You Have to Love Pie

Well,

I've officially started breaking in the new apartment with baked goods...because a place I live in is not home until baking has taken place. I plan to do more of it in the next few days, if it gets less humid, and would like to use some of the equipment I haven't broken in yet...like the madeleine pan!!! But last weekend I made the first pie I've made in a very long time...quite a pricey pie also, since I used 2 pints of black rasberries from the farmer's market at $5 a pop, though the blueberries were much more reasonable...So yah, blackrasblueberry pie. And I have to say, I was worried...because it has been such a long time since I've made pie...and have never used black rasberries, which were somewhat sweet but also somewhat tart, and very ripe and tender...which poses all kinds of challenges in terms of estimating how much sugar and tapioca/cornstarch to use to sweeten and thicken it...but it turned out very very very well...initially a little tart, but with sweetness too, and it was lipsmacking tart, and to be honest, my mama raised me to appreciate a slightly tart pie...And whip cream balanced it out nicely...all in all, it was pretty freaking good...and the friends I shared it with thought so too...Behold:

Indeed, the pie was so worthy of celebration that I danced around my apartment singing the song I made up the last time I made an awesome pie...basically, a song about how "You Have to Love Pie" to the tune of "It Had to Be You." And the answer is yes. I'm a total spaz. Or just my father's daughter. Because my father makes up stupid songs to the tune of other songs constantly, and apparently I'm meant to carry on this venerable tradition. "You have to love Piiie...You just have to love piiiie...I can't think of whyyy, you'd try to denyyy, the bliss that is piiiie....and so on... Again, I know: I am a total spaz. But endearingly so...
Other than that, just trying to prep for my bigtime academic job which starts in a little over a month...I'm reading lots of stuff and writing syllabi, and after the syllabi are written I hope to do some writing of my own...of the scholarly academic variety... But pie. Pie is always awesome. More baking endeavors to be reported later, rest assured...

Reunification, and The Finally Changing Times

Dear Readers,

It's been a while...but this blog marks many of the much-anticipated life changes that previous blogs detail...I've moved into my beautiful, humongous, grownup apartment, have finished my time at my now former job (you remember, the one that paid me?), and am now starting to prep for the future job that will pay me way more...that will offer me...dare I say it? A grownup salary to go with (and finance) my grownup apartment. Woo-FREAKING-hoo...

By the way, here are photos of the apartment...indeed, I sense this will be an extremely photo-heavy blog:

So yah...it's a lot of space for one person and 2 cats...but that is part of its glory as well...and I think I'm entitled to some glory now...

Anyway, I also had more of a chance for some hindsight, perspective, as well as nostalgia when I attended my 10-year college reunion last month. I have to say I was gleefully surprised at how much fun it was, and I have to thank my friend Phil, who has been featured in one or two blogs past, for convincing me to go, and to remember the good times with my fellow Brandeisians....I was also especially gleeful that my friend Will showed up--and that he is still one of the coolest, nicest people I've ever met...and what made it even cooler was that he seemed as excited to see me. Warner Macklin III also made an appearance...well, he kind of had to, since he had helped organize the reunion--one of the most charismatic and well-known people in our class...one of those people who all you have to do is mention thier first name (not that Warner is that typical a name) and everyone, EVERYONE knows who you are talking about and can pantomime that person's body language, or imitate their facial expression, tone of voice, etc...So that was great. And we did lots of Brandeisian and other college-student things: IHOP, the school dance, and in Phil and my case, a walk around campus at around 2 a.m. And people were so nice...and genuinely interested in what everyone was up to...and people had done so many cool things...Will and his wife Sarah had lived in Alaska for like 8 months...Warner had started a consulting firm and then sold it for an undisclosed amount of money (which I take as $$$$) and Bill Folman has just published his first novel, The Scandal Plan, a political satire about a candidate who pretends to have had an extramarital affair to humanize his image....and which is reportedly quite good and receiving good reviews, and which I feel like I should read now...and Phil of course, is singing and songwriting and working on growing his record label, and Susan is finishing her Master's in Library Science and is currently a book buyer in children's literature (which is so freaking cool) and has an award-winning blog on the subject, and Becky is a zookeeper, and Jen is a Spanish teacher and is learning Portugese, and all kinds of other cool information...it was awesome.

So here's some photos of that:

So that was special...and I also got some downtime in NH on the beach:

And the past couple days have been great also...I had too much sangria at Lorna's 4th party, and we all know how I love too much sangria...because I don't mean a dangerous too much so much as a "I got very silly and effusive and goofy,"which eventually wore off and I drove home completely sober. I'm a happy happy drunk. And a responsible drunk, when you come right down to it. And yesterday, I went to another cookout type of thing and had a positively ripping waterfight. Bet you never thought you'd see those words in combination: "postively ripping waterfight." And today, I am going to have my first informal kickboxing lesson. Awesome.