Tuesday, Oct. 06, 2009 - 7:29 a.m.

I like the girl in the banner at the top of the 'add entry' page. She looks like she's enjoying herself.

Pie success! J made me the pie last night-- I haven't tried a slice yet (it had to set up), but I did have to dispose of some extra filling, and it may just be the best instantiation of this pie yet. The pasteurized egg product worked fine-- that means that we may be able to make this pie for others now. Not that I'm sure I want to. This pie, it holds mighty power. You can't unleash it on just anyone, it can break you if you aren't strong enough to contain it. That's why I have my rule about only making it once a year. I sometimes dream about tweaks to make to it-- you know how I am about baked goods and fiddling around with flavors (yesterday I caught myself wondering if you could infuse the butter with earl grey tea beforehand, maybe by melting the butter with some leaves in a pan? Letting it steep, straining it, then letting the butter set up a bit before proceeding?)-- but if I only do it once a year, I can't afford to wander from the standard two-squares-of-chocolate + 3/4 tsp vanilla.

Here's an example of its power. Three weeks J was gone, I didn't gain a pound. He comes back, makes this pie, I lick the bowl, and today? Up 2.5 lbs. Seriously. Well, we also went out to dinner, where I had a salad. So maybe it was the salad.

Last night the neighbors' trailer caught fire. It was around 12:30, I hear all this yelling (not unusual-- it was THOSE neighbors) but then there arrived a number of large, loud, flashing vehicles. Someone came to our door to tell us about it, in case it got out of hand (there are trees in between us, a wooden fence-- had it been a real conflagration, it could have jumped over here easily). Didn't seem to be too bad, though. I haven't been out to look at it yet-- I can see it's still there, so maybe it's just a charred spot in one room. Everyone got out ok.

Is it still inhabitable? That's what we're all wondering. Honestly, part of me sympathizes with the neighbors a lot on this point-- I've forced to move on with no funds to get a new place too many times to mention. It's not a good feeling. At the same time, I wouldn't mind if they weren't there, with their loud all-hours fighting. Although, while I'm telling truths, I'd rather have them than the people on the other side of us. The retired 'we take care of our lawn and house very responsibly and have dinner parties with our friends on the deck' people. They make me feel ill-prepared for adulthood (which arrived long ago enough that I should be used to it by now), as though I should not have gained admission and been allowed to proceed. The folks in the trailer are, for all their faults, more comfortable and familiar to me. Because I can feel superior? Maybe in some ways. That's a natural question. I don't think I feel too superior though-- I've been there. They just don't make me feel INferior.

Gourmet magazine! I will miss it. When I was in my early 20s I swiped a copy from the dentist's office, and that was my intro to foodyism. Before that all I knew was my mom's midwestern cooking (kinda boring except for the pies). I made my parents the lemon souffle pancakes.

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