2007 Pie Contest – A Pie Report

By Pat Fleet

AFL Dave's Mom's Virtual Thanksgiving Pie Virtual-Thanksgiving-Pie-Guessing Grand Champion 2007

Today is Pi Day (3-14), and if that isn't an appropriate time to post my Pie Report, I don’t know when is. But it’s complicated.

Details of the entire 2007 Pie Contest are found on Helen's site, including pages and pages of her Pie Machine Report, complete with audio and video clips. It's all very entertaining stuff.

Bottom line is, after years of winning by simply watching my TV pal Dave and his mom at Thanksgiving, and pie-guessing and playing along online in alt.fan.letterman, this time I actually won the whole darn thing! To recap my initial excitement, here is my first post after my name was announced:

I'm still basking in the glow of winning this fantastic contest! Just had time to finally listen to the audio & see the video - excellent. :)

When James & Traci said they tried to explain this virtual pie contest to their Thanksgiving guests (T: "They looked at me like I had a second head."), I could totally relate. I've tried to explain this to family and friends in past years. Thursday after our Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house, I started to tell the kitchen clean-up crew about going home to this virtual contest, and then thought better of it - kept it to myself. When we got home, ol' George took off his too-tight pants, and promptly crawled under the covers in bed. Over-eating and over-wine drinking put him to dreamland right away. I hopped on the iMac, and excitedly played the game!

Yay! I won! I won! Savoring the moment, I waited 'til morning to celebrate with others.

We awoke, and I logged on to confirm I hadn't dreamed it all, and then told George the big news. He's not always happy that I spend so much time watching Dave and then reading and writing about Dave on the computer with afl 'strangers,' but he was sincerely impressed and happy for me.

Then the conversation went something like this:

George: "So, what was the winning pie?"

Pat: "Well, there were actually three pies. But it was really, really close and went to a tie-breaker."

G: "Oh. What were the three winning pies, then?"

P: "Tollhouse, Rhubarb Streusel, and Schadenfreude."

G: "You guessed *those*?"

P: "No, I guessed Strawberry Rhubarb, Lemon Meringue and Banana Cream...but I got partial credit for rhubarb...and then the pie machine chose 37 more with some misfires...and the song 'Old Turkey Buzzard.' It's a big mathematical program that Helen created. She's a math genius in Vermont. She and James in California and Traci in New York all figure this out on a coast-to-coast conference call."

G: <puzzled stare>

P: "And there's a fabulous prize for winning!"

G: "What's that?"

P: "Traci bakes whatever kind of yummy homemade pie I want and sends it to us FedEx!"

G: <another puzzled stare> "You're kidding, right?"

P: "No. I'm serious! And there's a long line of pie-winners...and I can use the coolest ever sig on all my email and posts...and I have to take some pictures...and write a report...but I can't take too long to write it or everyone will get mad...and we have to get our kitchen remodeled like Dr. Rod and Kate!"

G: <silence>

P: "The whole thing is great! Of course you know the Late Show writers are on strike...and it is such a disappointment not to have the tradition of pie-guessing Dave's Mom's pies on Thanksgiving...so the creative heads in AFL came up with this alternate fun...and pumpkin and cherry weren't even in the mix because we wanted to honor the strikers. So, while we were having turkey dinner tonight, Dave was in re-runs and showed his mom in the kitchen with her pies and his guesses from last year...but that couldn't count for us *this* year because, well...Donz has his fabulous database and then of course there's a simple search anyone could do in alt.fan.letterman's archive...or even a search in MikeMack's 'Wahoo Gazette' archive to see what the winning pies were before...and that would be cheating! So, there were 44 people who guessed online and they're all so funny...and...and...and..."

G: "Pat. Stop. It's like this: I asked you what time it was, and you're telling me how to build the damn clock!"

P: <grin>

So, anyway, I propose we continue this virtual contest since the program is now already in place. (Geez, Helen - it's amazing!) Then we can have this fun again in addition to the vast TV viewing audience guesses when we get back to seeing Dave's Mom in her own kitchen. Just a thought to the committee. :)

Note: This in NOT my complete pie report. When I select the kind of pie I'd like (I'm thinking cherry...), and receive and EAT it, *then* I'll write a little report.

