Day 27: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days - Light at the end of the tunnel?

Do I see the light at the end of the NaNoPIEMo tunnel? Not sure I do yet. Maybe there’s a tiny shimmer around the next bend. Just three more pies after today. That’s still three more days of time and energy on pie.

Today’s pie is Jumble Berry. I’ll be at Julie’s Beach Life boutique in Del Mar to auction this one off, and to meet some folks in person, and to sell some books, I hope. I hope for all of that. In-person events are scary to me. I am always happy if just two people show up. Sometimes I’m surprised at how many people show up, and I feel loved. Other times it’s like a void. So I always go nervous and using all my positive powers to stay chipper and be happy no matter how the whole show goes.

It seems to me that most people get nervous before a crowd. I get nervous before just one or two people. It’s not the people in either case, it’s the energy from enthusiasm.

But I absolutely love Del Mar. I used to live there many life times ago. When I left I knew I would mourn it for the rest of my absence. I do. I would live there again in a heart beat. So I’m elated to be heading that way. To be near the beach is my happy place. Maybe there’s a beach walk at the end of today’s tunnel.

I hope you’ll come and join me! That way there will be more than me and the store owner and a stack of books.

Day 25: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days

Today’s pie is No PIe. Although I started tomorrow’s pie, which is the Leftover Pie. All the Thanksgiving yummies in a whole wheat crust with the dressing for the topping, baked to a nice crisp.

Sunday, I will be at Julie’s Beach Life boutique in Del Mar. A live auction of a berry pie will be happening. Free pie to taste and eat will also be there for first come, first served. And, I’ll be trying to sell some books. Oh yeah, I wrote a book. I hope I see lots of familiar faces at Julie’s. I plan on getting there early to do some shopping because it’s a fabulous store.

Day 24: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days So Many to Thank

Yesterday’s pie was a Bourbon Pumpkin that I forgot to tell the winner to refrigerate, so I have probably killed off her family today. Sorry about that.

I’m taking the day off from baking today. I am going to drink champagne all day instead.

I sat down to write out the looooong list of people I wanted to thank for all the support during NNPM, but then I realized as I sat here that there will be so many more to add to the list at the end and I want to save it all. But I do want to say that while the list is at least 30 people deep already, that what I am most grateful for is how the process seems so quiet this year with so few comments on my posts, and every single time that I think no one is listening I get a response from someone waving their hand saying they want a pie. It feels like reality rather than Facebook—where it’s not a popularity contest, but a wonderful realization that people are there we just have to listen. A challenge like this can be stressful in ways we don’t know. It brings up all sorts of emotions and thoughts and memories that make a person feel a bit insane. Maybe that’s why I do it because I want to prove I’m sane the rest of the time. Or maybe I just like the high of the adrenaline. There are lots of reasons, actually, and the main one is what I learn about myself and what am reminded about the world. People show up even if you haven’t screamed for help. Somehow they know, and maybe they don’t even know they know.

The other night I woke up around 2am having a panic attack about so many things that had nothing to do with pie, but other things in my life. NNPM pushes everything to the top. I was “on the verge” as they say, and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I picked up my phone and thought, I’ll look at a little Facebook to cheer me up. Facebook is not ever where one should go for cheering up. Every other post was someone’s pet who was ill, being put down, or dead. I had one of those long ugly cries. It lasted a couple of hours. The cry was a cathartic one, but puffy-eyed nonetheless. My entire life flashed before my swollen eyes as I remembered every single thing that I wish I had done differently. Why did dead pets take me down the long dark dangerous alley of regrets? Who knows. Blame pie. In the morning, I was lighter, albeit still weepy.

A couple of days later I had an interview with a pie baker and friend. Not someone I know well, other than pie, but the whole time was spent talking about letting go of things in life. From couches to regrets. Or maybe getting rid of the couch is symbolic of all the regrets. The conversation was as though we had known each other for years. Instead of an interview it felt more like we were reminiscing about our lives, as though we had known each other that long that our stories were the repeated ones we both still laugh at every time it’s told. Maybe it’s a pie baker thing—where we put a filling filled with all our most soulful moments into a pastry and pass it along to someone else and they eat it up with delight not knowing what all went in it, just trusting it was made with love. Maybe life is filled with both regrets and friends who we don’t even know are there.

All I know right now, from 3 weeks of NNPM, is there is so much to look forward to! You have to pass through the dark to get to the light. And, there will always be more pie.

