Hey, pie!!

Tuesday morning: woke up, felt like pie, bought blueberries, made a pie.

mixed berries, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice

flour, butter, sugar, salt, ice-water

Crust

• 2 1/2 C flour, I replaced some of this with whole wheat flour, it makes it a little heavier
• Mix in sugar (a tablespoon) and salt (a teaspoon)
• Cut up some cold butter (I used a little less than two sticks) Use a pastry blender or a couple of knives to cut the butter into the flour/sugar/salt mixture. Leave biggish/flatish pieces of butter for something flakier.
• Add water, a tablespoon at a time and mix it in with your hands… you want the dough to just barely stick together. I ended up using somewhere between four and five.
• Put it in the fridge for a bit, I only did for 15 minutes, but it might benefit from longer.

Fruit

• Unlike with the crust, you can pretty much go to town and do whatever you want.
• I found some fairly small blueberries, but there weren't enough to fill the deep dish, so I added some blackberries and strawberries as well.
• Mix together some sugar (1/2 - 3/4 C), cornstarch (3 - 4 Tbsp) and salt (pinch). Add some cinnamon if you feel like, I like it (a little less than half a teaspoon)
• Pour this mixture over the rinsed and dried fruit (4 - 5 C of fruit), mix it up, throw some lemon juice on it, too.
• Let it sit for a little while, turn the mixture now and then, kind of like folding so you don't break too many berries

• Pour the fruit into the pie crust
• If you want a top crust, put one on. 
• Latticing isn't hard, just start with three going in each direction and work it out from there.
• Bake in a preheated, 400° F oven for about 50 minutes. There is some variance here, just look for a browning crust and filling that is starting to bubble. If the crust is browning too much, take some foil and put it on top.

You don't have to work.

"I get paid to work ten hours a week, but I actually work about forty-eight hours a week. The ten hours are getting paid time and the rest is fun time, because I like what I do. I don't know whether this is getting paid time or having fun time."

That's what our sound guy said at the Jolly Beggars radio feature on Thursday.

Like what you do; you'll never work a day of your life.

Lots of cooking (was it really three whole hours to prep dinner?) and hiking. Some practicing in there, as well. Moving furniture down the street, experimenting in the kitchen, getting a call for a music camp job in July. Don't get me wrong, there are always frustrating things; it's just that I don't remember any, right now. I've also had some time to actually think for a few moments. 

What a good weekend it's been.


And now for something completely different:


saffron and ginger ice cream:

 

Why? leftover ginger, some cream that needed to get used up, and because it seemed like a good idea.

cream, sugar, ginger, saffron, salt

• heat cream to a simmer (not boiling)
• once the cream is hot, throw in some saffron strands and finely chopped ginger
• stir and allow it to simmer until it's taken on a yellowish color
• throw in a handful of sugar and a very small pinch of salt
• if you don't want bits of ginger and strands of saffron, strain
• allow it to cool, then make it into ice cream by any method you choose
• put whatever on it or serve as is. there's honey on it, here.

Some people use milk in addition. Eggs will give it a firmer consistency. I didn't have any, but I'd be curious to try it with alternatives as well, like adding almond milk to the above.