Call me a Labor Day weekend slacker, but I'm going with another encore post today.
This one is from September 2010 and it holds particular significance now since I am indeed on a pie quest,
searching for the perfect pie recipe to make so that I might enter this year's contest
at the upcoming Pie Town, New Mexico, pie festival.
I've got my sights on this orange chocolate pecan pie or this cinnamon bun pecan pie,
at the upcoming Pie Town, New Mexico, pie festival.
I've got my sights on this orange chocolate pecan pie or this cinnamon bun pecan pie,
but if you've got a blue-ribbon winning suggestion, I'm listening!
***
Every year on the second Saturday in September, Pie Town, New Mexico, (population 200) holds its annual pie festival.
The settlement got its name in the early 1920s; cowboys who drove cattle through the area
stopped at the local mercantile for its delicious pies,
and they came to refer to the wide spot in the trail as Pie Town.
Piemakers from the surrounding area bring their confections to the festival each year to be judged,
and festival-goers can buy pieces of the pies once the judges have completed
the very difficult task of deciding the winners.
Some friends of mine have been pie-festival-goers for many years, and Smooch and I met them
and their dogs at yesterday's event to eat pie and go hiking afterwards.
There were about 100 pies of all flavors in the competition:
Pies are grouped and judged by categories – fruit, non-fruit, youth division.
This year's grand champion was a green tomato pie:
This year's grand champion was a green tomato pie:
Choosing which pie to sample was nearly impossible, and I could not narrow it down to just one,
so I bought two slices – one for me and one for Smooch. That's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it.
We sat down under a tree to enjoy our Strawberry Pecan and Wild Blueberry:
Smooch had a little trouble using her fork...
...so I had to help her when it got down to the crust.
Yesterday ranks right up at the top of the best-day-of-Smooch's-life list.
She got to watch 300-some miles of beautiful New Mexico scenery go by from the front seat of the truck;
she met more dogs and more people in a few hours than she has in all her five years;
and she got to go hiking with her pals.
I've promised her we would go back again for next year's pie festival.
She has her heart set on some more of that Wild Blueberry.
She has her heart set on some more of that Wild Blueberry.
what a wonderful day with friends, for both of you... i bet the critters were happy to see you roll back in the gate... i love the smooch Smooch is giving his friend.. yum on blueberry...
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a good time. Chocolate orange sounds good to me. Just make sure you make the best crust. If pie crust is bad, it doesn't matter how good your filling is.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow, I gained 5 lbs. reading the recipe for the cinnamon bun pie! If I gotta go, that's how I'd choose to do it, smiling happily all the way. Smooch looks like she thought she went to heaven, eating her very own helping of pie. Sounds like a blast of a day.
ReplyDeleteAre you close enough to thr high country to find wild huckleberries? The chocolate orange does sound delish. What a great photo of you and Smooch!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great day (2010) !! :) I don't know how I missed this post, but I don't recall it -- and I do like !! PIE !! so it should have stuck in the grey-cells somewhere. [note to self -- must look for a chocolate decadence pie recipe ;) ]
ReplyDeletePersonally, I like a good apple pie. It's probably the first type that my mother / grandmother made that I got into, so it's imprinted. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Crust is also very important with pie filling / then pie topping whether its crust/meringue/crumb/drizzles. So, it's sometimes what surrounds the filling that makes the pie (sadly). I'm a filling girl!
Let us know how it turns out ... all the experiments to the final selection.
I wonder if George and Alan would volunteer to be your personal tasters?
M in NC
The trick is not to be a contestant but to be a judge in the contest. Best of luck.
ReplyDeleteLaurie in Ga.
I like your encore postings. I don't remember seeing this one before, so maybe I wasn't following back four years ago.
ReplyDeleteI dont know if your pie need a crust but here is my to-die-for recipe: it is a chocolate moelleux with chestnut cream: you melt 100gr butter with 120 gr dark chocolate (best quality). you mix 3 eggs (I do whipe the whites separately) with 400gr chestnut cream. you mix everything together very smoothly. you put 45 minutes in the oven. it should come out with a moisted centre.
ReplyDeleteNow THAT would be my idea of a heavenly day! Although ... anyone who knows me KNOWS that I would NOT be able to just taste one piece of pie! That is my favourite part of our local fair - the United Church pies. Yum!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember reading this post before either. The picture of you and Smooch should be in the calendar. What I want to know is the recipe for the perfect pie crust. The Pillsbury crusts are as good as my mother's, but I know the homemade recipe can be perfected.
ReplyDeleteHi! I looked at the recipe for orange chocolate pecan pie and decided immediately that you should choose that one. However, just to be fair, I looked at the cinnamon bun pecan pie, and changed my mind! To be different, why don't you combine them and make an orange chocolate pecan pie with a cinnamon bun crust? Sounds real good to me!
ReplyDeleteDo you know this book? Pieography: Where Pie Meets Biography-42 Fabulous Recipes Inspired by 39 Extraordinary Women (A WWC Press Book) Hardcover – February 1, 2013
ReplyDeleteby Jo Packham
Omigosh...pies and pies and pies! I would gain 10 pounds just from all the delicious smells!
ReplyDeleteI sure miss a good slice of pie. They don't know how to make them here! ha ha!