Aaron and Sarah's 7th Annual Pie-Off is Coming!

Seven years.  Next Saturday, the 23rd of September is going the our 7th Annual Pie-Off.  I can't believe it.  What is the Pie-Off, you ask?  Come with me Sherman into the WABAC Machine.

Where are we going, Mr. Peabody?  To a time of wondrous inspiration, Sherman.

It was a simpler time.  A time you could dupe your friends into bringing you a lot of pie, and they wouldn't think twice about it.  Errr... well, yeah, that's about right.  Sarah and I were talking and came to the conclusion that there wasn't enough pie in our life.  So we invited people to make pie for a friendly, not really a competition.  Thus, the Pie-Off was born.  I think we had seven or eight pies that first year.  We had over 20 pies these last few years!

Interested?  You should be.  It's great fun, and if you like you can join us (assuming you're not some weird jerk or a pie thief).  Here's the deal.  We have categories for types of pies that encourage creativity, but not cutthroat competition.  Everyone brings a pie.  Everyone eats way too much pie.  Then we vote on what pie we think is the best for each category.  Simple!  Genius!

This year's categories are:

• Some Like it Hot
• Unicorn Pie
• It's 5 O'clock Somewhere
• Pie Is the New Black
• Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

We don't have a "Best Pie" type category, because it is more about visiting, having fun, and eating lots of delicious pie than repeatedly bowing down before that person who has been making beautiful pies forever.

Interested?  It is at 3:30 pm on Saturday, September 23rd at the Highland Park picnic shelter at 1200 Montreal Avenue, St. Paul, MN  55116.  The picnic shelter is on the north side of Montreal Avenue, across from Circus Juventus.  Bring a pie and stretchy pants.  It's a lot of fun.  Tall One can attest to that.

Grow some teeth, kid.

Hope to see you there!

Bread - Thin Bread

Welcome back to Cook Book Time Machine.  It has been a long time.  For those who are new to this project, I found an old church cook book from 1951 that belonged to my great aunt Marlys from Zion Lutheran Church in Thief River Falls, MN.  The cook book was assembled by the Zion Ladies Guild and is an interesting little snapshot on food, and domestic life on the prairie in the post-war era.  As far as the food goes, a few trends have emerged:  the food tends to be pretty bland, the directions in the recipe are often light on details, "salads" and hot dishes can be frightening.  Now, it's not to say that all the food is bad.  Aside from the carrot ring, we (or I) have manage to finish everything.  Wasting food is surely something the Ladies wouldn't have approved of.  So for each recipe I make, I document the preparation and reception of what I make.  It's a bit of an adventure, and it's kind of fun.

So now that I am done with nursing school, settled into my new job and a new house, I think it is time to resurrect the old blog.  I don't know that I'll go section by section quite as intentionally as I did previously, but I won't cherry-pick the best or worst looking recipes to make either.  For my first recipe revival, I decided to make Thin Bread.  I did choose this recipe in part to ease Sarah back into my doing this regularly.  There are multiple recipes that I've made that she was not a fan of.  Better to make something that appeared inoffensive than something scary.  So moving on...

Today's theme is Mystery.  Thin Bread?  What is Thin Bread?

Tortilla?

Pita?

Injera?

Lefse?

It is a mystery.

Let's find out.  Keep your eyes open for clues.