Everything's Peachy: Peaches and Cream Pie

The hot summer days continue, and sometimes it seems too hot to enjoy eating. I never thought I would say such an outrageous thing, but it has been uncharacteristically hot for a typical Asheville summer. As usual, though, my attitude changed when I started thinking about pies. Fresh peaches abound, and peaches have always been my favorite summer fruit. I had already made several tasty peach pies, and then decided to try a different take on the usual peach pie. I flipped through my pie book,The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by the Elsen sisters, and there was a picture of an unusual pie called the "Peaches and Cream Pie". This had fascinated me for quite some time, not to mention I needed to continue my quest to make every pie in this delightful book, so I got to work.

This pie uses fresh peaches, granulated sugar, and brown sugar, as is common for most peach pies. However, added to this is cream cheese, sour cream, allspice, and egg. The mixture is spooned on top of an oatmeal crumble crust,instead of  a regular butter crust. This pie is baked in a metal pan, as opposed to the typical glass pie plate. It is recommended that this pie can be served either at room temperature or chilled. The cream cheese/custard mixture is a nice, refreshing topping for the sweet peaches. Although it does not have the succulent flavor of other pies in this book, it is a nice light pie that is particularly good when chilled, and is easy to make. The allspice really stands out as a great taste with the peaches. As usual, the pie was eaten quickly, so I would make it again! The book recommends using other fruits, such as nectarines or berries, when peaches are not available.

Because good peaches are so abundant now, I decided to make another pie, this one with peaches and fresh blueberries, which are also in season now. This recipe was one that I created myself, combining parts of several recipes. I love the peach/blueberry combination, and this pie was was a hit with my out of town guests. In fact, it was so popular that I only got one piece! Vanilla ice cream was the perfect companion. I plan to make another of these as soon as possible! One piece of pie baking advice that I am sharing with you  is that I prefer using ground arrowroot instead of corn starch for fresh fruit pies. The corn starch often overwhelms the fresh fruit, while arrowroot provides just the right amount of thickening.

Now that I have made several good pies, I have an appetite again! Of course, fresh vegetables from my husband's garden have also been delicious, and something that I can look forward to in this steamy weather. I will continue my pie making, including a re-do of a limoncello cream pie that was not so successful. I have developed a strong liking for this after dinner liqueur after my Italy trip. If at first you don't succeed, try try again, particularly if it involves limoncello!

Secret Gardens

This summer, it seems as if I have been spending half of my waking hours in my garden. While I love picking my flowers and making arrangements, this summer has consisted primarily of watering my plants and chasing hungry rabbits that want to eat them! Yes, gardening is a combination of fun activities and maintenance. So I sometimes ask myself why I go to such lengths to have a plant-filled landscape. Last week after spending an hour or two watering my thirsty plants, I sat down in one of the private areas in my yard and I enjoyed the scenery. And then I had my answer as to why I garden: I love the private or secret gardens in my landscape.

I appreciate curb appeal, and I strive for that, and love growing plants whose blooms I can enjoy both outdoors and indoors in arrangements. I also grow herbs to use in my cooking. But after years of being an avid gardener, the part I most enjoy is creating private retreats or areas where one might not expect to see a garden. The idea of "secret gardens" has been discussed and written about for years. I decided to experiment with a secret garden in my previous landscape. We had an acre of land,and had planted pretty much all of it, except for the woods. The woods primarily consisted of white pines and understory trees. I kept thinking about how awesome it would be to have a path through the woods that led to a secret garden. It was all shade, so that my range of plants was limited. (ferns, bamboo, and moss). The idea of a moss garden fascinated me, and 10 years later, the moss had filled in beautifully.

My husband originally laughed at my idea of creating a garden in the woods, but he actually made a bamboo fence for the entrance of this Asian inspired private garden. A flagstone path let to a stone bench and Japanese lantern. Visitors to my garden often commented that they thought that they had seen all of my garden until they looked beyond the bamboo fence! The mysterious nature of secret gardens is perhaps the best part!

My current landscape is much smaller and I was wondering where I might make a private garden space. A side alley made the perfect spot, and I cleared some ivy, placed a bistro table and two chairs, and added containers and plants. This area is cool and shady in the morning, and is a great spot for coffee, reading, and resting! Oh, it is also a good place to eat a piece of pie!

