My family isn't competitive at all. Really.

A few weeks ago, I visited one of my favorite cousins, Semra. We have a lot in common, but the most obvious similarities are our love of baking and our competitive spirit. When it comes to baking, we have different personalities. I focus on taste and follow all the rules, but struggle in the presentation arena - for Semra, creative liberties and presentation are the best part about baking. Together we are an unstoppable team. Which is good because we also love winning. My first day in Florida, we were participating in a pie baking contest. Where some would see this as good, clean fun, we saw it as an opportunity to crush competition and win the day (nicely of course). We set out to make the most amazing pie ever. What resulted was our award-winning apple, blackberry crumble pie.


Because we basically made this recipe up and Semra is not nearly as OCD as I am, I cannot tell you the exact ingredients or specific steps to make this pie, but here is what I can tell you - 


We coated slices of Granny Smith Washington apples and blackberries in sugar and placed the sugary fruit in the pie crust.  Then, we mixed softened butter, cinnamon sugar and oats together to make a crumble topping, which we spread on top of the fruit. Finally, we latticed the pie (this was all new to me) and coated it with melted butter. We baked it at 350 degrees until it looked done. 


The end result? Success.

A belated happy Thanksgiving

It is pretty sad when you have a food blog, but no Thanksgiving post. I'm not sure a belated Thanksgiving post has the same luster and excitement as a pre-holiday blog, but it's worth a shot.


This year, inspired by one family's pie-to-person ratio, I packed my Derby pie in a travel dish and headed to my extended family's Thanskgiving dinner.  Though we didn't have more pies than people, we came close enough. 


Along with the pie, I made a quick, easy and delicious roasted green beans with cranberries and walnuts dish I found at Once Upon a Chef.    It was a hit with a notoriously picky crowd and it literally took me 20 minutes to make (I cut my prep time by using frozen french cut green beans). 


I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Saying goodbye to strawberry season

Strawberries have always been my favorite fruit, so I'm sad that strawberry season is coming to a close. To make the most of the fresh strawberries at my local farmer's market, my friend Emily and I made Martha Stewart's Strawberry Icebox Pie:

Not quite as picturesque as Martha's pie, but still delicious!

Say what you will about Martha, she has some good pie recipes. The strawberry filling augmented the strawberry taste instead of overwhelming the strawberry flavor with sugar. But we did modify other parts of the recipe.  I had several pre-made pie crusts at hand, so we baked one of those instead of making the graham cracker crust. We also substituted the whipped cream with mascarpone cheese, which was a nice twist. In all, it was the perfect way to get the most out of strawberry season.

How do I survive a four hour road trip? Alpine Pantry

Some people love road trips.  I am not one of them.  The only upside is that sometimes when driving, you stumble upon a local deli, bakery, or restaurant that almost makes traveling by car worth it.  

While the weather is nice, I try to visit my Grandma in West Virginia as much as I can.  On my way to her house this time, I stumbled upon Alpine Pantry, a Mennonite establishment specializing in deli meats, cheese, bread, baked goods, jams, and spices.  Everything is fresh and delicious, and after hours in the car by myself had no will power...which explains why I walked away with a bear claw (gone before I could grab my camera) and...

Herb and Cheese Bread

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

The bread and the pie were a hit at Grandma's house.  I'll definitely be back on my next trip.

If you want to check it out on your way to Wisp, Coopers Rock State Forest, or other local attractions, here are the deets:

Alpine Pantry

301-478-3696

I-68 Exit 56

21505 Flintstone Drive

Flintstone, MD 21530

Mon-Fri 7:30 - 5:00

Saturday 7:30 - 3:00

Closed Sunday

Make it pretty!

My mom knows how to cook, she just prefers to avoid it. One time I called her in college saying I wish I had a homemade meal and she informed me that it was buy-one-get-one free pizza night at Domino's. Nevertheless, my mom was raised by my grandmother, a woman who lives by two rules in the kitchen:

1) Always make three times the amount of food you think you'll need (God forbid someone goes hungry),
2) Whatever you are making, make it pretty.

