I needed a break from pie. Isn’t that awful? Who says that?
Every year for Father’s Day I make my dad a fruit pie. This year, I couldn’t get motivated to do it. I didn’t feel driven or inspired by any of my usual fruit pie variations. And actually, I hadn’t felt really inspired to bake much since we moved into our new house.
Did I mention that we bought a new house?
We’ve spent the last year unpacking, discussing color options, designing our gardens and sitting by our woodstove. A friend wisely said we would be nesting for a while, but didn’t expect settling into our new space to pull energy away from our other interests too. I guess it did.
Meanwhile, this all started to worry me. Was I giving up on baking? Who am I? What am I interested in now? What do I do next? Should I get rid of my cookbook collection? Is it my interests that define me or something more complicated? The internal angst was intense and I was having crazy thoughts! Get rid of my cookbook collection? What?
Never fear dear reader, I got my groove back. I was buying fresh local strawberries planning on slogging through a double crust strawberry something-something and then all of a sudden I had my plan. My plan! Inspiration was back! I had had a mini tart a week or so ago at another bakery. It had a cookie crust, vanilla pastry cream and away strawberries doused in powdered sugar. I wanted to make a version of that tart but make it better. And incorporate some of my dad’s favorite flavors.
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