A less private but meditative space is inspired by the Asian gardens I have visited in Portand, Oregon, Singapore, and China. My goal is to create a space for reflection, and to have another moss garden. I already have a Japanese pagoda that is a focal point, and will continue to add special plants, such as a Japanese maple and several evergreen conifers, so that this garden will have something of interest throughout the year.

I am already considering another part of the yard for a secret garden. This is a woodland area behind our stone wall. Admittedly, I am crazy about secret gardens. Wanting to make new ones is one of the motivations for my spending so much time in my landscape. In the meantime, it is back to watering and keeping rabbits from munching away on my treasured plants. Unfortunately, though, the rabbit thinks I am playing a game with him when I chase him, so he will probably create his own secret garden in my yard!

Summer Pies

Summer has arrived and gardening has taken priority over just about everything in my life. Watering my plants to keep them alive is a daily activity, along with keeping weeds at bay and deadheading the withered blooms.  But my garden obsession has not kept me from pursuing my other obsession: making pies! Recently, I saw a local book about pies that I decided to add to my collection. It is called A Year of Pies:  A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies, and written by Ashley English. Ashley English lives in Candler, N.C. and I had seen some of her articles in local publications. I particularly remember one in which she talked about her love of pie making. At the time that I read it, I thought it sounded like something that I would enjoy, even though I did not get into pie making until several years later. But I always wanted to try some of Ms. English's pies and have begun to prepare some of her treats..

I started out with the Strawberry Crumble Pie with Lemon Verbena Whipped Cream. This sounded fascinating to me, as I have never used fresh lemon verbena in a recipe. Fresh strawberries are great this time of the year. The filling consisted of strawberries, sugar, and cornstarch. The crust was a basic butter crust on the bottom, but a crumble topping of flour, salt, brown sugar, and butter. The chopped lemon verbena is used in the whipped topping of heavy cream, and powdered sugar. The lemon verbena is mixed with the cream, and allowed to steep in the refrigerator for 4 hours. It is then strained and whipped with the powdered sugar. This pie was very easy, and a very different version of a fresh strawberry pie. The whipped topping was flavorful with the strawberries and slight lemon flavor.

The second recipe was my altered version of the the Lattice Top Triple Berry Pie. The original recipe calls for blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Since my husband doesn't particularly care for blackberries, I used only the blueberries and raspberries. Ginger and cinnamon gave the pie a nice and unique flavor. This pie was slightly too tart by itself, in my opinion, but a dollop of ice cream was just what was needed! The berries were very fresh and in season. Were I were to make this pie again, I would add just a little more sugar, and this would be perfect even without the ice cream.

My most recent pie discovery was the Minty Chocolate Cream Pie. This pie is like an old fashioned pudding chocolate pie, with sweetened chocolate, sugar, milk, eggs, and cornstarch. The whipped topping called for peppermint extract to give the pie a twist on the original chocolate pie. When I made this pie, I was not in a peppermint mood, and used vanilla extract instead of the peppermint. The pie was light, creamy, and very refreshing. The prebaked pie crust in this pie book was very good, with a nice flaky texture. This was a really delicious, light pie for summer, and I will definitely make it again. It is my favorite pie from the book thus far.

So, I will continue to explore new pie recipes in my growing collection of pie cook books. (I own three different ones now). Pie making is a great hobby, and I have learned that other people love pies almost as much as I do. With the hot, sticky weather right now, I think I will stay inside and bake pies instead of spending all of my free time in the garden! Or I will make my pie and then enjoy eating it in my garden!

The Beauty of Italy

Last month, I had the time of my life with my husband and friends in Tuscany and Cinque Terre Italy. There were so many great things about this trip that I have had difficulty thinking of a way to bring them to life through my blog. So I decided to to show pictures of what was probably my favorite thing about Italy: the scenery. Never have I traveled anywhere that I was constantly surrounded by a beautiful countryside!

We stayed  in Chiesanouva, a little town about 8 miles from Florence, Italy. Our home away from home was a villa there that was on a beautiful farm and winery. Each morning we woke up to beautiful mountains, olive trees, grapevines, and wildflowers. Daily walks revealed more lovely surprises, including walking trails that looked similar to the Blue Ridge Mountains! As we traveled to other towns, including San Gimignano, Siena, and Lucca, we continued to be awed by the spectacular landscapes.

