Last October, G and I attended the wedding of the daughter of BF’s … on farm land just outside of our beautiful little university community. What makes this interesting is that the bride (from Chicago) and groom (from LA) live in LA, so WHY a deep South small town wedding? The very short version … the bride spent a good bit of her childhood soaking up the “specialness” of the South and with both the B & G in creative fields … ta da!!! Anyway, it was a rehearsal “event” and wedding not to be missed…beautiful, unique and fun, fun, fun! Half of Chicago [loads & loads of cousins] and many from LA [hooray for Hollywood] made the journey and added a bit of “spice” to small town life … which brings me to the reception. Not only were we on the most beautiful acreage in the county, but memories of the brides’s southern childhood created a storybook event. 
Dinner was family-style with true southern fare … fried chicken, black-eyed peas, okra, and much more, served on a variety of vintage china patterns … gorgeous presentation.
But, of course, the best part was the PIE BAKING CONTEST … beautifully presented, great tastes and yours truly as a participant … my entries were APPLE RASPBERRY and PUMPKIN … and not that it was rigged … but magically, I won the “blue ribbon!” Very much fun and needless to say, my pies were the tastiest :-].
Tips for APPLE RASPBERRY PIE:
Crust: make with Vodka as 1/2 of the liquid and add up to 1/4 cup sugar & a tablespoon of cinnamon to the flour mixture.
Filling: thinly slice Granny Smith apples [peeled, of course], sprinkle the bottom of your pie crust with enough flour to lightly cover the raw crust, add 1/2 of the apples [which have been sugar & spiced], randomly place approximately 1/2 cup fresh raspberries on the apples, add the rest of the apples and another 1/2 cup +/- raspberries, dot with butter [real] cover with the top crust & bake and eat! Next blog, we’ll be in the PINK.
