cherry pie and twin peaks

Cherry pie is delicious. I’ve blogged about it previously so there’s no surprise that this was going to be my first pit (pie?) stop on my pie odyssey.

When I think of cherry pie, I think of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. I watched the TV show with my mum back when it first aired in the early 90s and considering my age at the time, I’m okay admitting that I didn't understand much. All I knew what I loved how much it freaked me out.

However, I wasn’t making the pie from Twin Peaks (mainly because at the time I didn’t realise that this recipe was available), I was making the pie from Mrs. Rowe’s Little Book of Southern Pies. I made a change to the base, using crushed chocolate-covered HobNob biscuits instead of pastry (they’re seriously the second-best biscuits in the world). So I made my pie, popped it into the oven and waited.

While the pie cooked, I let thoughts of ‘she’s dead, wrapped in plastic’ swarm through my mind. I’d actually had a run in with Lynch’s characters earlier in the year when I finally read The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. I'd wanted to read this book since I watched the show but felt it was too taboo for me to purchase at the same bookstore where all my BSC titles and Pen Pal titles had been bought. And, man, that book freaked me out all over again. Laura Palmer was into some fucked up shit!

I have to admit, though, that it wasn’t the book, the initial film, or the TV show that freaked me out the most. That honour is reserved for the film prequel Fire Walk with Me. I watched it by myself one day after school, so yes, it was daylight outside, but I still had to stop the film halfway through and take deep breaths before finishing it. There were way too many Bob-hiding-in-the-corner-of-the-bedroom scenes to make me sleep properly for weeks after.

Anyway, after about an hour, my pie was ready and it was pretty yum. Although I dare say it would have gone better with a cup of that Joe that Agent Cooper always went on about. (Or even David Lynch's own brew.)




Next stop, Maple Pecan Pie and the American breakfast.

american pie (or my obsession with american life and how it made me want to bake a pie a week)

From a young age, I (like most people) was intrigued by American pop culture. During primary school, this intrigue blew into full-scale Obsession. At one stage, I could name all 50 states and got into one of the biggest fights I’ve ever had with my parents when they wouldn’t let me buy, and proudly display, an American flag. Yeah, I know.

American tv and thoughts of one day getting to travel through those 50 states kept my Obsession healthy. In year 9, a close friend and I would spend hours mapping out the road trip we would one day take from the East to West coast. Those planning days are still fond memories for me.

But if I had to pick a starting point for my American Obsession, it was when I read my first Baby-Sitters Club book, Kristy’s Big Idea. Now, I know I’m not the first to walk down the nostalgic BSC path, many blogs have done so, so I’ll quickly move on to say that while BSC was an important part of my pre-teen years, I expanded my reading list to include any series that gave me the snap shot of American life that I so wanted to be my reality. Of course, as high school, boys, parties, BFFs and such entered my life, there was little room left for my Obsession…until now.

I’ve decided to channel my Obsession into one symbol that really sums up what that fantasy world offered. Comfort. Familiarity. Fun. Deliciousness. (Okay, not that last one). That symbol? The pie! And so begins my pie-a-week odyssey. Why not join me?