The last rule has been drilled into any person who has been within a 50 mile radius of my grandma's kitchen, but somehow it's been lost on me. As my bourbon ball odyssey at the demonstrated, I can make the most popular dessert at the Christmas potluck, but I cannot make it pretty. There was no getting around this embarrassing truth when I made Derby Pie for my family while in Oklahoma. My mom gasped in horror when she saw the pie crust, leading to the following conversation -

Mom: What are you doing??
Me: Making pie.
Mom: With crusts like that! Your grandma would be so ashamed!
Me: What?
Mom: Your pie crusts aren't pretty. You're supposed to crimp pie crusts. Haven't I taught you anything?!

This life lesson stayed with me all of three weeks. Fearing that I would shame my family, the next pie crust was a masterpiece. On a roll, I offered to make another Derby Pie for my coworkers. But I was exhausted when I got home tonight and did what any rational person would do in this situation - I called my mom for permission not to crimp the pie crust...

Me: I'm making an ugly Derby Pie. I can make the pie, but crimping the crust is just too much work.
Mom: You have to!
Me: Why? No one will even notice, they'll be too busy eating.
Mom: Because you have to show that the pie is loved.

Who can argue with that?

Maybe Mom is right...

(A loved pie)

Why should you go to H Street NE?

Recently, H Street NE has come into its own as a foodie destination. In 2006, the Palace of Wonders opened and jump started the bar scene, followed by Granville Moore's putting H Street on the map as a foodie destination. Since then, the area has exploded with excellent, reasonably priced eateries and nightlife (Taylor Gourmet, H Street Country Club, Sticky Rice, and Rock n' Roll Hotel).

The most recent newcomers on the scene are Dangerously Delicious and the Star & Shamrock.

I have mentioned Dangerously Delicious a few times before and couldn't wait for it to open. The shop is a Baltimore import that was recently featured on the Food Network show, "Best Thing I Ever Ate." Rodney Henry established Dangerously Delicious to support his music career, and it has a rock and roll vibe that includes live music performances. More importantly, it has an impressive selection of sweet and savory pies. I tried the Food Network-featured Baltimore Bomb pie, while my friend Emily enjoyed the Chocolate Chess pie. The Baltimore Bomb is made of Berger cookies (a Baltimore delicacy) mixed with vanilla chess filling - it has a great texture and I think it tastes best when heated. But I was more impressed with the Chocolate Chess pie, which has a nuanced, smooth chocolate flavor that melts in your mouth. I have yet to try a savory pie or any of the fruit pies, so several more trips are in order to fully experience the awesomeness that is Dangerously Delicious Pies.

Star & Shamrock is a brilliant blend of a Jewish deli and Irish pub. The sandwiches were delicious and I was impressed with the selection of reasonably priced beer, bourbon, and whiskey lists. (Any place that carries Kilkenny beer and Bakers bourbon is clearly a cut above the rest.)

H Street may not be metro accessible, but its restaurants and bars make it well worth the trip, so check it out!

Dangerously Delicious Pies Opens at Last!

I'm planning a trip to H Street because Dangerously Delicious Pies is finally open!

'Tis the season for pies

I'm momentarily interrupting my never-ending Australia food write-up to focus on Thanksgiving, the most important holiday of the year. Thanksgiving is at the heart of every foodie, and pie is at the heart of every Thanksgiving. Without pie at Thanksgiving, a foodie may aimlessly eat through the entire holiday season never finding satisfaction, no matter how magical a Christmas cookie or beautiful the buffet. Something is missing. Pie.

Fortunately, you can find pie everywhere this time of year. My pie pick for the season is Dangerously Delicious. It offers every pie you've ever dreamed of from sweet to savory, including Pumpkin, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chess, Strawberry, Steak Mushroom Onion and Gruyere, and Sausage Tomato Fennel.

The shop opens early next month. In the meantime, for information on how to order a Thanksgiving pie, go to http://www.dailycandy.com/all-cities/article/77271/Dangerously-Delicious-DCs-Early-Holiday-Orders.