The blueberry pie is so. good. Mike tried the first piece last night after I went to bed, and he wanted to wake me up to tell me how excitingly delicious it is. (I'm glad it's so good. The rest of dinner was kind of eh, and the pie redeemed the evening.)

The Biggest Loser is on TV. They're showing outtakes of Bob the trainer sneaking doughnuts and whatnot when he thinks the cameras aren't rolling.

I'm eating pie for breakfast.

I feel better about the wedding than I did a few days ago. I was just having a bad day.

GF Blueberry Pie.

I have a blueberry pie in the oven, made with Gluten-Free Pantry's Perfect Pie Crust Mix.

I don't believe it is "perfect"; maybe "good enough" is more accurate. Right now the top is falling apart around the blueberries, looking more like a weird, thin cobbler topping.

Also, it calls for butter-flavored shortening. I had never even heard of that before today. And I didn't have enough butter, so I used the dairy-free modification, which means using double the amount of shortening. (Also, you can make it vegan if you use an egg replacer.) I wonder if I should have used regular shortening in place of the butter, instead of twice the amound of butter-flavored shortening? I'm thinking next time I'll make sure I have plenty of regular butter and shortening on hand.

The pie crust is yellow. They add yellow coloring to the shortening to make it look more buttery-licious. And I nibbled on a little bit of it of the raw dough. You know that fake movie-theater popcorn butter flavor? Butter-flavored shortening kinda tastes like that.

The dough handles well. I chilled the shortening and my rolling pin and used cold water. I left the dough in the fridge until the absolute last minute. It tears a little bit, but in a way expected from GF pie crust dough. It will take a little more practice before I can do an attractive top, like a lattice or cut-outs. For the time being, tasty but unattractive will have to do.

As it's been baking, it's starting to smell more like blueberries and less like fake butter. I think that's a good sign.

The finished product:



The baked crust is less yellow than the raw dough, so that's good. It seems pretty delicate, though. Maybe it will harden a bit as it cools. As for the taste, I don't know yet. I'm saving it for dessert tonight. The taste is in the hands of the blueberries now.

Grendel says it's about time we bought him his own couch

We bought a chaise lounge over the weekend. We now have a bona fide seating area in our living room. And Grendel loves it. He's hardly even glanced at his favorite chair since we brought the chaise home.

Also over the long weekend...

We did quite a bit of housecleaning.

I sewed many linen napkins.

I also sewed 2 quick skirts.

We saw The Lives Of Others. I really liked it. Mike thought it was okay.

make a little birdhouse in your soul

After coffee, shower, and breakfast I feel a little better.

Now excuse me while I go fold 50 linen napkins.

I feel grouchy

I don't think it's the heat, because it's warm but not unbearably so. I suspect it's wedding planning, and that makes me even grouchier because I'm not supposed to be a bridezilla. I'm supposed to be calm. But we're a month out and it feels like we have a lot to do.

And people are not RSVPing. A note to anyone who gets invited to a wedding or other large event: Even if you're not attending, you still have to RSVP! That's just common courtesy. This isn't a frat party that you can decide on at the last minute. This is a wedding. There are caterers and cake-bakers (not to mention a napkin-folder and a favor-maker) who need to know the headcount ASAP.

Sorry for that outburst.

Maybe I need more coffee. Or less.

Piece #2 Done

Here is the black linen top. Simplicity 3887, View C. I know it's hard to see any detail in my poor photo. (Click on the garment photo to enlarge it.) I think the linen I used was not quite as soft and lightweight as is needed for this kind of top. But luckily, since it's black and puffy a lot of imperfections are disguised. When I make this up in the soft cotton eyelet, it should look like an entirely different shirt.

Yesterday when I finished this and put it on I didn't take any pictures because I was disappointed with how it looked. This morning I tried it on again and I loved it. I think the difference must have been the shorts I was wearing. Yesterday, Bermuda-length shorts made this top look sort of dowdy. This morning, short shorts made it look fabulous.

No pics right now, but a quick update. I finished my black linen top yesterday. I also cut out and started sewing the easiest shorts ever and the easiest skirt ever. The shorts pattern I wanted to use for my crinkle cotton just wasn't going to work, so while I was notions shopping yesterday I picked up a cheap skirt & shorts pattern. We're talking 2 pattern pieces, a drawstring, and a yard of fabric.

The skirt is a deviation from my list, but after seeing how easy the shorts were, I decided to grab a print from my stash that I happen to be saving for an easy skirt. Drawstrings = my new favorite way to make shorts and skirts stay on. So much easier and quicker than zippers and I think they look nicer than elastic waist. Fine for schlepping around the house in summer. No need to get too fancy. But I want to look somewhat presentable when the mail carrier stops by or if I have to pop into the apartment manager's office.