S. Worthen | Weblog

I arrived in London with a pyrex pie pan in my suitcase to a household with no rolling pin, inadequate numbers of mixing bowls, no suitable surface for rolling out the dough, and no pie recipe. The first three items were easily acquired on Oxford Street (although I would love to know where a good cooking supply store in London is); the lack of recipe was saved by the prompt aid of sioneva and flos_campi. Between them, I made one truly delicious pie with a really tasty crumble topping.

Of course, the real question at stake today was what constituted a pie: can it have a crumble or meringue topping? Is a tart a kind of pie or not? Must a pie have pastry on all sides to count? These conundrums inspired easterbunny and aca to host the first Annual (or perhaps Quarterly) Great LiveJournal Pie-Off today down in the wilds of Cheam.

And oh, was there pie. There was taco pie, steak and kidney pie, breakfast pie, cherry pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, mostly apple pie, a cake masquerading as a pie, mince pies... and quite a few others as well. Most attendees had baked a pie - or three - and there was plenty of pie for eating... and judging... and taking home in the plastic containers which the hosts had thoughtfully provided. I'm happy to report that of all the sweet pies, I liked mine the very best - even if it didn't win the "Best True Pie, Sweet" award. It did sweep the "Pie from Afar" category, however, and I have a pretty certificate to prove it.

We had a lovely time, met lots of new people (since we only knew our hosts), and admired pictures and pottery. easterbunny was particularly thoughtful: she washed and dried our towels in which we'd wrapped the pie for transport! It was a lovely, pie-filled day.

Update: Pie awards and photos are here.