We had peach abundance last week.  You, too?  Sweet, ripe ones all over the place.  What can you do?  Make jam?  Sure.  But pie...now that's pure joy.

I used the "I'd Give the Moon and Stars" peach pie recipe and changed the top crust, creating "pinwheels" out of dough, cinnamon and sugar.*  Loved the way they looked, kind of like Ferris Wheels, which really remind me of summer.  There was one in Porland, Oregon, I got to ride recently and it was spectacular:  we went around and around as the city lights came on and the sunset twinkled pink on the river.  I was giddy!

Try your hand at making this pie.  As always, it's not how it looks that  matters.  It's how it makes you feel.

Hope you're feeling peachy keen!  Your Pie Pal, Rebecca

*Just roll the dough out into more of a square.  Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and roll it up.  Slice into 1/2" rolls and flatten them with your fingers.  Place on the unbaked pie filling and sprinkle with sugar crystals.  Voila!  Pinwheels for yor pie.

Patriotic Pie Contest

4^th of July Pie

Our national birthday is coming up, so let’s get ready to celebrate!  What’s your version of a 4^th of July Pie? 

What characteristics of America would you want to celebrate?  Our commitment to democracy?  Our 3 branches of government?  Our willingness – in the end – to embrace diversity and inclusiveness?  Our vision of freedom and liberty for all?  A particular part of America that’s special to you?  I can see a “Yellowstone Park Pie” or a “Purple Waves of Grain Pie.”  Or maybe a “Southern Summer Pie.”

Pick a theme and go for it!  Send your recipe in by June 30^th and we’ll pick one to post on the 1^st of July (so there will be time to make it for the 4^th).

Maybe you already have a favorite 4^th of July Pie – great!  Or maybe you want to make up a new one.  Either is welcome.

Criteria:

• ü  Name your pie according to the American value or place you want to celebrate
• Originality counts!
• Get it here by end of day June 30^th

For inspiration, here’s a photo from the American Pie Championship held this April.  It has 3 sections with different fruits in red, white and blue colors -- cherries, apples and blueberries – with a twist of crust separating each.  How did the baker keep the sections separate?  I don’t know but I was impressed with the design!

I think I’ll dream up a “Liberty Pie” or maybe an “Equal Rights” pie.  How about you?!?  Enter now!

It’s been a time of transitions.  My partner’s mother passed away.  My niece got engaged.  I’m between contracts for work.  We’re visiting family in another state.  The flow continues.

It’s time to be quiet, perhaps drifting on a raft down a wide river, letting the eddies take us into their swirls, releasing us gently back into the largesse of the river.

What does this have to pie?  Temporarily, nothing.  Temporarily, it’s good to be at rest, to breathe the smell of the summer, of the water we’re upon, to listen to the gurgles of the water and the calls of the birds.  To listen to our hearts.

Then we’ll celebrate the new places we find ourselves:  down river, further along in our lives.  We’ll get grounded again and celebrate with summer pies:  fresh fruit spilling out, bubbling through the lattice and cascading over the sides of the crust onto the baking pan.  Ummm, the best, those little puddles of sweetness.

What will your pie celebrate?  And what kind will you make?  I’ll be making peach, fresh peach, with peaches from a friend’s tree or the grower’s market.  With just a touch of almond and a lattice crust.  And I’ll be celebrating another summer of love, work, family, friends and life.  You?