I’m thankful for all three of you who read this post. I don’t know who you are, but I know you are there. Now, on to the celebrating.

Day 23: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days - Traditions

Today’s pie is Bourbon Pumpkin. Let’s start that holiday bidding at $95.

I’m prepping for some gatherings and other traditions. Brunch with my mother-in-law will involve a quiche, pumpkin pie with friends,

What are others having for the holidays? Is the big bird still on the menu? Anything new and different?

I’m exhausted so that’s all I’m going to write tonight. Here’s a photo of yesterday’s Brandy puh-can pie.

Day 22: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days - Tipsy Days ahead

I’ve been thinking about the next challenge I want to give myself. I haven’t come to any conclusions yet, but I need something to look forward to as I am struggling to get through the last few days of this monthlong challenge. I think it will be related to writing, or maybe to my health, or maybe to my relaxation. We’ll see. I won’t start it until Jan 1, so I still have some time.

Today’s pie is Brandy Pecan! Who doesn’t want to booze it up this long holiday weekend. I definitely do. And will. I have a massage scheduled for 2pm, so I bet it’s done before then.

Let’s start the bidding for this drunken baby at $95. I’m feeling loose and lucky. Put your bids in the comments below, please and thank you.

And, for the record, it’s very important that the winner pronounce “pecan” correctly. It’s puh-cahn. Because a pee-can is what you put under your bed for use in the middle of the night.

Below is the jumble berry pie won yesterday by my writing retreat buddy, LaTresa Pearson.

Day 21: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days Prepping for the holidays

Things start to get quiet right about now in NaNoPIEMo every year. Everyone’s thinking about the traffice they have to sit in later this week, and if Uncle Bob is going to make embarrassing remarks at the dinner table, and if you should pack only sweatpants or will you need one nice thing to wear to be respectable. But you may need to bring a pie with you to that dinner, and won’t it be more relaxing if someone else makes that pie for you. I know just the person.

Today’s pie may not sound traditional, JUMBLE BERRY PIE, but it has strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries AND cranberries. I almost tried to add gooseberries but thought that might be going too far. All those berries will be nicely packed inside an all-butter lattice pastry. You can freeze this baby and take it with you on the road, or eat it up tonight. Emotional eating is a good thing, IMHO.

I’ll start the bidding at $85. Place your bids in the comments of this blog.

I almost wasn’t able to make a pie today. I wanted to take my mother-in-law to lunch because she’s just moved down here into an assisted living place. I teach morning and late afternoon, so fitting lunch in there and a pie would be impossible. If I do go AWOL, that’s what I’m up to. For now, I think lunch will be Wednesday.

In the meantime, here’s yesterday’s Rosemary Balsamic Steak and Gruyere in a Puff Pastry. I got a little carried away with the puff. I sometimes feel like there just can never be too much puff pastry in the world.

Did I mention I’m over 2/3 of the way through NNPM? It’s been harder this year for a variety of reasons. I will take the time to sort those reasons all out in my head and on paper when I get to the end of the tunnel. Or until I break, which ever comes sooner.

Day 20: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days - Pie Future

Only 10 days left and that big ole pie holiday is right in the middle. I thought since we all have some menu planning to do I would think about what pies I’m going to make for the next few days or so. Maybe you’ll want to plan your holiday menu around one of these pies to eliminate so much baking. Trust me, too much baking can be crazymaking.

Today’s pie is a savory! Before we get all stuffed from turkey, shouldn’t we get our stomachs in shape for the big day? How about another Rosemary Steak and Gruyere in puff pastry? I happen to have all the ingredients so why not a repeat. This time I’m making two—one regular and one gluten-free. You can bid on either or both. Yes, we will have two bidding wars going on at the same time. Just be sure to mention which pie you are bidding on - GF or Non-GF.

I’ll start the bidding at $95 for each pie. Place your bid in the comments below.

Now, here is the schedule of pies for the rest of the month. Hold your bids for the respective day, please. AND, I reserve the right to change any of these if I get the urge. I usually decide on the pie for that day when I wake up, so this is going to be weird to have a plan.

Day 21: Jumble Berry Pie - every berry I can find pie.

Day 22: Brandy Pecan Pie

Day 23: Bourbon Pumpkin Pie (yes, I think it’s good to be tipsy during the holidays - family and all that.)

