Monday, September 10, 2012

Good Mood for Good Food

Sometimes, I find I have too much time on my hands.  This leads to baking.  And eating.  And my continued quest to find others who do the same.  If that's you, speak now, or forever hold your piece.

I'm so clever.

This weekend, I got the awesome opportunity to volunteer at KCRW's Good Food Pie Contest.  The annual event takes place at LACMA, and in it's 4th year, had over 200 entries.  Each baker entered two pies, one for judging, and one for public view/purchase, and my job was to schlep pies back and forth, all the meanwhile, wearing a cute little apron.  The work itself wasn't very difficult, and since I was part of the staff, that meant hanging out in the air conditioned loading area, where the judges were and helping out with occasional cleaning.

This year's panel included Russ Parsons (of the LA Times), Sherry Yard (of Spago), Huell Howser (a hilarious TV man, I had yet to hear of, but now adore) and a personal favorite, Joy the Baker (of Joy the Baker ).  I had no idea she would be there, and was thrilled to get to meet her, since I'm an avid follower.  If y'all don't know her yet, you should.  She's wonderfully awesome.

ONE of the FOUR tables of pie.

There were 5 categories for judging (Fruit, Savory, Creme, Nut, & Metropolis (based on Chris Burden's Metropolis II Sculpture)).  Once the judges had finished deliberating, which was a very intense session of hand-raising while still plunging forks, my real purpose came into play.  Meaning, I got to sample the remaining pies.


WARNING: The following images may invoke hunger, cravings and/or irrational behavior.  View with caution.  

Candied Mint is delicious.
Best pie, by far.
Mo Butter DOES mean Mo Better 




 You can tell, I'm a fruit gal.  Another favorite was Blueberry Lavender, which was off the charts.  And I don't use charts.  Some were kooky, like Artichoke Pie, and Shoofly Pie, and FISH Pie (I did NOT try that one).  I tried to give my love to all the bakers I could, but after a while, I began to feel the expansion that comes with eating too much food.  

As the day came to a closing, and the winners were announced, the remaining bakers came to pick up their empty pie plates.  Even though most of them hadn't won, I wanted to give them a little high-five for just being awesome.  It wasn't about the ribbon, it was just the fact they had made the effort and went for it.

After all, the proof is in the pudding.

.:Anais:.

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