A Spontaneous Pear Jalapeño Pie

A very fun dinner and game party for 7 at my friends' place back in the old neighborhood prompted me to do a fun eccentric pie last night to bring to the pot-luck. Never had this one before, but having lived in Mexico I am excited to try out the spicy-tart-sweet flavor combo potential of pears and jalapeño! We had some pears and lemons from our backyard which made this particularly special. Just using Jalapeño Jelly melted with butter, poured over fresh fruit and some lemon juice, sugar, and nutmeg, cinnamon, and turned into a double crust pie. Made just like a traditional apple pie - just substitute pears and a 1/2 cup of the Jalapeño Jelly. It was gone in 5 minutes. We didn't need the vanilla ice cream but of course that would have put it 'over the top'. This pie could be a good one for next Thanksgiving, with flavor that pleases the apple pie lovers but is a new twist that people will want to test!

Sweet Peach Pie in Alaska

This summer I went to visit Alaska for my cousin's wedding, (wonderful and gorgeous!) and it also was an amazing experience of stunning wilderness and adventuresome spirits. What did not prevail was the dining experience, I found that culinary adventure is not really a part of what Alaska has to offer (coming from San Francisco and being on the other side of the culinary spectrum, this was not really a big surprise) Yet I tried the reindeer sausage and various forms of halibut, (hmmm, not exactly my favorite).
The BEST place to eat in the Kenai region I traveled was, by far, Gwin's Lodge in Cooper Landing. Their menu was printed up like a newspaper with some local info and tidbits of history. We were happy: The salmon burger was tasty. The root beer was refreshing. The burger and fries was thankfully received as a familiar relief after a week of less satisfying but exotic choices.
The staff there was welcoming and kind and we were happy to find this little road house because we were HUNGRY! "Care for desert?" Oh yes - a list of many pies to choose from! Happily taking the server's suggestion to go with the peach pie, we tried it - and suddenly we could have been all the way down south in Sweet Georgia sampling a country fair's greatest pride and joy.