Day 24: Thanksgiving! I am taking the day off.

Day 25: I’ve already made 28 pies, so I’m taking another day off.

Day 26: Leftover Pie — all the fixings in a whole wheat crust

Day 27: Julie’s Beach Life boutique Del Mar, in-person event and auction. Please come! Double Cherry Crumble

Day 28: Apple in a VT cheddar crust Baking with Tammy Greenwood who hails from VT

Day 29: Carnitas and a Hatch chili sauce and cornmeal crust

Day 30: Finale Pie is going to be MY all-time favorite—Salmon & Portobello in a Sour Cream Horseradish crust. Yeah, kinda crazy good. It’s okay to die after eating this pie. If no one buys this pie, I am going to eat it all myself. Maybe I’ll share a bite with Eber. Maybe.

Day 19: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days

I’m a little late this morning because I was on a cooking show Blaze Baking with Rach. I’ll post the video when it’s available. We talked about everything writing and pies with Rachel Levy Lesser and Jenna Blum, both wonderful authors and friends. Check out their books.

Today’s pie is not what I said it was going to be the other day. Today’s pie is GERMAN CHOCOLATE PIE in a cream cheese crust. I made it for the 2-Pie Holiday Pie Adventure yesterday, which turned out to be a 4-pie adventure, but that’s another story. The chocolate pie was so scrumptious that I HAVE to make it again and share it with you all. It will be a great pie to freeze and serve at Thanksgiving, or eat it all up tonight.

Let’s start the bidding at $95.

Day 18: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days: Holiday Pie Demo

Today’s pie is many. Two-pie luncheon for 20 people which means 4 pies. That’s pie math. Pie squared.

No bidding today.

I prepped all the fixin’s for a Holiday Leftover pie. Yep, I made all those side dishes like green bean casserole, brussels sprouts in bacon, roasted potatoes, honeyed carrots. and even dressing. For the turkey, I bought a rotisserie chicken and shredded it. It all goes in a whole wheat crust.

For dessert, we have a German chocolate pie and an apple pie. Lots of whipped cream and my handy dandy decorating kit.

Adventures by the Book is hosting this Two-Pie Luncheon and pie demo with me. Check out all their other events. If you like books, and you must or you wouldn’t be my friend, you’ll find something you want to try out at Adventures by the Book.

Day 17: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days - Gifts

Today’s pie is a gluten-free key lime pie. Arthur Salm, one of the pie winners gave me a bag of limes from his tree, and it’s citrus season and pie season so it seems I should make a a pie with these limes. We are having a Santa Ana condition which means its hot, and a nice cool pie sounds refreshing. I found a great recipe for graham cracker crust made with oats instead of graham crackers (yes, I’ll make sure the oats are GF). Instead of Key Limes from Florida, when I receive California limes I like to call it a Cal Lime Pie. Not so clever, but clever enough. Let’s start the bidding at $85. Put your bids down in the comments. I’ll let you know when the pie comes out of the fridge. It needs about 4 hours or so.

I love it when my neighbors and friends drop off fruit and little gifts for pie. I love surprises and when I see a bag on my porch or hanging from my door knob, I know that there will be some pie thinking on my part to see what I can do with the gift.

Yesterday’s pie ended up being a gift I presented to Nicole Lebeouf the Director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service. I took the pie to Ocean Discovery Institute where they wanted to share a special moment with Nicole. She had previously come to visit ODI as a program that has received the President’s Award for Excellence in Science, Math and Engineering mentoring. When Nicole visited before she talked about how ODI makes lemonade out of lemons, but, she said, Did they have a lemon chiffon pie moment? So this year, they wanted to present all their lemon chiffon pie moments along with a lemon chiffon pie. I was honored they picked my pie to present to Nicole Lebeouf.

I took a quickie YouTube decorating class and tried to make it look like an underwater garden. Not quite baking show level, but lots of good karma in this pie.

Day 16: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days: Lots coming up

This week is busier than a holiday week. A few exciting things coming up, so I’ll share them here. Mark your calendars for these NaNoPIEMo events that are not just auctioned off pies.

Today’s pie is LEMON CHIFFON. Citrus season is here! I’ve been working on this one for a few days. I candied and crystallized lemon peel to sprinkle on top. I read up on all the best ways to do chiffon. I bought some Meyer lemon wafers to make the crust. And, I picked and juiced the Meyer lemons from our garden for the filling. I did not milk the cows for the whipped cream, so it’s not quite perfect, but I did get fancy decorating tips to put a swirly topping on it. It feels like a wedding pie.

