No Leftover Pie

This year we spent Thanksgiving in different states. It worked out just fine because I had a huge paper to write for LIS 404, a.k.a. "Principles of Management", due on the 5th of December. Trevor was working on the Friday after the holiday at the Grand Summit Hotel at Mount Snow, VT. I volunteer/intern at 2 libraries on Tuesdays from 10 am to 7:30 pm. With our schedules and my deadline it made more sense for me to stay home for the holiday. Thanks to my cousin Phoebe who finagled me an invitation for Thanksgiving dinner in nearby Storrs, CT at my aunt and uncle's house.   I say "nearby" because at 1.5 hours it was far closer than my other options, which were East Burke, VT (3 hours), and Vienna, ME (5 hours).

I had a lovely, relaxing holiday with my cousins, their spouses, my aunt and uncle and their family friends. We had cocktails before dinner, jumbo shrimp (and I mean JUMBO), veggies and dip, and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner! YUM! I think Uncle Rossie makes the best gravy on the planet! Aunt Gretchen set a gorgeous table and my cousin Becca folded the crisp white napkins into some sort of bird. Everything was lovely. Dessert was fantastic too! There were 3 pies: apple, pumpkin and pecan. And homemade whipped cream to go on top. I was stuffed!

I really  enjoyed hanging out with cousin Becca in the evening chatting while we each worked on our knitting/crochet projects. 

I spent the night and had a delicious toasted bagel and a hot cuppa strong English tea in the morning before heading home.

Now here's the problem. When you spend Thanksgiving somewhere else, like I often do, you don't have any leftover pie at home. Unless you make a pie or someone sends you home with a slice or two. One thing I enjoy about Thanksgiving is leftover pie. Especially pecan pie. More specifically, my leftover pecan pie. So I came home and whined about it for a day. Then I went to the co-op in search of a slice of pie and came home with a slice of cake and a quart of ice cream. The cake was delicious but it wasn't pecan pie. And the ice cream was sweet and creamy and cold like ice cream is but it still wasn't pie. So I solved my problem on Saturday morning by making a pecan pie. My pecan pie is sweetened with honey and maple syrup. The crust is made with unsalted butter and whole wheat pastry flour. I make the pastry by hand, adding one tablespoon of ice water at a time until it's just the right consistency. The crust is tender and flaky. I chop the pecans so that when you slice the pie the slices are neat and not messy like they often are when you use whole pecans. That afternoon I had a slice of "leftover" pie with a cuppa Earl Gray. It was sooo good!