Princess Pie Diva - a foodie paradise

Hand pitted fresh Okanagan Cherry Pie made with butter pastry

 

August is very special to me, it is my recharge time away from work and slow down and enjoy the fruit of the season.  It is also when the baking goddess makes her appearance and even trumps riding a motorcycle!  This year I decided to indulge in a bit of both I went on a 3 day adventure, that left me relaxed and happy. The day after my return saw pie baking time coming on, it's sneaky and insidious, before I know it I am stalking the markets looking for flats of freestone peaches.  In my world nothing is done in small measures!  Once I secured my succulent flat of peach beauties I had to wait a day or two for them to completely ripen and I placed them out in the warm sun and then it was time to let the magic begin.  

I could smell the intoxicating scent of the peaches and could've stood there all day just breathing in the heady peach scent.  

When I make pastry it is made with butter and not lard.  I just love butter and I believe Julia Child had the right idea of cooking with it.  I love the subtle taste of the butter and it doesn't leave a greasy aftertaste.  I've experimented with different pastry recipes and I always come back to mine. So far we have gone through 3 1/2 pounds of unsalted butter, and a bag of flour, some sugar, as I don't like a lot of it. The perfect number of peaches in a pie is 7 to 8. I've peeled my way through 48 peaches and baked them all!  Today I hand pitted a pound of Okanagan cherries and made a delectable cherry pie which my hub cut while still warm and not sure it will still be there in the morning.  I made two peach pies, one for baking, the other for freezing. I  also made a small mini peach pie as a gift for my neighbour because when bakefest happens I usually leave the front and back door open and the scent drifts over their yard and I thinks it's a bit tortuous for them to constantly smell the aroma and never get treats.

My pie beauties cooling

I was actually pretty bake manic today and made two loaves of banana bread as well.  Tomorrow depending on my pie mood, there maybe a mixed fruit pie, it all depends about what strikes my fancy.

August isn't just about baking either, I also like to pull out cookbooks, browse through internet recipe sites and make beautiful meals.  I cook with wine, butter, fresh ingredients and take hours rambling through the kitchen.  We have had grilled fresh sockeye salmon marinated in maple syrup & touch of balsamic vinegar, served with a light salad & fresh corn. Another night I sautéed chicken in white wine, butter, shallots, garlic and capers, towards the end I added spinach and served it all on fresh pasta. My only regret is that I don't have this amount of time during non vacation times.

There is more to me than being a motorcycle chick, I'm a foodie and sometimes domestic diva (well I'm a diva all the time!)