This Saturday, prior to my first Austin Food Blogger Alliance event, I posted this on my Facebook:

It’s true. I changed my outfit at least 4 times, painted my toenails, and ate unbaked pie crust out of anxious compulsion. The event was a pie potluck, and the only pies I’ve baked before were these baby apple pies. What if I ruin my pie? What if they HATE my pie? What if I drop the spirit stick?!?

I decided that my best bet was to let the ingredients speak for themselves. I biked to the store without a list, and picked out the freshest fruits I could find: strawberries and peaches.

marry me, pie

My gurl Martha Stewart helped me out with the crust, which I decided to make half-wheat and half-white flour. After I made the dough in the food processor and had stuck it in the fridge, I made the filling, which was:

3 c. sliced peaches
3 c. sliced strawberries
1/4 c. basil, packed, chiffonaded
1/3 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar (this was plenty sweet for me — I’d cut back to 1/2 c. next time)
juice of half a lemon
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cardamom
1/4 tsp. salt

Into the pre-heated 375° oven for 40-50 minutes. I topped mine with little star cut-outs, though I was tempted to use my dinosaur cookie-cutters.

i was too busy cramming my face with pie to take a picture of my own... but luckily Sarah got one :)

Anyway, the AFBA event was so, so fun. It was great to meet the faces behind the blogs that I’ve come to love; I got to say, “Hey! I really love your blog!” to a lot of people (and in one case, “Hey! I know you! You licked the plate!“) I also made a few new friends and walked away with a bag of Beanitos to balance out the afternoon-long sugar coma I fell into. I’m really excited for future AFBA events, especially if they involve pie concoctions that contain bleu cheese, figs, and dark chocolate. I may or may not have taken a slice to-go, and then eaten it with my fingers on the drive home.

The AFBA Pie-luck also featured a pie competition that Michael Chu won with his pecan pie. The pecan pie will be featured at a special showing of Waitress at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar on August 21, and proceeds will benefit SafePlace, a domestic violence prevention center in Austin. SafePlace does incredible work, and I encourage you to come see a great movie and eat pie.

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