Monday, September 26, 2011

PiRknotSquare and ShrimpRknot Either

Last week, I had to be away for two days of training and some of my fellow teachers covered all my classes. They did this because the school budgets are so slim, it's hard to afford a substitute teacher these days.
And ... they don't make much, these brave substitute teachers, so that tells you something about the budget.

I wanted to thank the regular teachers who lost a planning period or doubled up, so I made a blueberry pie.

Not an extraordinary thing, but it was my first real, gotta crust, not a key lime ... PIE.

I found a recipe online,  pulled a bag of my own home grown blueberries out of the freezer, and got started.

My version of "dot with butter".

My version of a shark, made from the trimmings and leftover bits of crust.
The shark is our school mascot.

The thing about giving a pie to someone as a gift is ... you can't really taste it to see if it came out alright.
Nobody gives a pie missing a test slice, as a gift.
It just isn't done.

I left it in the conference room with a note thanking the teachers who covered for me.
In the afternoon, I had a washed and empty pie plate, so I guess it was okay.


In the foreground, a plate of salad and some of the shrimp that I caught back in August.
That was supper Saturday night. You can mess shrimp up in a million spiced, breaded, bacon-wrapped ways, but there is something to be said for minimalism with such a delicately flavored beast.
These were cooked by dropping them into hot water and almost immediately removing them.

Well, yes, I confess to dipping them in our homemade datil pepper relish. We made a big batch Saturday (background) and the whole house smelled AWESOME all day.

No way I was passing that up with a plate full of shrimp at the ready.

I may be a shrimp minimalist, but I'm not crazy.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi FC,

The pie and shrimp look great. I forgot to send that stuffed shrimp recipe. Sorry.

P

PS Hate to break this to you..but, you are a bit ca-ra-zee. That's why we love ya. And keep coming back.

Sayre said...

Oh, I'm sure your pie was wonderful! It's kind of hard to mess up blueberries... they have their own kind of food healing power.
Mmmm.... shrimp....

Suzan said...

Looks like an awesome blueberry pie! Awe, your shrimp. Never can get enough of them. . .

Pablo said...

I wish I could do something that merited me one of your blueberry pies!

Kaybe said...

I agree about the shrimp. K.I.S.S. = keep it simple shrimpy!

Miz S said...

Man, I wish someone would bake a pie and leave it in the teacher's lounge at MY school. Well done, FC.

Dani said...

I loves me some blueberry pie.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

My DB is a great blueberry pie baker. Yummm. I know your fellow teachers appreciated it. You are making me hungry showing all this good food.

Thunder said...

I've met your delima and have solved it! I always make two pies from any new recipe (ok and my favorites) so I can "taste" one of them without touching the gift one.

Thunder said...

That reminds me, it's almost sweet-tator pie time!!!!

lisa said...

I am getting hungrier by the minute!!

Katy bug said...

I would venture to say that when Dave tastes a pie he tastes the whole thing ;). Pie looks great but I am guessing I won't get to any leftovers this time. Love ya!

Julie Zickefoose said...

I have to confess I have never rolled a crust for a real pie. My mother-in-law makes the most insanely delicious pies with a heavenly thick crust (I think it's half butter, half Crisco, if you can imagine) such that it seems futile to even try. And my mother made lard crusts that fell into flakes on the fork, and invented her own recipes (egg nog, chocolate silk...) Color me intimidated. I am the Cobbler Queen, however, with many add-ons and inclusions (coconut, almonds, sunflower seeds, that kind of thing).

Your shark looks like a thresher. I note with satisfaction the doughy gill arches.

Kudos on the man-pie. Rarely done.

I would have sampled it right where it cracked, that's what I would have done. Tuff nuts if there's a little missing.

Anonymous said...

That's a beautiful pie, and the shark on top is a perfect touch. Love it! Your creativity never ceases to amaze and inspire me.