Our last leg of the trip was traveling to the coast of Italy, in Cinque Terre. We stayed in Monterosso, one of the five towns in Cinque Terre. The coastal views were stunning! We traveled and hiked to other towns in Cinque Terre, and the views were equally awesome.

So the point of my blog today is that a picture is worth a thousand words! There will be more of Italy to come!

A Pie Without a Plate: Lemon Verbena Raspberry Galette

So, it has been awhile since my last blog. A lot has been going on this past month, including a trip to Tuscany with friends. Since that trip, I have had the intention of blogging about my adventures in this wonderful region of Italy.  But my mind has been unable to put into words all of the fun I had in Italy. I will eventually get there, but until that time, I am going to share my latest adventure in the world of pie making. I am continuing to explore recipes in the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book, by sisters Emily and Melissa Elsen, and the most recent is the "Lemon Verbena Raspberry Galette".

I was always fascinated by the sound of this recipe - I love fresh raspberries. And spring is a great time to find good raspberries in the organic section of the grocery. But I was nervous about making this - "what is a galette anyway?", I rationalized. Basically, a galette is a "free form pastry", according to the Elsen sisters, and is baked on a baking sheet, not a pie plate! The description did not sound that difficult, and was even said to be easier than a regular pie. So I decided to go for it!

The pie book is very good about showing diagrams and pictures so that you can see what the pie is supposed to look like. The ingredients sounded simple but delicious: fresh raspberries, lemon verbena leaves. sugar, arrowroot and lemon juice. The leaves and sugars are ground in the food processor, and then mixed with the raspberries. It can't get any easier than this!

In truth, the hardest part is the pastry itself. Although a regular pie crust, it is rolled out to a 13- inch round, then placed on parchment paper on a baking sheet. The raspberry mixture is placed on top of this crust and the edges of the crust are folded inward to hold the galette together. I chilled the galette for 1 1/2 hours as instructed and baked at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

I must admit that I had no idea what to expect. Fortunately, the galette I made looked pretty much like the one in the book. I sliced it with a pizza cutter, which worked great. I decided that this dessert would benefit from a scoop of ice cream on it, and this is how I served it. The raspberry/lemon verbena combination was a smashing success! The galette was nicely sweet and tangy. What a perfect way to experience fresh raspberries!

This was my first galette, but will not be my last! I will try this with strawberries as well, and perhaps even blueberries. And although I feared this pastry would be tricky, it was actually easier than a regular pie. My only issue with this delicious treat is that I can't stay away from it, and this is dangerous after eating my way through Tuscany! I guess my next blog will be about exercise after vacation and pies!

Pies, Spring, and Gardening

I will admit that I have been slacking off this month in blogging about my pie making and exercise. Although I have been making a lot of pies and I have been exercising, I have not tried any new pie recipes, nor have I delved into new areas of fitness. Lately, I have been making pies that I have made before, and doing my same old physical activities. I have stuck with the familiar and comfortable.

This month, I have made pies for people and occasions. I made a bourbon pear crumble pie for a dinner with friends. The pear bourbon combination is the ultimate comfort pie, and is always a favorite of friends. Then came a lemon chess pie. This is becoming my pie of choice for friends who have recently had surgery or illness, as it is zesty, refreshing, and cures all ills.  Malted Chocolate Pecan Pie is the pie I made for a friend's birthday, and tends to be a celebratory pie, with its luscious combination of chocolate and malt barley syrup. And finally, I decided to make a pie that I really love more than any pie that I have made - the Lavender Honey Custard Pie. This delicacy, with a texture like creme brulee, has a heavenly taste that I crave in the middle of the night.. Although I shared this pie with others, I really want to eat this pie all in one sitting!

For the past year, I have tried new ways to exercise, including trying a variety of classes at my gym. I highly recommend trying different forms of physical activity. As we all get older, exercise becomes even more important and it is helpful to find ways of exercising that we enjoy, so that we will be more likely do exercise consistently. Also, learning new forms of movement can be good for our aging brains. Having said that, it can be easier to do the same routines to which we are accustomed. In my case, zumba, walking, and gardening are my favorite ways to obtain fitness, and I love doing them! So I have been doing these, with a little yoga thrown in, for the past month since I returned to Asheville. Walking in the spring sunshine in moderate temperatures makes my day. I love the energy of zumba class, and enjoy the companionship of my dancing classmates. What can be wrong with that?

