A Year of Great Pies ...A Grand Finale

A Year of Great Pies comes to a Grand Finale at Grandma's house...

There you have it...what I'd call an EPIC year of Pie has come to a close.  What that means is, that new pies are coming.  Fresh, fruity, yummy, homemade, perhaps you have a Pie that brought you together with friends, family, that was the centerpiece to a heart story.  The Pie Blog memorializes those special pies.  (That's what Pie Bloggin' is all about!)  THANKS to the Pie contributors this year!

Grandma has the Classy Touch. Homemade Pies in Maryland presented with love.

Grammy's Holiday Home Dessert Table.

A gorgeous southern Pecan Classic. Do not attempt a calorie count.

Starry Apple.  Home Comfort Cooking.  My gratitude to the chef and photographer who contributed these beautiful pies!

Here Come Mini Pies

Here come the Mini Pies from "Baltimore Bob".  A beautiful vegetable pot pie, and 3 mini pies, and a pumpkin pie that has a whimsical touch...these were all photographed by the cook.  Very nice! Thanks for the contribution!

3 Veggie Minis

 Pumpkin Jack Mini Pie

4 Fresh Apple Pies for the Special Person who passed the Maryland Bar Exam. Congrats!

Tiny Pies and Cake Pops

Dad's Tiny Pie, Raspberry 2011

That's a truly tiny Pie!  Dad doesn't bake much...but when he does, he is using an Emeril Pie and Cake Maker.  'I found it in the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog," he said, proving you could have your cake and eat pie too.  (Eat Pie!)  Tiny bites and personal sizes are in favor right now.  Check out these customized cake pops - designed especially for a fiesta with musical alumni and my dogs, who are the inspiration for these cake pops pictured...once getting past the sculpted sugar, there's delicious flavors of cake under there like s'mores and red velvet and german chocolate cake!

Mini Aussie and Musical Notes 'Cake Pops' October 2011

π San Francisco lives up to the Reputation: A Review

...π San Francisco.  A Place for Pizza Pies...if you aren't familiar with this Pie Blog, you may not have realized that, included, are pizza pies ... most welcome and fabulous topics for pie discussion.   

This is a Rare Pie Blog Restaurant Review.

A gentleman friend and I went to sample the Pie, of the now locally famous π Bar on Valencia Street, San Francisco.  The joint opens at 3:14 pm daily and is a few blocks from my office.  Perfect!

I was excited to see right away there was a White Pizza on the menu for $13;  I'll have to get that another time (when I can have it to myself.) The π Bar features a sophisticated array of delicious beers on tap, and the friendly wait staff gave us lots of tastings.  The Gentleman had a Beligian White (refreshing and delicious!) and the Lady had the Pinot Noir from Sonoma (another story later on my journey through Pinot Noirs of Sonoma...) 

Then came the pie:  a perfect flaky thin crispy crust, just the right amount of sauce, and just how we liked it!  We tried the Italian sausage, portabella mushrooms, green pepper and onions, and all the ingredients were as perfectly cooked, as they were when my mom took me as a kid to get a slice up in NYC, except here I got to order a nice California wine and hear some excellent live jazz (and accordion guest appearance!) ...for a casual after-work meal on a budget, I was impressed.  Certainly this is the best NYC style pizza in the Mission.

These folks even have a Manifesto, check it out.  The π Bar SF can be found on Valencia Street and Pi Bar SF.  They get a tip of the hat and some love from ...The Pie Blog!

Here's a little retrospective of the Indian Summer moments ...a precursor to the fall parade!  The Pie Blog is gearing up to finish the year 2011 with amazing pies.  ...Eat Pie!

San Fran-Berrylicious Pie and homemade crust...raspberries, blackberries & blueberries

Lila's Mojito Pie for Ben's Fiesta in Berkeley

Stone-Plum Pie, comfort at home.

Pies for the Festival Season

Brown Sugar Sparkles

A fantastic summer it has been with Pies showing up everywhere.  Most recently, pie was partaken of at the magical Outside Lands Music Festival, in San Francisco, August 12 - 14; where over 40 world class musical acts converged in Golden Gate Park for an extravaganza of good sound and a big party.   Friends came from as far as Guadalajara to join in the festivities and good food, wine tasting tent, and music.  Pecan pies were on sale at the festival along with southern style food, cocktails and local California wines.  I liked the wines from "Field Recordings." We certainly had many good festival moments and picnic goodies while listening to Muse, The Black Keys, OK GO!, Phish, Ximena Sarinana, and old friend Sonny Smith on the Panhandle Stage.

A true hit this season was a revisited D'Angelo Pie Duo (If you recall from previous articles, that's what we call the peach-blueberry oatmeal crumble top around here...) and those appeared, most notably, at 'T4' 4th Annual Thong Festival Celebrating Independence in Joshua Tree, California July 1-4, 2011 The two particular pies I speak of were among those that were gone too fast for the "Chairwoman" to taste, so I had to judge from the reports that it was simply awesome.

Messy, though Delicious

In July there were many fruit pies and celebrations of ice cream-on-top.  In August, blueberries being abundant, the Pie Blogger branched out into a Blueberry-Cheesecake-Pie for the "Brett-est Birthday Ever" at Donner State Memorial Park, Truckee, California.  (This pie was made by the friendly folks at the Truckee-Donner Summit Safeway, a prototype for something I'll make later--)  Again, this yumminess was eaten by 12 dirt-biking, river-rafting, roller-skating freaks on the riverside camp before photo ops could be arranged.  Good times!!!

My Very First Baked Alaska

So, I really didn't know what to expect when I looked up 'Baked Alaska'.  I wondered if I could attempt this recipe, and wondered if Baked Alaska could even be considered a pie dessert.  While researching I looked at other people's versions on the internet.  I had never had it before - and I just imagined a Denali sized mountain of baked egg-y deliciousness sitting in a pie shell.  (Baked Alaska is the type of old-school restaurant dessert item that one doesn't see every day.)

Well, I decided to take on 'Strawberry Baked Alaska'.  This turned out to be easier than expected, and very much a mountain of egg-y deliciousness sitting in a pie shell atop of fresh made strawberry ice cream.
Yes, you do bake the ice cream!  It really does work.

This is amazing as a presentation and very good, winning the approval of my nephews because it has ice cream involved in it as well as the mountain of fluff...  Here are some photos, pre-baked.  The soft strawberry ice cream molds into the pie shell, with fresh strawberry slices on top, all in a pre-baked pie shell.  Then, the meringue is piled atop high like a mountain before the 30 second broil that toasts the whole thing like a marshmallow! (Picture not available, the subject was eaten.)