Monday, October 25, 2010

Week o' pies

Could it be autumn, mass hysteria, or the fact that people who work together start to think alike. Whatever the reason from October 18th through the 25th everyone ended up seeking out and bringing in pies. But, who's complaining.  There are actually several farms in the area who make fresh pies which are very, very good. Then there is always the supermarket or trusty old Sam's Club where the pies are very, very big.
Two American classics

We started off with two pies from Schartner farms where they make Fruit Pies with character! We had a classic American Apple Pie and a classic American Pecan Pie.  The apple pie was very traditional and fresh. The pecan pie was also very good and not as sickeningly sweet as they sometimes can be. Of course, the best pecan pie comes from one or our own so even though this measured up it did not surpass.

Sam's Club does pumpkin pie
A few days later and we had another American traditional pie which is definitely related to the fall season.  When else do you see pumpkin pie?  This one was courtesy or Member's Mark Bakery aka Sam's Club.  So what if it is discount pie it still tastes good and you can't really mess up a pumpkin pie much anyway.  We just happened to have some whipped cream on hand which is the perfect complement to the pie, don't you think?
Good old blueberry pie

We finished off the week o' pies with - you guessed it - a classic American Pie - this time blueberry.  There are indeed some variations on blueberry pie but this was your solid blueberry pie with traditional pie crust. We all know that blueberries are good for you so there was no hesitation polishing this baby off even without the whipped cream. 

Monday, October 4, 2010

ENGAGEMENT CAKE!

It's hard to tell what's going on around here - maybe it is the algae in the drinking water - but over the last several months three of the female graduate students working for their PhDs have gotten engaged!  Is it possible that as they approach completion of their degrees the future spouses are concluding they should take the plunge now to ensure that their highly educated partners will be able to support them in life?  That's too funny. These are PhDs after all, not MDs, so I wouldn't bet the house on the projected future earnings. There must be only one explanation ......LOVE!  (You can gag now!)  The fiancĂ©e in today's featured relationship is from Europe. We are hoping that in-law attitudes have softened somewhat from the previous maternal comment about how her son would move to Europe "over my dead body!"  That must have been early in the relationship.  The ring included Grandma's diamond so relations must be cool!

To celebrate we had one of those classic chocolate layer cakes from Gregg's. We are starting to know the Gregg cakes very well!  Good moist chocolate cake with a real chocolaty frosting that some find a little hard to take. At least the frosting was not made with lard which is REAL hard to take. 

We discussed the award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine to the discoverer of in vitro fertilization. It's too bad one of the pair responsible for this breakthrough had to die before the Nobel Committee got around to recognizing them. (A little late!) From there the conversation went to multiple births, then Octomom, then to polygamy and finally to Mormon's.  We also wonder how TLC can still be considered a "learning" channel if they continue with their expanded line up of screwed up family situations. Jon and Kate, anyone?

Nonetheless, congratulations to out latest betrothed colleague!