Something about taste memory is strong with fall. Apples and squash and spice. Something about the colors that surround us, and the inward dive we take looking for newly necessary warmth. Gingerbread, roasted vegetables, soup. Something in this season begs for sensory rapture and ease. I was thinking about Autum’s death dance while… Continue reading Pumpkin Pancakes
I quit my pie job last week. It wasn’t a dramatic thing, it was just time for me to be finished working there. I kind of knew my time was up because the magic of pie was starting to wane for me. The process of making pie every day, in large batches, using the same standardized… Continue reading So Long Pie Girl
I watched an episode of Stephen Colbert right before the election in which he made the argument that regardless of who won at least we could stop talking about nothing but politics for a while. It made a certain amount of sense at the time, but now it just feels kind of ironic and out… Continue reading 45
When you bake pie for a living, the week of Thanksgiving is a lot like finals week, but with dough and filling and lots and lots of blind-baked pie shells. And the prospect is a little bit terrifying, I’ve gotta say. As a person who relies heavily on downtime for their sense of sanity, facing… Continue reading Thanksgiving…
For the last four months or so I’ve found myself in a new position when it comes to pie: knee deep. I left my semi well-paid serving job and jumped head first into a position with a small pie shop where I produce signature, locally sourced pie wonders on the regular. It all sounds kind… Continue reading New Levels of Commitment: Professional Baker Edition
I spend a lot of time questioning things lately, in particularly questioning myself. Is my life as good and full as it should be, am I doing my best in enough ways, is my potential being fulfilled…It’s a complex and generally unanswerable string that tends to bring me down on myself. Maybe because my inevitable… Continue reading The Point of Strawberry Pie
Spring has sprung. We’re knee deep in it actually, and yet my pie crusading has been a bit slower over the last few months. Maybe that fall/winter rush of obligatory holiday pie baking sent me into a mini hiatus, I’m not entirely sure. But my love of pie runs deep and my inner baker sits… Continue reading Onward and Possibly Upward
I remember the gloomy, icy, barren days of last winter. I remember planting tomato starts in my windowsill and thinking how impossible it seemed that they would eventually grow up and live their lives under a hot sun. I remember being too impatient to wait for berry season and buying frozen ones to satisfy… Continue reading A Year of Pie in Review…
There are times when it’s tough to find simple, accessible joy. Especially when you live in Portland and it’s pure gray outside for at least half of the year and the rain just comes and comes and won’t quit for anything, not even a very overdue and necessary dog walk. There are days when I… Continue reading Finding the Cozy Places
For months I’ve been wanting to put together a small, low-key, preferably lovely event where I baked up a few new pies and served them to friends for their tasting notes. I thought it might be a way I could create a little bit of publicity for myself through some mellow grass-roots word spreading. I… Continue reading Pie Party #1 of ?
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