I’m not sure how many of you know what blind baking is. It’s when you fill a pie shell with foil and dry beans (or some kind of weights) and pre-bake the crust. It’s important for the crust to be weighed down so that it doesn’t puff up in the middle. I’ve used this technique a few times and now have my own container in the pantry marked “pie beans.” I’ve read of one baker who has been using the same dry beans for the last seven or eight years.

But that’s not what today’s post is about.

I had an appointment with the eye doctor today. It was actually scheduled for mid-November, but they had a cancellation, so I decided to go ahead and knock it off my to-do list. I had been for a walk, so they had to take me in my skanky workout clothes. Oh well, maybe everyone in there doesn’t have perfect vision…

After my appointment (by the way, my eyes are in great shape–haven’t changed a bit since my last appointment in 2005–maybe I’m not that old), they gave me those snazzy black shades, since my eyes were dilated. It was a good thing, too, because I already felt dizzy and weird, and it is a gorgeous, sunny day here. I made it home and had lunch with my husband. I knew I wanted to bake a pie today, and I couldn’t wait too long. We’ve got my son’s school carnival at 5:00, and my daughter has art class at 4:30. I knew I should get on with it–only one problem. Blind as a bat.

OK, well maybe not a bat. But if you’ve ever had your eyes dilated, you know that there is NO recipe reading going on for at least an hour or so. And even then, it’s kinda blurry. So I decided to just do without the recipe. Gulp.

I asked myself some daily pie questions:

1. What ingredients do I have/need?

2. Who is the pie for? Who needs a little pie-joy today?

3. Which pie plate–throw away or glass?

4. What makes baking this pie different from all the other pies?

5. Will I get to taste it?

Here are the answers to today’s questions:

1. I have some more blueberries (frozen ones work great in pies) and 3 large apples–I think they’re Fuji apples, but alas, I could not read the tiny sticker.

2. This pie is for Ann (maybe she’ll share with her hubby). She’s a blog-follower, a theatre enthusiast (and great director, by the way), and she just got a new job–cause for pie-joy celebration, for sure!

3. I’m sending Ann a glass plate because it works a little better for fruit pies. She only lives a couple of miles away, so I can get it back eventually.

4. What makes this pie different from all of the pies so far is that I was all blurry-eyed while baking it, and I did not consult a recipe. Thankfully, I suffered no injury. I did have to keep closing my eyes because they had that floating-around-in-your-skull feeling. I sort of remembered from my fruit pie chart that I needed around 3 TBSP of flour and about a cup of sugar, so I hope that worked. Before I began baking pies, I rarely opened a cookbook. I just wasn’t that sort of person–or so I thought. Anyway, thus was born the Appleberry Delight.

5. Not sure if I’ll get to taste it, but that’s ok. In the last 24 hours, I confess that I have had no less than THREE pieces of that pineapple coconut pie–with whipped cream, of course. So no need to share, Ann. Just let me know how it turns out. You might wanna pick up some vanilla ice cream on the way home from work. Just sayin’.

I made my second attempt at a lattice top. Those blueberries went wacky trying to get out of that shell, and could someone please tell me how to crimp one of these things? I’m gonna look that up.

Obviously, since the blog’s all done for today, my eyeballs have made a comeback. I’m thankful for that and thankful for this place:

It’s where the most special people in my life eat their pies–morning and evening. I’m 20 days into the pie-making, and I’ve made 26 pies counting today’s pies. I’m having so much fun sharing pies with others, but there’s nothing like sharing them with my family! So far, sooooooooo good.