Papa Chamness & Peach Pie

Thursday I drove down to Carlsbad to see my dad. I planned to spend the night to space out the drive, so we also planned to cook dinner at his house. My dad grilled White Sea Bass my brother had caught, whipped up a batch of his famous garlic mashed potatoes, and a nice side salad. Nick and Andrea joined us for dinner as well.

After weeks of the juiciest, sweetest peaches from the farmer's market I was dying to bake something with them. After lots of browsing through my recipes and cookbooks, I decided on a pie from my Aunt Carol. She lives Beaverton, Oregon, so I don't see her often, but I was thinking about her while I was making it. Peach, Nectarine, Apricot & raspberry...what a combo, the raspberries were such a wonderful contrast to the rest of the fruit. Wow! We were too impatient and didn't let the pie set enough, so our plates were a runny gooey mess of filling, crust, and melty french vanilla ice cream. Messy but perfect. Thanks Aunt Carol! ♥

{Fresh Peach, Nectarine, Apricot & Raspberry Pie}

Pastry for 9"-2 crust pie

6 cups total of sliced & peeled fresh peaches, sliced & peeled nectarines, unpeeled & sliced apricots, and large handful of raspberries

2 tsp lemon juice

1 cup sugar

1/4 c flour

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1-2 Tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line 9" pie pan with pastry. Mix fruit and lemon juice. In separate bowl, mix sugar, flour and cinnamon; stir into fruit mixture. Turn into pastry- lined pan; dot with butter. Cover with top pastry, seal and flute. Cut slits in top. Cover edge with 2"-3" strip of foil. Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking. Bake until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust - 40-55 minutes. Serve Warm with vanilla bean ice cream.

P.S. It has taken me a long time to get the hang of the "go with the flow" mentality while baking/cooking when those little bumps happen. Well, still working on it. I forgot to dot the top with butter, and did not realize until after the top crust was on and crimped shut. So I had to cut it open, and improvise. I even burned my arm pretty bad while putting the pie in the oven. But I was surprised with how well I did, I normally get stressed about something like that ruining the whole dish. The sliced-open pie resulted in major filling spillage, and now I have a scar on my arm. But no biggie...the was 100% worth it! P.S.S. That is how much I love food...a good pie is totally worth a little scar tissue.

Friday I was able to meet up with my friend Georgia for lunch. Georgia and I worked together for a few years while I was in high school, and we quickly became great friends. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding, she visited me a few times in San Francisco, but I don't see her is often as I would like to. Our favorite lunch spot when we worked together was a place in Carlsbad called Prontos' Gourmet Market. The best peach iced tea, baked goods, and mushroom pesto linguine. Today I tried something new - the Cleopatra sandwich, and we split a brownie. Oh and the iced tea of course. Did NOT disappoint, everything was amazing, especially enjoying it with Georgia!