Made two pies today. I brought both to my parents' house, so that I could get an array of reviews from my sisters and parents. The first is a strawberry-rhubarb with a crumble topping. The second is a chocolate silk pie.

The first got rave reviews, and was so easy to make. I used frozen fruit, though, both rubarb and strawberry, but drained it first. Next time, I'll try it with fresh, and see if it is even better, but I had no complaints or suggestions from the family, aside from perhaps changing the ratio of rhubarb to strawberry to include more rhubarb.

The chocolate silk pie wasn't worth the trouble it took to make it, in my opinion. I HATE DOUBLE BOILERS. It didn't set up as well as I wanted it to, and it was hot and a pain. It will be awhile before I attempt it again, I think.

Next up on my pie-making journey: conquering the pie crust. I still don't make my own. Whether I'm lazy or just really bad at it, we've yet to find out.

Mixed Berry Pie

So here's the thing. I've become obsessed with baking lately, and I've been stealing recipes from various blogs around the net, playing around with them, trying them out...but I haven't been taking any photos (although that's probably a good thing; my presentation skills leave something to be desired), nor have I recorded anything that I've actually done, what needs to be changed, and how I would do so in the future. Plus, I want a place where I can actual comment on other bloggers pages, not to mention a place to keep track of all the blogs I read, instead of going to Culinary Adventures' blog every time I want to browse around my favorite cooking/baking blogs. Thanks Randi, by the way, for getting me into this!

Yeah, so...here I go. I made a mixed berry pie last night from a recipe found on the Food Network webpage (blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries), and was somewhat pleased with it. I used a lattice crust instead of a full top crust, because it just looks so pretty with all the berries oozing through, but the filling turned out a bit too...watery, I suppose...for my taste. It may have just needed more standing time, or I may add some cornstarch next time to thicken it up a bit. No photo for this one...next time though, for sure.