What the grownups do

I’m hosting a small dinner party Saturday night. Three couples, plus James and myself. I used to do this sort of thing all the time before our son was born, but as you can imagine, the few get togethers we have now include kids.

There was a long stretch when we simply didn’t entertain. A time when, in fact, we didn’t do much of anything but worry and wonder. Things are different now. We do what we can. Sometimes we do a little more. And sometimes, I even get ambitious, inviting people over to eat and have wine and talk.

So it will be a night for the grownups. Our friends are booking babysitters. I am thinking about—but still undecided on—what to serve. And what to wear. And what sort of mood to set for the evening. Not fussy, but nicer than a family dinner.

I enjoy cooking. But I don’t pay very much attention to recipes. Except for baking. Baking is like chemistry. Cooking is like literature. I’m sure I’m not the first person to have thought of that analogy. It’s fitting, though, don’t you think?

I may browse some food blogs, try to get some menu ideas. Feel free to leave helpful thoughts/recipes in the comments. Meanwhile, I’m going to check out the 27 posts on good eats over at Cindy’s blog, and see what else I can find on the interweb.

I do wish you could come too. Now that would be the ultimate dinner party, don’t you think?

 

Take one box of cake mix…

This is the bunny cake we made last year.

 

And this is the bunny cake we made today.

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Notice a theme?

Happy Easter!

 

 

Pies in winter

This is my winter of pies.

And you know what? I think I’m finally getting the hang of it.

I have, in the past, tried all sorts of recipes—including something very rustic that involves folding a single pie crust up and over a fruit filling—to very mixed results.

But for the past, oh, say, half-a-dozen bakings, I have kept to a traditional fruit pie—most often filled with pears or a mixture of pears and apples—and the results have been, well, pretty delicious.

I’m having so much fun making pies, that I’m seriously thinking about buying myself a pretty pie plate. One with a nice scalloped edge that will take me from the oven to the fridge to the dishwasher.

Saturday, I baked a cranberry pear pie. I used red pears, but it’s also quite good with Chinese pears, Bosc pears and plain old Bartlett’s. I try to get a good mix of fruit that are hard and not ready to eat and some that are soft and juicy and full of sugar.

Here’s the recipe. Easy and delicious. And trust me, unless you are very good at making dough—sadly, I am not—use the store bought pie crust, no one will know the difference.

Cranberry Pear Pie

Peel and slice the pears until you have about 6 cups of fruit in a large bowl. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, a good-sized handful of Craisins, and a tablespoon of lemon juice over the top. Mix well. And keep mixing until it looks all spicy and syrupy and delicious.

Place a pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate and gently smooth and stretch the edges to come up and over the rim of the plate. Add the filling.

Cover the filling with the second layer of crust and pinch the edges of the crusts together to get a good seal. Now, here’s where you can get fancy with crimping and adding decorative designs. I usually just cut a few slits in the center of the pie in the shape of a star.

Here’s a tip: To keep the edges of the pie from getting too brown, I fold tin foil around the crust to create a ring. It looks a bit like this. (I leave this on until I take the pie out of the oven.)

Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 40 minutes, or until the filling looks bubbly through the slits and the crust is a nice golden brown.

You’ll know when it’s ready. The whole house will smell good.