Friday, I’m heading to a TWO-PIE LUNCHEON which sold out. Who doesn’t want SOLD OUT stamped across their face? I won’t be auctioning off these pies, as I will be serving them to some wonderful folks who have come to watch me make pie and talk about the writing life. There will be a savory pie, and a sweet pie. The savory will be a leftover pie that I make every Friday after Thanksgiving with all the fixings in a whole wheat crust. The sweet pie, I haven’t decided yet.

Saturday, Blaze Baking with Rachel Levy — I’ll be on a cooking show! We will be making a lemon meringue pie. I can’t sell it through the TV screen, so feel free to start thinking about your bid.

Sunday Nov 27 I’ll be IN-PERSON auctioning off a pie at an event at Julie’s Beach Life boutique in Del Mar. Please come! It will be a fun day, with some other pies to sample—you don’t even have to bid to get a taste of pie. And, I’ll read the story from my book HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL IN 20 PIES about the day I got in a fight at the farmer’s market over apples.

Mon Nov 28 Author Tammy Greenwood will be coming to bake with me at the Living Lab. The author of Such. Pretty Girl. That day’s pie day will also be auctioned off.

Mark your calendars. In the meantime, let’s start the bidding for this fancy chiffon pie at $95. Place your bids in the comments.

Day 15: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days Half Way!

Here we are, half way through this challenge. I am reassured with all the generous donations that we will double last year’s total. Thank you all of that.

And, for that, I offer you today’s pie a SAVORY. CHICKEN SAUSAGE AND APPLE in a CHEDDAR CHEESE CRUST. It’s one of my very favorites. It’s a nice cool day, and while sunny, it’s chilly when there’s no sun in this desert we call San Diego. This pie makes me think I’m in an old cabin with a wood stove in some place like Estonia. It’s made with sweet and tart apples, apple cider vinegar, and sausage. I use chicken sausage in my version. The tangy combo of vinegar and spicy sausage and the apples makes it an otherworldly experience. The sharp cheddar cheese ties it all together. Oh, my mouth is watering. I may keep this one for myself.

Let’s start the bidding at $95.

Here are some pictures from yesterday of the Ocean Discovery Institute’s kids writing their stories about their day in the canyon. They found earwigs and ants, and other creepy crawly things when they turned over rocks. That’s the most awesome eerwig I’ve ever seen.

Day 14: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days Guest Baker

Today I feel like I’m on the Today Show. I’ll be at the Ocean Discovery Living Lab baking in that gorgeous kitchen, and accompanying me will be Madhushree Ghosh, author of Khabaar, An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family. If you don’t know Madhushree, you should! She’ll be making naroos in molasses and sweetened coconut with cardamom in dosas (rice -lentil savory crepes). We will be talking about food and writing. How it all triggers memories. Her memoir is delicious! We will be recording, so I’ll share that with you soon.

Today’s pie from me is APPLE BLACKBERRY PIE! I’ll start the bidding at $85. We may throw in some bonus naroos and dosas unless I and the kids eat them all. My pie comes from both the NYT article last weekend on the top 5 most requested pies, and Kate McDermott’s Art of the Pie cookbook which keeps falling open to this recipe.

Lots of exciting things going on this week, so watch this blog for each day’s events! Subscribe so you don’t miss out.

Place your bids in the comments below. Starting at $85.

Order your copy here. You won’t regret it. I loved this book. Hugged it when I was done. Want.

Day 13: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days Bidding is BACK!

Even though bidding was quiet on my end for a couple of days, you guys kept it going! We had a couple of Eber birthday donations, and we had a $100 donation out of the blue, AND we have another match for today’s pie.

TODAY’S PIE IS AS PROMISED A BLUEBERRY SOURCREAM IN A GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST. This pie doesn’t bake, but has to sit in the fridge before it’s ready to eat, so no getting it out of the oven. It’ll be ready for someone’s Sunday Supper dessert. Or, hell, make it your dinner.

Because we have a match up to $200 I’m going to offer the first person who puts down a $200 bid before 1pm gets this pie.

That’s all I’m going to say today, and I’ll post a pie porn pic of Eber’s birthday chicken pot pie. And, Hazel wants to say thank you for helping with the kids!