And this brings me to my other top form of physical fitness: gardening. Spring always inspires the gardener in me, as the bulbs pop out and the recently sown seeds sprout. No gardener can dispute the fact that digging holes, lifting bags of mulch, and raking leaves works the muscles. I get more fatigued from gardening than I do from walking or zumba! But gardening is personally the best combination of both physical and mental exercise. For me, gardening serves the same purpose as yoga: it calms me and helps alleviate stress.

So, if you have been doing the same old exercises, or are experiencing good times from hobbies that you have done for years, go ahead and enjoy! You can experience new adventures at another time. While I have been lazy in this area of of trying new things,I have been grounded by the same old pies, zumba, and gardening. I do promise, however, that I will be trying unique pies in the next month, and sharing my eating experiences with you. So stay tuned for Wild Ginger Strawberry Pie!

Pole Dancing: A Fitness Adventure

When planning my recent trip to Miami, my initial research involved looking for a zumba class. Since I am such a zumba fanatic, and zumba started in Miami, I knew that I had to experience at least one class. I found a reasonably priced class that was within walking distance of my hotel, and it was located in a pole dance studio. I thought that this was curious, and called before my trip to make certain that there was indeed a zumba class there. The receptionist verified that there was. I then decided to try a pole dance class and a zumba class.

When I arrived at the studio, I was told that either a basic pole class, or a pole fitness class would be appropriate for a beginner like myself. I decided on the pole fitness, but thought that I might come back later in the day for the basic pole, followed by the zumba class. The pole dance studio was pretty much what I expected - poles, mirrors, and dimmed lighting. Interestingly, there was a sign posted that said that inappropriate clothing would not be tolerated! Their website had said that participants should wear short shorts and a tank top. I had gone to a cheap beachwear store and purchased those. But after reading the sign about inappropriate clothing, I worried that perhaps staff would think that mini shorts and a tank top would be indecent clothing for a 64 year old woman!

The instructor introduced herself as Svetlana, and she was a young, petite woman with a Russian accent. Class participants were 3 twenty-somethings, all in incredible shape. I was definitely the "elder" in the class, but honestly did not feel that Svetlana held this against me. In fact, I think that she saw me as a challenge, and would try to help me with various moves. I began to realize pretty soon that pole dancing requires excellent core strength. We started out by doing a number of planks, push-ups, and crunches. Fortunately, I go to a regular core class, or I would have probably collapsed after the first five minutes. But I will admit that I was pretty winded. Squats are apparently another fitness necessity for pole dancers, and we must have done at least a hundred of them - seriously! These were done while holding onto the pole, and squatting as low as possible. My inner thighs were beginning to burn, but I did survive. We also used the pole to hold onto while we did side stretches for the waist.

I was feeling pretty good at this point because I managed to do everything asked of me. But then Svetlana threw in a move that I knew I wasn't going to like: a headstand with legs wrapped around the pole. Headstands are one thing that I avoid in life - I always skip those in my yoga class. It is a fear I will injure my neck and be incapacitated. I told Svetlana that I didn't think my doing a headstand  was a good idea but she insisted that she would help me. She did, and there I was, on my head with my legs around the pole! But then panic set in: how was I going to get down without breaking my neck? Fortunately, Svetlana sensed my panic and helped me get down. But then she wanted me to do another one! She insisted that I was strong enough, but I told her I would skip the second. At the end of the class, I was pretty exhausted, and decided to skip the basic pole and instead go to brunch for bacon and waffles! I did however, return later in the day for the zumba class that I was searching for to begin with. It was a great, energetic class led by a young man named Alex, and it lived up to my expectation of a class in the city where zumba was born.

I will say that I am very glad that I did the pole dance class, for several reasons. For one thing, it was challenging but fun! Secondly, it made me appreciate the intense conditioning that pole dancers go though in order to do their jobs! Finally, I was forced to accept the stern reality that pole dancing would not be my retirement career! I will say that if I ever have the opportunity to see a pole dancer standing on her head with her legs around the pole, I will give her a $20 bill!