Sunday, September 8, 2013

So Much Pie, So Little Time: Pie Contest Wrap Up

My first pie contest was a blast!

If you have been reading this blog for while you might remember that I entered in the 4th Annual Good Food Pie Contest last year (2012) but wasn't able to bring my finished pies to the contest as my older son was injured in a soccer game that morning.  My presence was needed in the ER, not at LACMA.

Fast forward 365 days and I am still enjoying the high from yesterday's contest.  Yesterday was the 5th Annual Good Food Pie Contest which was held at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).
LACMA
If you are not familiar with Good Food, it is a Santa Monica, CA based local food show hosted by Evan Kleiman.  Visit the Good Food blog to take a listen ~ it's so good!  What a treat it was yesterday to see Evan in person and observe what a gracious host she is, even in the 90 degree Los Angeles heat.  

A few practice pies: 
Blueberry Practice Pie

Savory Practice Pie

Caramel Custard Practice Pie

I entered in two different categories this year: Custard and Savory.

For the custard category I made a Caramel Custard Pie with Graham Cracker Crust which I created last year.  We were instructed to make two pies per category; one for the judges and one to give out slices to the public.
Caramel Custard Pie with Graham Cracker Crust 
For the savory category I created a meat and potato pie infused with Indian spices with a buttermilk pastry crust.  The crust recipe came from Jaye of Artquiltmaker.com - thanks Jaye!  The name for the pie originated with my guinea pig whom said this pie was "the bomb".  Love it. :)
Suz's Bombay Pie
If you are interested in the recipes for either of my pies, comment below or email me.  I would be happy to share with you.  

At approximately 12:15 pm I loaded up the car with my four pies, butterflies in my stomach and my exact plan of how I would get to Los Angeles in 45 minutes. The cutoff time for pie dropoff was 1pm.  Yikes!
Just after I've dropped off my pies I'm thinking, "What Am I Doing Here?"  
I walked around viewing the other pies before the public was allowed in to taste.  Loved the shapes and creativity of the names of pies.  





Here's my custard pie! 
My poor pie was having a hard time in the heat. 
Attention Quilters - look at this awesome pie made by Mary : It is a Blueberry Peach Matisse Pie which was part of the LACMA inspired category (pie was to somehow convey any artwork inside LACMA). Quilters, this is an Applique pie - she cut out the shapes and then laminated them to the top of the pastry crust! It was a gorgeous, gorgeous pie.  I was truly bummed when she did not win or place in this category.
Mary's Blueberry Peach Matisse Pie
Here is Mary and I - neither one of us knew this was being taken. I had a blast standing next to Mary in the hot sun (vampire me stood back in the shade most of the time) while chatting about pie and meeting her adorable niece.  What do you think Mary - next year?  


Anxiously waiting for the public to be allowed into the area to serve our pies. 

Of course I was going to try my fellow baker's pies.  So good!  
Serving the public was awesome. 
I had so much fun - I could of cared less that I didn't win.   I met so many nice people, had a wonderful time making people happy with my pies and was able to see some of the Los Angeles area food luminaries that I admire.  

Almost every baker wore an apron to the pie contest as it has become a tradition. Do any of you quilters recognize mine?  
Happy Baking Everyone!
Susan 

12 comments:

  1. oh how fun! And you managed to enter TWO categories even! Sounds like a great afternoon!

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  2. Looks like you had a blast! Wish I could've been there to taste your pies--they both sound amazing!

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  3. Those look so yummy and I'm glad you had fun! Thanks for sharing!!

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  4. I am glad you made it this year and that you had a great time.

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  5. On my laptop now. You look fabulous!! It sounds like just so much fun.

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  6. Thanks for sharing, Suz, I loved 'hearing' all about it!

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  7. Looks incredibly yummy! Three cheers for staying out of the sun too.

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  8. I am so glad you had fun!

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  9. This looked like a great time. Pie is just the best. And you were brave to enter - go Susan.

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  10. Loved hearing about the pie contest on your podcast! For some reason, I was not able to comment on the podcast directly. That may be my favorite episode EVER. I loved hearing about the World's Fair controversy, making me wonder how much hate mail (even if deserved) do quilt judges get after each contest. Kitchen remodel update - yay!! Go for two ovens. You will not regret it.

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  11. One thing I dislike about certain pies is that the fruit falls out of the crust when you cut it. Do you know of a way to keep it in? I have tried boatloads of tapioca starch and that sort of works, but I don't like the little balls all over the pie goo. This clear gel looks great: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/instant-clearjel-8-oz except that it is made with modified food starch and some of those I can't eat.

    Re: pie applique' - I have used cookie cutters to make shapes to put on the top of the pie. I roll out the pie dough and then cut pieces out (good for leftover pie dough) with cookie cutters. I lay them gently on the top and brush with egg whites to decorate the top of the cake. Martha Stewart has some good ideas along these lines.

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  12. It is pretty exciting that you could use the information from this podcast in your teaching. it would be cool to have a student who wrote about textiles used as currency. I would think that almost anything that could be was used as currency as I seem to recall actual money being scarce.

    I was kind of shocked that the entry for the Century of Progress on Wikipedia says nothing about the quilts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_Progress#Exhibits

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