Thanks for all your support! Put your ideas, comments, suggestions, and wishes in the comments. Place your bids in the comments too. I’ll be watching! Bidding starts at $85.

Hazel Bazel Wazel says pie is good for the human soul. Pork treats are good for the dog soul. All the better to hear you with, my dear. ~Bat Girl

Day 12: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days Birthday Donations

Last night was DimeStories 18th anniversary party and I took pie. I forgot to take a picture after it came out of the oven, but as you can see, I think they liked it. It was a sheet/slab pie so served about 35 small pieces. Blueberry crumble.

It was quite the exciting pie to make and take. I write about Frankenstein crusts in my new book How to Write a Novel in 20 Pies, about how sometimes the dough just doesn’t come together, and I end up with a stitched together mess. Well, that’s what happened with this one [see pic]. I added the filling, baked with the crumb topping and who was to know the difference. On my way into the building, I slid and dropped the pie! Oh my! The pie did this incredible vertical slam into the concrete, as did my knee. I picked up the pie, dusted off my knee, and went inside to look at the pie. It was fine. The edges were cracked and you could see the nice flake that the bake had created (Paul Hollywood would have been proud, but criticized me for not wearing the right shoes.), but other wise the pie was fine. My knee—it seems to be a nice bruise is all. Nothing worth mentioning.

Today’s pie is another CPP—Chicken Pot Pie. It’s Eber’s favorite and has eaten it every birthday since he was a kid. So, of course, I make him one. He used to prefer the Swanson’s frozen ones, but I put a stop to that.

This pie is going into Eber’s tummy, and family will be here, so again, no bidding today. No pie to sell, but I do get to count this toward my 30 pies. Just making sure that’s noted.

BUT if you want to give Eber a birthday gift by donating any amount at all to Ocean Discovery Kids, no amount too small or too big, I’ll be sure to let him know, and imagine how happy it would make him to know that he got many gifts for his birthday! I’ll leave the link to donate here, and leave a comment if you sent in a donation so I can tell Eber.

Eber is also a mentor with the ODI kids—see the pic of him on a boat in Bahia de Los Angeles this past summer teaching the kids about sustainable fishing and also how to swim and snorkel.

Click on the bottom button inside this link to go to Ocean Discovery Institute. https://linktr.ee/amywallen


Day 11: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days- A Break

I’m taking a break today. Not from making pies, because it is still 30 pies in 30 days challenge, and the challenge is all on me. But I’m taking a break from the bidding. You guys are incredible and I hate to stop the momentum, but a lesson I take from Jill Badonsky’s playful approach to living the creative life, is that sometimes we have to slow down to let our souls catch up.

I love the high energy of the bidding and where it has taken us. Wow—already surpassed last year’s total of $4000 and we are only on Day 11. That’s one third of the way through for those of you who don’t do maths. My personal secret goal that I told no one when I first started was to double last year’s total. I think I might make it!

I hate taking a break from the bidding because it’s brought in so many wonderful donations, but I need to for two reasons. 1. DimeStories 18th anniversary is tonight and I promised them a long time ago I would bring a big blueberry slab pie for everyone. So, no pie to sell. And, 2. I have family coming for Eber’s birthday celebration and it was through chicken pot pie that I courted Eber so that’s what we have every year on his birthday and that pie won’t be for sale either. That’s Day 12, which I’ll write about tomorrow.

Day 13 which is Sunday, I’ll make either a blueberry and sourcream pie or a black bottom chiffon pie.

That said, I have to be so on top of it with bidding. I love encouraging and teasing everyone with the pie porn and what pie at what time. It’s fun, and I think you all are having fun too. But it’s more of a challenge than the 30 PIes challenge.

One thing, that I think would help me is if I had more comments on Facebook from those who are watching. It’s crickets down in the comment section since I’ve put bidding on my website blog. Some folks don’t like the extra click to come over here, but it makes for a great central location. It’s really just a Facebook adventure, this pie auction, but Facebook has changed so much in the last year that the first couple of days I heard a lot of screaming (people who don’t get their pie are loud) that my posts weren’t where they were looking. I don’t know FB’s algorithms, but it seems that if there were comments in the comment section FB would think I’m popular and then put me at the top. I’m not popular, and never found that status to be appealing, but for this short month, I’d love to be popular enough to raise lots of dough (see what I did there?) for the kids. So come along on the adventure, whether you want a pie or not. And who knows, there may be a day where there’s pie for everyone.

