Easy As Pie

With Thanksgiving only a day away, many are surely gearing their appetites for a feast. From turkey to mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce to pumpkin pie, this is by far my favorite meal of the year, and I know I am not alone. I always love an excuse to bake, and Thanksgiving is one of them. I tore out a recipe for Sweet Potato Pie with Marshmallow Meringue from Southern Living recently. I consider myself a baker, famous among friends for duplicating Magnolia Bakery's delicious cupcakes, but I had never baked a pie before the one in this here post. Additionally a fan of sweet potatoes, I had never had a Sweet Potato Pie. So, I thought I'd make things right and document the effort here. After all, the magazine called the recipe "Easy As Pie," how hard could it be?

Doesn't that marshmallow meringue just look divine?

The instructions say it will take 20 minutes ("hands-on") and 2 hours, 30 minutes ("total") to prepare this.  While I had never baked a pie before, the experience I did have baking gave me doubts. Twenty minutes just seemed awfully quick...but I forged ahead with high hopes.

I tried to make the ingredients look pretty here for a photo, like my friend's professional cooking blog, NotThatMartha. How did I do? I think I managed to squeeze everything in but the corn syrup (more on that later).

Here I am preparing the crust. Yes, those are black-eyed peas in the parchment paper. They are used to weigh the crust down--to mold it--and then are tossed.

There she is baking in the oven. I covered only the sides with foil, a tip from one of my cookbooks.  (The recipe at hand actually suggested covering it entirely.)

I bought all the ingredients at Whole Foods, and they did not have marshmallow creme (likely because it is full of unwholesome stuff). I improvised by making my own marshmallow creme with 16 marshmallows and 2 teaspoons of corn syrup over a make-shift double-boiler.

Here she is after the bake. So far, so good... 

Now it was time to add the marshmallow meringue and bake it for 6 more minutes. It sure didn't appear to have the fluff from the magazine. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt though, thinking maybe the fluff will happen in the oven. I'd peek, and still no fluff. A few more minutes. A few more. And a few more. Finally, after at least 3 times the amount suggested, I pulled her out.

And, voilà...

So maybe it didn't turn out quite as fluffy or mouth-watering as the Southern Living one. It took me a "total" of six and half hours (not including the trip to Whole Foods), so beware of magazine recipe timelines! Admittedly, I was in uncharted territory. 

I think it tasted pretty good. Different, but good nonetheless. The pie was my contribution to John Daugherty, Realtors' annual Thanksgiving lunch. I didn't come away with the accolades my cupcakes bring, but at least I had some leftover pie to share with others. My mom politely said it wasn't my best. Luckily for the Covey side of the family, I will be bringing mashed potatoes and a green salad this Thursday.

With so much to be thankful for, I  want to say that I am thankful for you, my beloved reader. I wish you much success in your kitchen this week. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Anthropologie in Real Estate

 This is a test.

Rorschach Card 1

It is intended to be like the Rorschach inkblot test. Remember that from Psych 101?

I am asking that you look at the following five spreads from the new Anthropologie catalog. You may look at each spread as long as you like. 

Print it,

rotate it, 

look at it however you wish!

What do you see?

What do you see?

What do you see?

What do you see?

 

What do you see?

Did you see what I saw? The paper doll cat dressed in Victorian clothes wearing a bonnet? (Because I love cats and old stuff, I cut this out of the real catalog and put it on my fridge!) Did you see the black-and-white spotted llama? Did you see the owl? The cat wearing a dog sweater?

I thought this catalog was so creative. But, I missed the clothes! I missed the boots on the sheep. I missed the Christmas ornaments hanging from the white parrot's beak. And I missed the feather-boa pillows under the Papillion.

I bring this up because Anthropologie is only trying to do what home sellers everywhere are trying to do: move product. If you can't see the product, it makes it quite a bit harder to sell.

Eliminating clutter is so important in getting a house ready to sell. If you are selling, remember that buyers are there to look at the house, not your wedding photos, your kid's honor roll ribbons or your rare collection of ostrich eggs. For a quicker sale, clean out 2/3 of your belongings. You will be amazed at the difference it will make!