cjsmith: (Default)
cjsmith ([personal profile] cjsmith) wrote2005-11-23 08:07 pm

To pie or not to pie?

I love pumpkin pie, but I'm really busy.

Rob and I spend T-day traveling to LA. I won't see anyone else I know until Friday afternoon. And Rob doesn't eat pie, and my recipe makes two pies.

But I love pumpkin pie.

But I don't like store bought pumpkin pie. And I'm really busy.

[Poll #619152]

EDIT @8:54PM: OK, already, I went to the store. Now I'm going to sit and rest my feet for an hour or so, and then I can stand up to make pie. :-)

[identity profile] jb98.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
mmmmm, pie.

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
Homemade pumpkin pie is sooooooooooo good. This is just the basic Libby's recipe -- well, the one they used to have 25 years ago, a little lighter on the milk than today's -- and it's soooooo yummy. I love it.

[identity profile] dawnd.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
I just came back from the local Safeway, outside of which we were selling Girl Scout nuts and candy. If yours looks anything like ours, you probably don't want to be there. OTOH, the "15 or less" lines are probably not TOO bad...

Hey, I didn't get a response from you regarding my Holiday Jam poll (http://www.livejournal.com/users/dawnd/199606.html). Are you unavailable on 12/11? I was really looking forward to trying your radioactive jelly!

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
I plan to have an enormous hangover 12/11, but nothing else is scheduled. I can send my jelly with someone else if I am too messed up ;-)

[identity profile] dawnd.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
LOL. Well, your jelly would be lovely, but I'd rather it came with YOU. :^D

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
Aw, thank you! :-D

[identity profile] eichin.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:26 am (UTC)(link)
does it keep well, such that friday is fine? does the recipe split in half? is it pumpkin-pie-on-tday that you're craving specifically, or would putting it on your calendar for, say, 12/1 suffice?

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
It keeps fine if refrigerated, and I have a fridge in the LA hotel. The recipe splits if I can find a small can of pureed pumpkin. It's pumpkin-pie-during-the-LA-square-dance-convention I'm craving.

I think I'm going to the store now. :-)

[identity profile] allanh.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
Buy a pie on the way at a convenient Baker's Square, or Marie Callender's, and suck it up, soldier. It won't be as good as your own ... but it would be better than nothing.

And the LAST thing you want to do is try to navigate around a supermarket the evening before Thanksgiving. Are you up to standing around for an hour waiting at the checkout line? [raised eyebrow]

Of course ... you COULD always just send Rob to the store to pick up everything you need. Hm. THAT'S an idea. THAT should have been on the survey!

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
Well, it wouldn't even be worth buying a pie if I couldn't have whipped cream, and whipped cream means a trip to the store! :-)

I decided I was willing to spend two hours of energy on SOMETHING I WANT, unlike everything else I seem to be doing right now -- so I went. The 15-or-fewer line was remarkably short. Now, of course, I don't want to stand up any more (*sigh*), so I'll do some other work for an hour and THEN make pie.

[identity profile] aelfie.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
You know what you need? You need a kitchen stool with wheels. Tall enough for you to sit and do your work so you don't have to be on your feet.

Hrmmm. I have a friend in Maine with such a chair, I'll find out where she got it. (She broke her back so she can't stand for long periods of time either.)

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 05:32 am (UTC)(link)
I have a reference for one such thing, a tall lab chair with wheels, from someone I met at physical therapy. She's had plantar fasciitis -- a fairly bad case -- for

ten

years.

My problems seem small. Anyhow, the lab chair is only $130. Ow.

[identity profile] psi-star-psi.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 05:21 am (UTC)(link)
I voted what I would have, even though the answer was already available. Pumpkin pie is the second greatest pie in the world. (The best is pecan, but I've been Overly Exposed to Southerners.)

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
I have no such handicap ;-), so pumpkin is definitely the greatest pie in the world. It is closely followed by dutch apple and the berry thing made in the Mountain Room restaurant at Yosemite. (The berry thing may have an unfair advantage due to location.)

[identity profile] just-cyd.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 02:25 pm (UTC)(link)
yay!! glad you decided to do the pie. sorry you had to battle the grocery store and rest sore feetsies, but i'm sure the end result is worth it.

i've been commissioned to bake apple pie for t-day today. i haven't baked a pie on my own in a very long time (usually it's a tag-team effort - i do crusts and final assembly, and someone with working hands does the apple part), but i've got a few hours to get it done.

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooo, apple! I've never done an apple pie, although I've helped peel and chop for someone who was in charge of it.

I find some apple pies INCREDIBLY FREAKIN SCRUMPTIOUS, even though most are just "good", so there's some recipe trick about the scrumptious ones. Some day maybe I'll find out what it is. Then I bet I'll make 'em myself from time to time. :-)

[identity profile] just-cyd.livejournal.com 2005-11-25 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
the type of apples is a big factor, i think. i used Braeburn for this pie, and it turned out well. (just didn't have enough apples -- it looked a little flat to me)

i seem to recall dad saying that Cortlands were the best pie apples. a coworker said she uses a blend of granny smith and macintosh. the macintosh turn to mush, but the granny smiths stay firm, so you get a nice mix of textures. i think there's a trick to geting the right balance of sweet and tart, too. i got lucky with this one, as it was perfect.

when you come to visit (some day!) i'll make sure i make you one.

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-29 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Braeburn, Cortland, Granny Smith, Macintosh -- I'm putting this post in memories so I can go back and see what to try if I ever get ambitious.

(Oh, who'm I kidding. As if I'm going to peel and cut that many apples for an *experiment*. That's my problem: I'm lazy! I should go visit you instead!)
curmudgn: (Default)

[personal profile] curmudgn 2005-11-24 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-24 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMPIE! There's nothing quite so yummy as pumpkin pie!

[identity profile] mactavish.livejournal.com 2005-11-25 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
The Libby's is the best, but I usually add a little more of each spice and I sprinkle nutmeg on it. And this time, I whipped the sugar and eggs together first until it was fluffy, then added other ingredients almost at random, and the texture was lovely.

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-11-28 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I too am a teensy bit generous with the spices. I also go a little light on the sugar. There's a lot of sugar in that recipe.

Then I add vanilla (way more than my mother's notes call for) and a bit of powdered sugar to my heavy cream as I whip it.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM. 8-)

[identity profile] jupiter29.livejournal.com 2005-12-01 02:14 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm probably taking this poll a little late. :) And, of course, I protest the exclusion of a little box where I could list my address so you could send me the extra pie. :)

[identity profile] cjsmith.livejournal.com 2005-12-01 06:08 pm (UTC)(link)
WAY too late for THAT! ;-) Pie no last long here!

[identity profile] jupiter29.livejournal.com 2005-12-01 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I guess I'll have find a very subtle way to make you want to bake again, then. :)

Oh by the way, on a completely unrelated note, isn't apple pie delicious? ;)