Friday, October 31, 2008

The year of the pie

I'm not really sure what that title means. It just felt right. Well, it is fall again. More specifically, October. More specific than that: The time of the chili cookoff/pie contest arrived once again. If you'll recall last year's submissions:


click me. now. do it.


After returning home sans apron, Sean and I were resolute in winning the pie contest 2008 except I expressed some disconcertion (<--made up word alert) because we felt like we couldn't make a better pie than those 2. They were both exquisite in totally different ways.

Well, this year the day was approaching and Sean and I found ourselves looking forward to it, of course, and even hoping to win, but we didn't allow our hopes to go through the roof as we did last year. And, since we felt like we had hit our peak in pie-making, and since we hadn't tasted the pie since last year, we made the blueberry lemon souffle pie again.

We made two of them, one for the young ladies to sell for girls camp. Here is one of the pies. It is nice enough looking. Nothing too fancy.



Before I tell you about the other pie, aka Pie o' Perfection, let's take a quick break to talk about our costumes. Can you guess who I was?



If you need some help figuring it out, here's an action shot:


Clearly that is a blaster. Clearly my lips are hyper-glossy. Clearly i have braids in my hair so clearly I am Princess Leia in her woodsy garb on the forest moon of Endor! The somewhat ambiguous yet unsung costume of the Leia costumes. It was so great. I loved it. My hair was a trick. I didn't know what to do so I braided my hair in 6 braids and just wrapped them all over my head. Hey, I don't have 6-foot long hair. I did the best I could.

We wanted to have a Return of the Jedi theme so here is Sean in his costume.



Notice his hand is in its postmortem state.

Here we are as a team.



Now, you might think it weird that we as a couple would go as a brother/sister team. And it is, kind of.

Ok, back to the pies.

Our breathtakingly beautiful pie. For this pie we combined blueberries with raspberries to layer on the crust under the lemon souffle part. And Sean had the BRILLIANT idea to bake raspberries along the edge of the pie. Look at it. Just look at it. I dare you to say it isn't the prettiest thing you've ever seen. C'mon, double dog dare you. (lame)



I know. Stunning. This is a winner, right? There's no way we could not have won, right? You are right, you are absolutely right about that. Except for one tiny mishap. I set the pie on the counter and reached up on the shelf for a container for it. As I reached, I knocked down a can of apple juice, and, well...





wait for it....











Kersplat!

A moment of silence please.


.............................................................................


First, a collective gasp. I look up horrified at Sean whose jaw is resting on the counter and his face is frozen in silent disbelief. I immediately burst into laughter because it was either that or burst into sobs. Ha ha. Oh man. It happened so fast, and the pie, the pie went EVERYWHERE. I immediately took a picture and then tasted the pie and, sure enough: amazing. Meanwhile Sean is still standing, frozen in place. I didn't think he was going to forgive me ever. I apologized over and over and over and he said he wasn't mad at me, he just didn't know how to feel. He said he felt like his dog died or something. It was so surreal. And he spent the whole trip to the church a little shell-shocked, a little forlorn.




And that's the story of how The Most Perfect Pie in the World lived and died in an hour. So we took the less-pretty one, totally snubbed the girls camp fund and entered it in the contest. It didn't win but that's ok. A little while later, as we were helping set up for the activity, (the bluegrasstastic band played again), I said to Sean in a quiet moment of reflection: "You know, I think the pie was just too pretty. Too pretty to exist for very long. Like a sunset or a rose or a pretty bug that dies the day after it hatches." It was just too beautiful for this world.

Besides, we were planning on buying it from the pie sale anyway and bringing it right back home. (why bring it in the first place, you ask, and not just donate the money? Because how could we create such a gorgeous pie and not show it off.)

Next year..next year. I won't give up.

To close, here are some pictures of the pie entries.

11 comments:

Joel said...

I actually did audibly gasp when I saw the photo.

Brooke said...

Luke DID kind of have the hots for Leia before he knew she was his sister. So, while still creepy, it works that you dressed as them.

Moment of silence for the pie.

Lindsey said...

A total disaster! Sounds like something I would do. Sorry guys. Gotta love those Ward Contests. Better luck next year!

)en said...

Ahh.. thanks for the sympathy. It still smarts a bit. I'm glad i took those photos. Funny funny stuff.

Hey, what are you guys going to be for halloween?

Lindsey said...

Yeah, Ry and I have no ambition this year. Our Ward Party was a few weeks ago, and we just got back out our Miss Piggy and Kermit get-up.

Oh, and remember Ry's pumpkin last year with our engagement pic on it? He was half-way done with a Mike Wazowski (sp?) pumpkin, lost his drive (it was 11 pm), it got moldy in the garage before he finished it, and so we just threw it out!

Therefore, we have no carved pumpkins and no exciting costumes this year. What has happened to us?

Oh well, next year we'll just have to make up for it... Just like you guys (except for in the pie department!)

MelBroek said...

It certainly IS a sad story about the pie. It was indeed a beauty, however, I think the REAL story here is the COSTUMES!! I feel very positively about both of them, but I especially enjoy the tinfoil blaster. Perhaps you could mass produce those?!

Natalie R. said...

Oh man, what can you even say to that?! That's so sad, I'm sorry for the pie. The suspense in your post almost killed me, too!

I never got to see Sean's hand at the cook off, that is so cool! You make a great Leia and Luke combo (though I am glad that you're not really brother and sister!). ;0)

)en said...

Ha. Yes, me too. That would be monumentally bad.

M: I'm glad you like the costumes. I felt strongly about them too. Sean's was kind of a last-minute thing but still. It was simple yet effective. And mine was just plain awesome. Plus how can i wear that shirt and not be happy. I watched Return of the Jedi tonight and critiqued her outfit. I think next year i should have long crimped hair and go as Leia: hanging -out-with-the-ewoks-the-night-before- the-big-battle.

Tamra said...

No, next year you should go with Leia's first costume that she wears in that movie.
Was is mostly metal?

)en said...

The gold bikini? Yeah, i almost went with that one but decided on the other instead at the last minute.

sarah said...

funny, funny story. we miss you guys. i finally updated our blog, so take a look.