pie-eyed

I did something yesterday that I've never done before in my life: I made a pie. A peach pie. I took a photo just to prove it. Those of you who have been baking from the time you started kindergarten are shaking your heads at this moment and thinking this is so lame--that I am so lame. I agree. I don't know why I previously missed out on this rite of initiation. I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to it. I know for certain I've baked blueberry tarts many times--with frozen tart shells purchased at Safeway, mind you. To tell you the truth, I guess I just never saw the point of making a pie of my very own. When I lived at home, my mom's culinary skills were superb; many of the roommates I had were also experts in the kitchen; when I met James, he was content with store-bought pies, and so the tradition continued for the last 10 years. I would rather spend my time on other things, so it's not as though I've been highly motivated to learn.

Thanks to Epp Peaches, all that changed. At least for a day.

It was a typical situation: I'm supposed to incorporate more fruit into my daily diet, and I found baskets of peaches on sale at Metro (the former Loeb). Two years ago, I had a brief but torrid affair with Epp nectarines. The peaches started turning on me a lot sooner.

I searched through my cookbooks: The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, Country Kitchen Classics (REMC), Our Very Best (PVC, RFC, REMC), and Our Favorite Recipes (St. Vital EMC). I found recipes for blueberry pie, rhubarb pie, lemon meringue pie, banana cream pie, pumpkin pie, raisin pie, strawberry pie, even egg pie--but no peach pie. I was beginning to think that maybe Mennonites didn't eat peach pie, maybe I hadn't received an important bulletin that was supposed to have circulated. Until I found the "Peach of a Pie" recipe in Christian Fellowship Chapel's All Time Favorites. The problem was, it called for peach jello, and, well, you know...the whole "gelatin rhymes with skeleton" thing and all that.

If you were paying attention above, you already know this story has a happy ending. Fortunately, calling on my best friend Google yielded a flaky crust, a fruity filling, and even a fizzin' solution (actually quite a few solutions, but I used baking soda and dish detergent) to clean burnt sugar overspill off my baking pan.

I'm not going to admit how long it took me to put together the pie crusts and scald & skin the peaches. And I didn't even flute the crust edges. I'll just say that now I know why people usually bake multiple pies at a time. Mind you, I only have the one pie plate. Ultimately, I'm just happy that it didn't go up in flames. Unlike that torte I once made...

So I challenge you to do one thing this week (or month, if you need a bit more time to gear up to it) that you've never done before. Then share it with me.

I wanna know if it's as easy as pie.