Pie Eyed:  adj  slang  Intoxicated; drunk

I’ve had pie on my mind since last Thanksgiving.  Well, I have pie on my mind every Thanksgiving, but this time I couldn’t shake it.  Maybe it was because we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for the first time.  Or because I had finally graduated from babies and toddlers to preschoolers and had room in my brain to think about pie.  Regardless, November of 2010 brought a pie revolution to our home.

I made a homemade crust for the first time.  I piloted three different pumpkin pie recipes and two pecan pie recipes – the pie to person ratio was embarrassing.  The pie was good (pumpkin pie winner was Dorie Greenspan’s Caramel Pumpkin Pie) but I knew I could do better.

Spring came around and the mere sight of rhubarb and strawberries sent me on a pie binge – I made 8 over the course of two months.  The last two FINALLY had the right kind of crust.  The guy at the farmer’s market came to know the crazy look in my eye as I showed up every week hunting down the rhubarb haul.

But making big, round pies started to wear on me.  Sometimes you just want a little bit of  pie – not 8 slices that need to be eaten quickly before it goes bad.  And if you’re on a pie bend like me, then you definitely don’t want whole pies hanging around the house every week.  So I began obsessing about ways to keep the integrity of pie, but not make “pie” if you know what I mean.  Of course, this does not excuse beautiful whole pies from my baking endeavors – I’m just spicing it up a little to find all the wonderful ways to eat pie.

We’re a little drunk on pie over here.  If you find yourself wanting to raise a glass to pie, then join me as I find my way through failed crust attempts, filling mishaps and hopefully amazing accomplishments.  We can learn together and hope that everyone at our tables will be a little Pie Eyed this Thanksgiving!