PIE!

We happened to be in Berkeley today, and decided to take advantage of our location by stopping by the ever-wonderful Berkeley Bowl. Will had told me that we were hosting an impromptu brunch in honor of Cal Baseball's upcoming appearance in the College World Series (Sunday, Father's Day, so it's also an impromptu Father's Day brunch, I guess, except I don't think any dads are coming). Also, "Hey surprise! We're having people over!" Ok, I actually don't mind at all, and in fact, I'm excited. It gives me A) a chance to be a hostess, which (duh) I love, B) an excuse to make some fancy food, and C) practice in not freaking out if people come over and the house isn't perfectly clean and tidy.

ANYWAY. Whilst wandering aimlessly through the abundant produce section, tossing whatever looked good and fresh into the cart, I spotted rhubarb. I've wanted to buy and use rhubarb for years, but it's always gone by the time I get up the motivation to make something. This time, I snatched it up. I thought, "I'll make a strawberry-rhubarb pie! It's one of my favorite kinds of pies, and it's totally in season! YES! RHUBARB! YES!"

No seriously, that happened.

I grabbed what I thought would be an appropriate amount (because of course I didn't have any sort of recipe in mind, only inspiration) and scooped up extra strawberries as well. When I got home, I found this recipe. Thank you, Deb. It looked pretty easy, though I was missing the instant tapioca required for optimal pie texture. A brief Googling led me to believe that I really should get the tapioca, so I cruised over to Whole Foods for a (probably overpriced) box of quick cooking tapioca. Bingo! Oh, and flour. Because apparently we were out of flour. Oops. Luckily, the rhubarb and strawberries I purchased happened to be just the right amount for a beautiful pie. Meant to be, I tell you what.

Anyway, we went to look at a few apartments (including one awesome one, fingers crossed!!), and stopped for dinner, and by the time we got back, it was about 9:30pm. Too late to start making a pie? Nah. By 10pm, my crust was chillin' in the fridge. Note that I do not own a pastry cutter. I used a fork and my fingers, and it was messy but effective. I thought I would maybe make the crust tonight and make the pie itself in the morning, but it needs to cool for several hours (for maximum fruit--texture-jellosity), so late night pie it was!

pre-baked pie, circa 11:15pm
more photos here

And now?

HOLY SHIT, YOU GUYS, I MADE A PIE!!!

(I am a little excited)

The smell of this pie is so unbelievably delicious that it is actually making my stomach growl, despite the fact that I'm not actually hungry at all. 

Maybe I'll take some better pictures in the morning when the lighting is all nice, or maybe we'll just devour it and go "oh crap. We should have taken pictures." Either way, this pie only took like 2 hours to make, and if it tastes even half as good as it smells, I might just cry.

This is the first time I've made a pie from scratch (including the crust), and I'm honestly really proud of myself. It looks like a real pie, you guys! A REAL PIE!!!