Today was a two-pie Wednesday. I made my third Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Pie for my friend, Julia. We worked together at preschool, and she’s my carpool buddy. Our daughters are one grade apart. Together we have handled the drop offs, pick ups, schedule changes, science projects, and extra rehearsals…all with a healthy side of middle school drama. She’s made my days easier as a mom, and she’s just a really nice person. When I dropped off her pie this afternoon, she said that she might hide it in the downstairs fridge, since no one else in her family was home. She deserves the whole thing if she wants it! Thanks for being such a good friend, Julia!Pie number two was a new one–Zapple Pie. It’s got raspberries and apples. I tried raspberries and pears together, so this time, I thought I’d see how the apples worked out. Something else I did differently was to cut the apples into smaller pieces. I’m hoping this will help all of the fruit cook more evenly. Not too much is in this pie; apples, raspberries, flour, sugar, and a bit of cinnamon. I used a store-bought crust for convenience, and I also used my handy crust cutters again–this time stars.

While I waited for the pie to bake, I watched a recording of my favorite cooking show, Barefoot Contessa. I’m just dying to go to that woman’s house and eat some of that beautiful food she makes. Also, I had a piece of yesterday’s Plum Pie with some ice cream. Pretty doggone good on the second day. I forgot to heat it up before I added vanilla ice cream, but it did not seem to hurt the taste one little bit. And that’s saying a lot from a person who does not usually enjoy a cold fruit pie.

So, the Zapple Pie got done baking. It smelled scrumptious, and I bet it will taste good, too. The stars on the crust weren’t perfect, and I’m not so sure what that crust is gonna do on the edges. Maybe the recipient will have some vanilla ice cream on hand…

Before I share who it might be for, I gotta see if it’s still this ugly in the morning. Sometimes, a good night’s sleep really improves a situation. Maybe some of that juice will kinda seep back into those stars. The good news is, if it’s not prettier in the morning, I get to taste it. Yum.

That’s the great thing about stuff that doesn’t turn out like we plan. There’s almost always an upside to the down. I can think of plenty of times when something seemed wrong–or at least not what I thought it should be. Most of the time, it just took a change of perspective to see how things would work out all right.

So in the morning, if the Zapple’s not so “zippety do dah,” my change of perspective will start with a fork. And then maybe an ice cream scoop.

48 pies baked and 8 days to go. Zippety do dah!