More than a year ago, facing a half empty nest, I turned to pie. I decided I would learn, through trial and error, practice and reading, to make really fantastic pie. I blogged about my pie adventures, calling the new category Life of Pie. I began baking my way through the 300 pie recipes in this book growing in confidence despite the occasional pie failure.
Then came the Pie Down.
Undaunted, I continued to bake, even making a Peaches n’ Cream pie and a Smoothest Peanut Butter Pie for an event attended by his highness, The Food Geek who found them delicious.
Last Friday, I took the day off work and for 13 hours baked myself silly, creating seven total pies. Three of them were entered into C’ville Pie Fest, three were donated to the raffle to benefit PACEM and one (due to family demand) stayed at home.
The C’ville Pie Fest was nothing short of amazing — 27 bakers, more than 30 pies, a star-studded panel of judges and lots of money raised for a wonderful charity.
No, I didn’t win. (Sigh.) But I’ll have you know that two of the judges awarded perfect scores for my Butterscotch Pecan Pie, so put that on your fork and eat it.
Listen to Coy Barefoot and Brian Wheeler describe my Butterscotch Pecan pie.
And look at these tweets from @cmaisannes
Of course, I (and the other 26 bakers) owe it all to this guy, the undisputed King of Pie:
Next year, we’re going statewide — so be on the watch for Virginia Pie Fest — and yes, I’ll be back for the win.
