The Brides' Pies

Of course you can buy a ready-made pie shell, but it's a shame not to have the know-how yourself. --Julia Child

As I wrote almost two months' ago, before the tradition of Wedding Cake, there was the bride's pie which had a gold ring baked in it.  With all this fussing and planning for what sort of cakes we want at our wedding, I have not done justice to the fact that Teri and I really are all about the pies.

In the story that is our courtship, there was a Saturday in May when Teri and I spent a late morning and early afternoon wandering the Eugene Saturday Market together (I actually ended up with a sunburn!) and then went to the store to gather what ingredients I didn't already have so she could make a blueberry pie for an event she was going to later that night. She made and baked the blueberry pie in my kitchen and if memory serves, I made up a pitcher of sangria which we sipped while the pie was baking.

Since then, there have been dozens of pies: pumpkin (Teri's favorite), apple (my favorite), Key lime, blackberry, blueberry, pecan, and Incubus (an old recipe for a sort-of cake-pie called "Colonial InnKeeper's" pie which my kids re-dubbed Incubus Pie years ago--it is yummy--cake-y and fudge-y) and more.  We have taken pies to parties, made them for our own celebrations and dinners and during the week in Roseburg after my dad died suddenly, Teri must have made ten pies in my mother's kitchen.  Pies are Life.

Pie was the first thing that Teri and I collaborated on and learned to make together in a shared kitchen.  Often, she makes the crust an I make the filling (although we both have a decent hand at making pie crust and actually share a similar "secret" ingredient.) We have different versions of apple pie--both delicious: Teri prefers cubed apples and lots of cinnamon; I prefer sliced apples and a combination of cinnamon, ginger and freshly grated nutmeg.  Both of us slip dollops of real butter between the mounded filling and the top crust (of course!)

We can't imagine our Wedding Celebration without some of our own homemade pies and so, tucked onto the dessert table with those luscious cakes and colorful cupcakes will be some of our favorite recipes--served up with dollops of freshly whipped cream dotted with speckles of vanilla bean (we have these incredible copper bowls that my former mother-in-law gave us last Thanksgiving; they are used and worn perfectly and fabulous for beating up fresh whipped cream.)  While the wedding cakes may seem traditionally symbolic to most people, the pie is symbolic to Teri and me--it is something we both do well and we do it well together. 

As another nod to the story of us, the "signature drink" at the reception will be both a red and a white sangria...