Pumpkin Pie Bo(h)nanza!

I made pies for Thanksiving again this year. This is weird for a couple of reasons.

First of all, I rarely make pie. I bake a lot of things and I bake them well...cakes, cookies, etc....but never pie. In fact, I think Thanksgiving is about the only time I *ever* make pie.

Second of all, as a rule, I don't generally like pumpkin pie. I mean, as a conduit for copious amounts of whipped cream, sure...it's fine. But as far as actually enjoying it...nah.

But for some reason, three years ago, I decided to make pumpkin pie to take to Thanksgiving. I found a Williams Sonoma recipe and I made pie. And it was actually good. Even the crust. That was good too. Weird.

This year, I got fancy with the pie making and included the little leaf decorations on the edge of the crust and as a centerpiece. I didn't think I could make the leaves look particularly leafy (I generally lack that inner-Martha ability). But then there was a moment when I thought I might explode because...well...look! They actually look like leaves. They do!

There's a much more interesting picture of the leafy pie goodness over at TOWWAS's blog. Her family graciously took me in for a second year (and let me foist one of my pies upon them). Afterwards, we drank tea and they, as a family, solidly kicked my kiester in a game of Bohnanza: a card game about bean farming with an incredibly elaborate set of rules that I never really managed to remember in their entirety. Needless to say, I lost spectacularly...but had an excellent time doing it.

I think that's what it's all about anyway.

Well, that and pie.