Easy As Pie

Good bye summer and hello autumn!

I'm back! I took a little time off from writing my blog and going to WW, but I'm back on the plan ready to go. After my birthday I just lost motivation and really got a little depressed. Luckily I haven't gained any weight, but I haven't lost any either. I had tuned the big 5-0 and now what, I'm 50. So on to the next goals and adventures.

Remember how I wanted to run a half marathon? What was I thinking? First off, I don't like to run. Second, I have a bad knee and fallen arches from doing Foley for a million years so instead I entered a pie contest! You may not think they have a lot in common, but let me point out the similarities. They are both competitions, you get a ribbon if you win, your friends can come and cheer you on, you have to pace yourself...okay those last two might be for a pie eating contest, but the fact is I that I did it! I made my Grandma Golda's Sugar Cream Pie with a Ginger Snap Cookie Crust. It is a perfect combination of flour, sugar, vanilla and cream with a little sprinkle of nutmeg then add a delicious mix of butter and ginger snap cookies. Now what's wrong with that? I made two pies so I could choose which one looked and tasted the best. Plus, then you have a whole pie left to feed to your friends!

What makes someone enter a pie contest you might ask? I got an email from NPR about their 3rd Annual Pie Contest. For $10 I too could enter a pie so I paid the fee and then quite honestly forgot all about it. Two months later I get a reminder (and boy did I need one!) that the contest was this Sunday, September 18, at LACMA. I had no plans so I thought, sure I'll still enter. I had no idea that there would be over 200 pies! There were 5 categories: Cream, Fruit, Savory, Nut and Tim Burton themed. I think the cream had the largest entries . I didn't really tell any of my friends because I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but the ones I told were like, "Sure! We'll be there! Free pie?" Tyson and Bruce and Patsy, Dave and Davis showed up. The judging was between 1pm and 2pm, behind closed quarters and then after that they displayed all the pies. There was a pie for everyone even if you don't like pie. Chocolate peanut butter cream, fresh peach, macadamia nut, tomato, you name it they got it. There was one other pie that was semi similar to mine. It was called a Hoosier Pie, but it tasted more butterscotch than vanilla.

The judging was complete, now the time was near. They started pulling the pies. Would mine be picked in a sea of sugary goodness? The simple answer is no. Mine wasn't chosen, but to be honest I was just happy to enter! The winning pie overall was a good old fashion Apple Pie. After the ribbons were all handed out, the bakers positioned themselves behind their pies to serve them to the public. I was between a woman with a Bee Hive hairdo and a 3rd runner up in the savory category. Hundreds of people slowly perused the selection of pies to get samples. They walked past our pies, reading the descriptions, looking at the beautiful pastry lattice work on some and then they just kept on walking. This was worse than the pie competition! Finally, when some of the other pies were gone we started getting interest. I could care less if you like my pie, I just didn't want to lug it home!

All in all, it was a great experience. I'm already thinking about what kind of pie I want to make for next year. I may even enter two! I think something with Nutella and then maybe a savory one with bacon. I know, the bacon thing will be over by then, but then again, who doesn't love bacon?