Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee!

More like Sandra Lee..

Monday afternoon and night, Hurricane Sandy came to Troy.  Lucky for us the portion that hit the capital district had slowed enough to fall out of the Tropical Storm category.  It was still a bad wind storm but significantly better than the forecasts predicted. RPI still shut down in the afternoon and awkward dance of "the undergraduates aren't supposed to be on campus, can I go home?" started.  Two hours after campus closed, I was finally able to go home.  Not before I had become thoroughly distraught by the day's events.

When I got home I knew there was only one thing left to do. BAKE.  This has happened to me a couple times in the past.  Most notably about seven years,  a good friend's mother had died in September but it didn't hit me until one fateful high school sociology class right before Halloween when I broke down into tears somehow managed to convince my mother to let me come home.  I baked Halloween-themed sugar cookies into the night.  With that same fervor, I set out to make pumpkin spice cookies and assorted pretzel treats.

I still haven't figured out why baking is so cathartic for me.  One nice thing about it is that I rarely want to eat whatever I make so my friends profit from baked goods and I avoid getting myself in trouble at boxing. I was recently introduced to Pinteret, for better or for worse, and refused to become one of those 'pinners' who never tries any of the things they find.  For this adventure I tried pumpkin snickerdoodles, edible eyeballs, and what I'm calling 'witch fingers'.

My family's a big fan of snickdoodles and while this pumpkin version is delicious, I don't think it has the characteristic texture of snickerdoodles so you'll hear me call them pumpkin spice cookies.  When I finished baking I was significantly calmer than when I started.  That serenity did not last me through the whole storm but I'm willing to bet that keeping busy helped a lot.  Creating something in the face of destruction is comforting to me, whether it's as simple as cookies or a series of complex travel plans.  Hopefully my labmates will appreciate my baking creations at group meeting tomorrow!  Thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by Hurricane Sandy.  Stay safe!

When Life Give You Lemons...

2012 has been grating on my nerves since before 2011 officially ended. To the point that I actually wrote the wrong age on my brother's birthday card because I was so focused on 2013.  Recently, I was talking to a friend who's in Germany trying to finish up his Ph.D. on about the same timeline as myself.  After adequately commiserating the old adage "When life give you lemons," popped up.  The proper ending is "make lemonade," but that didn't seem like enough of a pie in the face for Life the bully.  After some deliberation I decided that lemon meringue pie might be a suitable response.   Even while I was making this pie, I got a couple lemons; the crust wasn't coming together right, the meringue wasn't setting, and then it wouldn't seal.  I caught the pie just before it burned so it came out nice and toasted.  Hopefully everyone at lab is hungry tomorrow!

The end of the Holidays: Twelfth Day of Christmas Meat pies

I don't remember which holiday it went with originally but in the Pinto-Beaudet family holiday traditional compromise meat pies became the dinner of choice for the Epiphany while I was growing up.  Over the years the exact date and holiday proximity has changed from the day after Christmas to the nearest weekend to the Epiphany.  Regardless, I always associate them with the twelfth day or Christmas.  Grad school significantly shortened my holidays this year so I missed out on any tradition that takes place after Christmas dinner. 

Never one to settle, especially when food is involved, I asked my mom to send me the recipe. Ground meat in a pie crust. How difficult to it be?  Truth is that it's not terribly difficult, just time consuming.  I had been planning on this dinner all week so when I got out of lab several hours later than anticipated there was no way I wasn't going to make this dinner.  As I was driving home I realized that if I was going to make a pie crust I needed to get a rolling pin. Add in detour to Walmart.

7:30pm: Start making pie crust

I know I have made pie crust in the past.  Usually under the careful supervision of an adult and in a well stocked kitchen.  I can't remember that last time I actually made a crust though and my kitchen is lacking the seasoned cooking tools of my mom's and grandma's kitchens.  The consistency of my dough didn't feel quite right but if I wanted to eat tonight it was going to have to do.

8:00pm: Start the filling

I thought this would be the quickest part of the operation.  Turns out mincing a large onion by hand isn't so quick.  At least I got the pot size right.One mashed potato, ground pork and beef, and 4 pinches from spices bottles that cost almost $20 (McCormick needs some serious competition!). Next step in the recipe, allow to cook and thicken for about one hour. What?!?  Luckily I had more potatoes to peel for mashed potatoes and gravy.

9:20pm: Pie assembled

I do not like the rolling pin I have.  It is the classic style of pin that has been brandished at troublemakers for decades.  But I don't like how narrow the pin is and how abruptly it ends.  I'd love one like my mom's which resembles a thick tapered broomstick and is close to two feet long.  As I rolled out the dough and tried to place it in the pan it kept ripping.  Another sign the consistency was off.  I had to re-roll the top crust  do to a giant rip when I tried to cover the pie.  The second time it came out much better and lay nicely.  I was meant to brush the top with an egg wash.  Brush, another random kitchen gadget I took for granted until I got my own kitchen.  I improvised with the back of spoon and hoped for the best.  The best of making meat pies on my own was not having to share the crust scraps with my brothers and other vultures.

10:30pm: Pie done

So far so good.   Nothing has exploded yet.  Just need to finish up the side dishes.

10:40pm: Dinnertime!!

A day late and hours later than anticipated, I finally got my traditional Beaudet meat pie dinner.