Photography

[Rey]

Did I hear someone mention pie?

Summer is indeed here. One of my favorite events during the summer is the annual Pie Baking Contest in my county. Those seeing my posts in the “Cooking Light” thread will recall I have been losing weight over the winter, and feeling done with that I was ready for a treat. What better treat than sampling the entries of a pie baking contest? Yes, dessert fans, that is just what I did recently.

I really like this contest. Its held every year in a little one room schoolhouse in a very small town near the historical museum. The atmosphere, the friendliness, and the rural setting almost makes you feel like you are visiting Mayberry. Several ladies from the surrounding farms all gather and present their finest pies. These are the grandmother types with the old classic recipes, and boy, can they cook.

Here are the pie entries this year:


Wait, lets look at this picture again, what is that big one front and center in the iron skillet, the one with all those lumps? Well, that is just about one of the most incredible apple pies I have ever seen. I had a chat with the maker of that one to get the story. She told me she used a recipe that was around a hundred years old, and originally from North Carolina. Each one of those bulges was an entire apple with the core removed. Oh man, I had to have a piece of that!

The judges sampled each pie and voted for their favorites. Of course I volunteered to be a judge, but they already had plenty of volunteers for that.

So did the big apple pie in the iron skillet win? Actually, it came in second. The winner was the one behind it next to the knife with the brown handle. The winning pie is auctioned off later to the highest bidder. The rest of the pies are sliced up and sold to the spectators for two dollars a slice.

I was mainly interested in that apple pie, and the lady slicing it up saw that I was waiting so anxiously, that she cut me an extra big slice consisting of one of those big apple shaped sections. So I got my pie, and let me tell you, it did taste as good as it looked. The lady who baked it was a little worried as I started to eat it, and she wanted to know if the apples were tender enough. I assured her that they were, as I was slicing right through them easily with a flimsy plastic fork. Then I had another slice, and then another. The second one was an apple and cherry (interesting combo), and my final slice was peach. All were excellent!

This contest, the little festival around it, the antique and rummage sale, and some roaming Barbershop Quartet singers, made this a fine way to spend a summertime day.

A little music to accompany this post:
"The Good Old Summer Time"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKvLCwInPGA
(please excuse any pesky Youtube ads that may play before the music!)

-Rey