A friend of mine from NYC called the other day to ask which pie bakery I preferred. He had guests from Norway stopping by that afternoon for coffee and wanted to offer them a slice of “American pie”.
When he told me a whole pie from a bakeshop would cost anywhere from $35-$65, I suggested he take a quick lesson in pie making and bake one himself. He had 3 hours before they arrived and I was convinced I could help him get a pie, prepped, baked, and on a cooling rack before they rang his buzzer.
I quickly emailed this recipe for Best Ever Blueberry pie and he raced to his local grocery store to pick up everything we needed, (including a pie plate). With the help of Skype, I coached him through the basic steps (he saved time with a ready-made pie crust) and the pie was in the oven in no time.
There's nothing better than the smell of a freshly baked pie and this one is certain to please any guest.
In the beautiful economy of the forest – or the urban backyard garden
– leaves are nature's brilliant cookware. Banana leaves can be cut
down to make plates or unfurled into wrappers perfect for steaming fish
on a low-slung grill. Fig trees and grapevines yield leaves the exact
size for enclosing, then grilling, a cube of feta, a recumbent sardine
or a mint-studded lamb meatball.
CAMPFIRE MARTINI
ROMAN CANDLE
This summer marks my thirty-first year as an attorney. But when I think back to the summer of 1978 it is not a courtroom that I see; rather I recall a brilliant sunny July day barbecuing at the base of the Seattle Space Needle on a Weber grill. About twenty of us from the country’s largest pork producing states were vying for first place in National Pork Cook-Out Contest. Truth be told though the southern states, principally North Carolina, Texas and Tennessee are known for barbecue the big boys of pork are Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska and Kansas. They were the guys to beat.