-against-pie event to see which one of us can produce the best pies.

Since all this interaction took place on Twitter, a panel of judges self-assembled rather quickly. The four include our Simon Cowell, @stevewhitaker, our Randy Jackson, @joemeade; our Paula Abdul, Cindy Maisannes @cmaisannes and our not-Paula, Sara Gould @sajego. Others, of course, jumped into the conversation with offers to host, taste and of course, attend what now looks like THE C’ville blogger/Twitter(er) event of the season.

I’m suddenly afraid; very afraid.

The judges began their discussion of parameters; format, number of pies, location, etc. on a wiki to which you can add your two cents.

The date is still to be determined but it will likely be a Sunday afternoon. Stay tuned for additional details.

Meanwhile, I’ll be pondering my best pie offerings. It’s shaping up to look like an apple and what we think our “best” pie is — if you’ve tasted any of my pies, feel free to let me know which you think is my “signature” pie. I, of course, have some strong contenders, but have not yet decided which I will enter into competition. I’m excited though; it should be an all-in-good-fun event and a great way to gather some of our favorite online friends in person.