First Pie of the Season

A bit over a week ago, The Dulcinea and I went over to Old Man Standiford's place and we did some harvesting. Dan's garden is looking fairly well though it needs some weeding done and, being the swell guy that I am, I volunteered to help. His horseradish plant is coming along nicely and the leaves are very aromatic. They smell like the root but much sweeter. While his tomatoes and peppers are still young, the rhubarb was ready to be snipped. Each of us took away a country ton and I made my first rhubarb pie of the season over this past weekend.

Now, I'm not a great baker. It is something I really need to practice. Still, when I do it, I try to do it right. So I gathered my ingredients together.



For some reason, The Dulcinea thinks I'm this master crustmaker but I'll admit it here and now – I ain't. My crusts aren't pretty but they taste pretty good and this is probably because I make them like my grandmother and great-grandmother – with this:



Yes, that's yummy lard. None of that trans fat-laden shortening – it's all natural, baby! Besides, lard adds a flavor that Crisco cannot touch. And, as I said above, that's how it's been done in my family for generations.

Some of you may recall how The Dulcinea asked about taking photos of food at the last MadInteractive. Well, as you can see, I love to do it. I just wish I were more skilled with the camera and knew how to unleash the potential of GIMP. (Yes, I've gone all freeware.)

So here's what it looked like before I put it in the oven:



Like I said, I have no idea why The Dulcinea thinks I'm a pie crust god when I can't even cut a straight line with a pizza cutter. Now here it is out of the oven:



It may not be all symmetrical like the Parthenon, but it tastes fantastic. Since there are fresh strawberries waiting to be picked in our garden, it's a strawberry rhubarb pie next.