Day before vacation spam

[eee1313]

Fantastic Mr. Fox opens today! WOOOOOOO! I am so excited to see this movie, you don't even know. This was the first Roald Dahl book I ever read. More accurately, this was the first book of Dahl's that my mom ever read to me. (On long car trips, Mom would read Dahl's books aloud to yakgirl and me, quite possibly because they were the only kids' books weird enough for my dad to tolerate while he drove.) I actually went out and bought the book recently so that I could re-read it before seeing the movie.

This book essentially started me on a lifelong love affair with Roald Dahl's books, and the idea of seeing this on the big screen -- in stop motion, no less -- makes me gleeful. I going to try to convince my mom to drive down to Kalamazoo this weekend to see it with me. So far the reviews are pretty good. The word "charming" has been thrown around a lot. And who doesn't like that?

***

In not so fantastic news, my pies did not work out as planned last night. :( I don't have a mat for rolling out pie dough, which needs to be rectified. I couldn't tell how big I was rolling out the crust, and when I tried to roll it out on parchment paper it just slid all over the counter, despite being taped and weighted down. By the time I got the first crust in the pie pan, the second batch of dough was all dry and crumbly. These two pies are quite likely the ugliest pies I've ever made. But hey, I made pie from scratch. That's more than a lot of people bother to do, right? Right. Next time I'll have the rolling mat, and things will be better.

***

Is it 5:00 yet?

Comments

[spicedrum.livejournal.com]

A tip I picked up in someone's facebook comments: Add a tiny bit of vodka to pie dough that's dry, so you can maneuver it. It will cook out of the crust and leave it dry and flaky.

[eee1313.livejournal.com]

Dude, I never would have thought of that. That's brilliant.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Imo, the only thing that matters about a pie is how it tastes, and I'm sure yours will taste delicious. Mmmmm.

[eee1313.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping!

[disbelief11.livejournal.com]

I'm sure your pies will taste delicious! Mmm, Eee's pie.

I learned to make pie crust at The Chopping Block. It's a fairly easy recipe - the most difficult part about it is that it needs to be refrigerated after you make it and before you roll it out. Would you like the recipe? I can include the tips they gave us in class.

I tend to roll out my crusts on a floured cutting board. My board has grippy feet so it doesn't move around so much.

[ottomatic02.livejournal.com]

The Cook's Illustrated recipe for No-Fail Flaky Pie Dough, September 2005, is awesome. I no longer curse at pie crusts. It includes a recommendation that you roll out your pie crusts between sheets of parchment paper, which I've found incredibly helpful. (We're starting pie #3 in a few minutes, and I haven't used a bad word or had to patch yet.)