So, I may or may not have mentioned a few times that it was recently my birthday. Now, the reason that this keeps coming up is because of my location in this world. Now, there are upsides and downsides to living overseas when your birthday rolls around. The downsides are pretty obvious: when you live on the opposite side of the world from your entire family, you do tend to notice their absences on your day of birth. Plus, there is the whole time difference thing, so when it's my birthday here, it's not there yet. Strange stuff. However, the upside is the presents! Because of the massive difference in location, and the small fact that everything needs to go through customs to get here, presents keep rolling in for about a week or two after. It is great!! It is like I get to keep celebrating! So, with that in mind, yesterday, I received a pretty neat gift from JP's Auntie B, whom you may remember from this post. Auntie B and I share a very strong love of southern food. We can sit and chatter about it until JP gets fed up and changes the subject (which, admittedly, doesn't take him long to do). Because of this shared love, Auntie B also seems to understand my total adoration of Paula Deen, who I often refer to as the Queen of Southern Cooking. Guess what came in the mail!
So you see that photo up there? Yeah, that would be the cookbook set from Paula's restaurant, The Lady & Sons. How totally awesome is that!?! All of Paula's best recipes, in a nice, compact two book set! This photo really shows exactly how I spent most of my morning; nose pressed to the books, pen handy for taking notes. Just a side note, JP laughs at me because I read cookbooks like they are the latest novel to hit Opera's Book Club. I'm talking cover to cover, here. So, in my excitement over these books, I thought I would surprise JP with something special when he got home from work. You know, a little touch of home. What better way to do that then to make him a Pecan Pie, from scratch!
So off to the shops I went! It was easy enough to find most of the things I needed. Actually, on this very rare occasion, I happened to randomly have mostly everything I needed, including the cane syrup that Paula called for. I mean, really! Who keeps cane syrup in their pantry? Oh wait, I do, apparently. So it turned out that all I really needed was a few eggs, some pecans, and the pie crust. Easy enough, I thought. Let me tell you: finding a pre-made frozen pie crust took me the better part of the afternoon, and a trip to all three of my grocery stores! Once I found them, I made sure to buy two, just in case.
Once I got back home from the Great Pie Crust Hunt of '11, I whipped up the filling while the oven preheated. Now, remember how I told you I bought two pie crusts?
Well, I am very glad that I did. You see this wonderful photo above of the pretty pre-cooked pie? Well, that is in the second crust.
You see, I might have overfilled the first crust, and then broke it while trying to scoop out some of the pecan goodness overflow. Told you I was glad I got two of them! But, here is the thing. I really really wish I had gotten three. You see, I may have mentioned in one of my very first posts about my stupid, tiny, annoying oven and its stupid fluctuating cook times. Well, this was one of those moments where it reared its ugly head and totally screwed up what I was cooking. I would show you the result of my first attempt of the pecan pie, but in my irritation over the charred remains of what was supposed to be a surprise for JP, I just chucked it into the bin. Now, remember a moment ago when I told you that I had got two of the crusts? Yeah, I suddenly started wishing that I had bought three. So back to the store I went. To the same check out girl, who looked at me and my basket of same ingredients, then looked back at me and said 'didn't go so well the first time, did it?' I might have glared at her a little as I told her it was the oven's fault and that I had nothing to do with it.
So, back home, I once again whipped everything together and put it back in the oven. This time I was far more vigilant over the cooking process. You can tell... just look at that wonderful pie up there! Seriously though, I hung out in the kitchen the entire 45 minutes it took to cook. And I may have compulsively checked on it every 10 or 15 minutes. Regardless, it worked this time!
Just look at that Pecan Pie! A true Southern delite, made by me, from scratch, from a Paula Deen recipe! What could be a better surprise for JP after his super ridiculously long day than coming home to a great big slice of this??
Oh yeah, only the fact that there is so much more of it for him to eat! Can you say breakfast!? Thanks again Auntie B!!
xoxo Craig
ps - Extra kudos to anyone that can name the movie the post title is from!! Leave your answers in the comments!
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