let them eat cake (and pie!)

I am a dessert fiend. I love the way desserts look, the way they smell, the way they taste. I like eating them and making them. If I weren't studying midwifery, maybe I'd become a pastry chef. Seriously, the thought has crossed my mind.

Many, many months ago. Maybe even before we were officially engaged my soon to be and I decided that were were going to have pie at our wedding. At the time, there was an amazing pie shop in town, run by a Chez Panisse alum. She made her pie using local, seasonal fruits, and a chalkboard in the shop provided contact info for the farmers, should you want to chat with them. She is my hero. And then, because she was too popular (seriously, the place was always packed), and her little kids were missing their mom, she closed the shop down.

So for months the backup plan was to order cake from a local bakery that has supplied the majority of the birthday cakes I've eaten in my life. Since wedding cakes from them are crazy expensive, the plan was to order a variety of their regular cakes.

But I had this nagging desire for pie. So one day I emailed the pie woman with my plea for pie (even just a few pies). And she emailed me back! Because she doesn't have a commercial kitchen, she's only able to make six pies. But any pie from her is worth its weight in gold, so we are doing three blackberry-peach pies and three apple-pear. I cannot wait!

To supplement that we are still ordering a few cakes from the bake shop I decided was going to make my wedding cake when I was about five years old. When we went to place the order today they even gave us free cake and coffee. Brilliant! I was not expecting free dessert with my piddly little cake order.

I'm really looking forward to next weekend.