And, one last thing, not to brag, but I’m actually a pie ahead anyway. I was asked to write an article for the Rose Bowl magazine and the piece needed to include recipes, so Wednesday, I created this brunch pizza pie to eat while watching the Rose Bowl parade. I needed to include photos so I made the quicky pie, photographed it, and Eber and I had it for dinner. Oh what you can do with frozen puff pastry.

Day 10 NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days Matches

I know why you are here—to see what pie it will be today. CARNE ASADA IN A CORNMEAL CRUST. One of my favorites. It’s up there with chicken pot pie for me. Marinated meat grilled outside with the sweet peppers and all the other veggies. Fresh salsa filling, and a crunchy cornmeal crust makes this a taste bud and texture delight. IMNSHO (in my not so humble opinion). Bidding starts at $95. This one is a doozy to make. Place your bids in the comments below.

Now on to what happened yesterday. We got an offer from a good friend in New Mexico to match any bid up to $200. I had an insane day with a 2-hour workshop I had to give 40 minutes up the road, and an insurance issue that has been my bane for months, and an editor asking me for changes and photos of some bakes to go with my article which meant I had to bake two additional food items in addition to the pie yesterday. All of it was passionately fun (except the damn insurance issue) but took up so much time, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up with trying to encourage bidding. So, I took a chance—I posted the option to just bid $200 to meet the match and we all go home. It happened! By 11am I had a match, and the veggie cottage pie sold for $400.

I would love more matches. They make everyone’s bid go further. If you are out of town and want to join in the fun and thrill of pie-bay, let me know you’d like to make a match. Any amount is wonderful and appreciated. Maybe you don’t even like pie, maybe you prefer cake (I don’t want to know) but you want to play the game and help the kids at Ocean Discovery Institute, then offer us a match.

Thank you all for your support, whether is monetary or just a big hoorah daily. I am often discouraged as any challenge is a huge roller coaster, but when I know people are excited and wanting to know that it looks successful, I rally and keep going.

Now, I need to fire up the grill and get my pie started. Hasta pronto! Two bags of flour down!

Day 9: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days Making Goals!

We hit $200 for yesterday’s Chicken Pot Pie. We are now at $2906 in donations! Last year we raised $4000. I have been shy to say it for fear I will jinx it, but I’d like to double that this year. I love goals and that is now my goal $8000 by Nov 30. Think we can do it? We are only at the beginning of the 2nd week and are already over half way there. Anything could happen! You guys have been so supportive that I kind of want to cry, and not just because of the onions or because I want to take a sledge hammer to my eentsy 1930s Lucille Ball kitchen.

But you aren’t here to read about my woes or wishes. You are here to find out what today’s pie is and the amount of the last bid.

COTTAGE PIE—Vegetarian and gluten-free. No bees, children, or plastic products were harmed in the making of this pie. I’ve had a shout out from many GF and veg friends that they feel discriminated against in this pie challenge. So, I’m making a savory pie full of vegetables, in an Impossible meat sauce made in vegetable broth. No pastry, but there is a mashed potato topping with sour cream and garlic.

I have to give a talk way the help up at the San Marcos Library today, so I’m starting and finishing this pie early too! So don’t dilly dally.

Bidding starts at $100. Just seems I gotta get it going.

Day 8: NaNoPIEMo 30 Pies in 30 Days I Remember Now

I remember from last year that things start to hit a rhythm. Not all at once, but gradually. Today things settled down a bit. I got into a flow. Sort of. It started off frantic, but then the pie for the day turned out to be simpler than I expected. Then I felt exhausted and had to lie down. For about 10 minutes. Then back at it. There are still the rest of the things in my life to deal with besides pie—a deadline to be met, emails to answer, dog to walk—the world does not turn on pie. I sure wish it did. Oh, and there’s that election thing happening. I settled down long enough to sit and give a good meditation to my ballot.

Today, Day 8’s pie is going to be a comfort food pie. Rainy day, creepy election, inflation, it all seems like the only answer is CHICKEN POT PIE! Bidding starts at $95. It’s going to be that awesome. Trust me, this is my original specialty. Did I mention all-butter crust? Yes, this is a repeat, but who doesn’t love CPP?

Please post your bid in the comments. And, remember—the kids get all of it. Thank you!!