 

This all happened in late November. Forget cherry pie. I was craving chocolate and booze. Amid harried days of holiday shopping and parties, etc., pie goddess Traci was kind enough to create and test recipes to meet my desire. She wrote:

Ok, so I made a basic chocolate French silk pie recipe and tried a few different flavorings: almond extract, creme de menthe, Baileys, hazelnut liqueur

The overwhelming choice among my neighbors in the building and the folks in my regular bar down the street was the Baileys. Creme de menthe came in second, but with only one vote out of ten. The other nine were totally into the Baileys.

Wouldn't you love to be Traci's neighbor? Those lucky taste testers! Baileys it was. George & I were planning a trip for Christmas with family in Indiana. I asked if Traci could whip this up and ship it there. That way I could share the story, the glory, and the yummy calories with my loved ones.

That’s exactly what happened. She shared the recipe, too! It’s at the end of this report. Enjoy!

The pie was delivered to my mother-in-law, with whom we stay during all holiday visits. I told her briefly that I was expecting a package, and when it came to please promptly put it in the fridge until we arrived. When we got to her place this is what we saw:

picture

Seriously, I couldn’t open it fast enough! And, voila!

picture

picture

Eventually, some tasty whipped cream was added on top. Strong, hot coffee accompanied. Lips smacked. Surprisingly, the pie lasted long enough to go to a several gatherings, and almost everybody in the extended family got the whole pie-prize-winning saga, and a pie sliver to enjoy for themselves.

My most favorite memory of sharing the pie is with my mom. She, who lives in Indiana, is also named Dorothy, and is also an excellent cook. She, who recently turned 90, stood in line at a local bookstore several years ago to ask Dave's mother Dorothy to inscribe her cookbook as a gift to me. My mom has a great sense of humor and loved that I "played the pie game." Upon tasting her slice, she enthusiastically said, "Hey. I’m glad you won! This pie is GOOD!" :)

picture

picture

And here, from what I could piece together from past reports, is the lineage of all afl Pie Winners, and the pies they were awarded. Congratulations, all. I’m humbled and thrilled to be on the list!

1999 eyeonletterman (Lives outside the US – could not ship pie)
2000 kmy365 Linda (Indiana), Apple
2001 Tom Cronin (Oregon), Blackberry
2002 Keith Rose (Ohio), Raspberry
2003 David (Kansas), Cherry
2004 Libby (Kansas), Pecan
2005 Alan Page (California), Pecan
2006 Katycren (Georgia), Dairy-free Apple
2007 Pat Fleet (Minnesota), French Silk Chocolate w/Baileys

alt.fan.letterman is a wild and wacky group of online people who freely come and go. All are friends of Dave, and all are welcome to share thoughts and experiences. I'm happy to be associated with you. Well, *almost* all of you. ;) Maybe next year it'll be your lucky turn to win the pie contest! <smooch!>

From: Traci Gilland, Pie Goddess
Pie created and awarded to Pat Fleet,
AFL Dave's Mom's Virtual Thanksgiving Pie Virtual-Thanksgiving-Pie-Guessing Grand Champion 2007

French Silk Chocolate Pie with Baileys

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cup white sugar
4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup Baileys (more or less to taste)
4 eggs
1 prepared 9 inch pastry shell, baked and cooled

DIRECTIONS

1. Cream butter in a mixing bowl. Gradually beat in the sugar with an electric mixer until light colored and well blended. Stir in the thoroughly cooled chocolate, vanilla and almond extract. Add Baileys, mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating 5 minutes on medium speed after each addition. Spoon the chocolate filling into a cooled, baked pie shell.

2. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

PIE CRUST

1/2 cup Crisco
1-1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons water

Mix flour and salt. Cut Crisco into flour mixture until a course dough forms, Sprinkle water, a tablespoon at a time, fluffing with a fork between. Dough should start to ball up. Form into a ball and turn out on floured surface. Roll to desired thickness and form to pie plate. If baking empty shell, prick several times with fork. Bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes until barely golden. Cool and fill.