About a month ago I went down to Delaware with some friends for the weekend and we visited a local farmers market. It was nothing like the Union Square market we have in NYC. Lewes Delaware is a small town and the market was very small but there were a few good stalls. One that caught my eye was selling pies. I figured that in a small town there would be some good pies made by some lady in some farm house close by. I bought a blueberry peach pie with a lattice top. It looked so good I felt myself drooling. We saved it for dessert after dinner that night. I thought about it all day.Finally after dinner we dig into the pie. At first I noticed that the filling was a bit glue like. It seemed to be held together by some clear gel (I won't mention any brands but you get the idea). So unnatural that my anticipation and hope for good pie was gone. The crust was not buttery and flaky. The filling... well that I don't have any explanation for, nor do I ever want to think of that gel like substance again.
So once again I'm back to if you want something made well make it yourself! Everyone apparently is out to cut corners and make a buck, or maybe they just don't know any better.
I finally had some time to make my pie.
Flaky Pie Crust (9 in base and lattice top)
2.5 cups AP flour
1tsp salt
1Tbsp sugar
2 sticks butter, very cold
1/2 cup cold water
Place AP, salt, sugar in food processor and pulse a few times. Add cubed cold butter and pulse till butter is size of small peas. Add water while pulsing the flour butter mixture until you get a crumbly mixture. Turn out and press dough into two discs, one slightly larger than the other. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate till firm.
While dough is chilling make the filling.
Peach Berry Pie Filling
3 Peaches, Sliced cut into large chunks
2 cups Mixed berries (blueberry, raspberry, black berry)
2 Tbsp Minute Tapioca
1/3 cup sugar
Mix Tapioca with sugar then toss fruit with it.
Roll out dough on plastic wrap. Flip dough into plate.
Fill with peach
filling. Refrigerate
Roll out smaller piece of dough and
cut into strips.
Interweave strips to form lattice. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle
with cinnamon sugar.
Bake at 350F until crust is golden and filling is bubbling.
You will be tempted to eat it right away but allow to completely cool before slicing.
Doesn't that just make you want pie? You should smell it coming out of the oven...
When life gives you bland watermelons make a salad. Salt really enhances the flavor of watermelon. 
Grilled Beer Marinaded Pork Tenderloin, Caramelized Fuji Apples, Grilled Cauliflower
I've never liked grape juice from a bottle nor will I ever buy it. The cute little precocious girl in those commercials isn't that convincing. 
Pink lemonade doesn't have to come from some bottle filled with artificial flavorings and colors. Make your own with some lemons, raspberries (frozen) and sugar (splenda for the calorie conscious). 
"family meals" in the industry usually means using scraps to make a meal for the staff of the evening. I've worked at some nice places where they actually buy ingredients just to make the meals but that was a luxury. At Per Se the staff meals actually utilized mostly trimmings, which was awesome because they only use the best meats and produce. I think we ate Kobe/Wagyu beef burritos once a week. (I gained a lot of weight working there because we ate so well). 
Smoothies are so good on a hot summer day, but paying $6 for one isn't. I like to keep some frozen fruit around just for these days. 
