All things PEACH, including a pie

This is my summer of peach pie perfection. I am getting close! But first, a paean to the humble peach.

A good peach is really hard to beat. For starters, I adore their coloration. Peaches show that pinky-coral, yellow, and green marry winningly. Peaches are in a state of perennial blush, as if they are always in love and happy about it. 

I admire anything that continues to ripen once picked. It gives you a bit of stress-free leeway really. I mean, as much as anyone loves peaches, there are only so many of anything once can eat in a day. And so it's nice to know that a row of peaches sunning on a sill will be able to make you happy for many days on end.

Although I don't like to eat peach skin, I do love the way unpeeled peaches feel, especially if you've just picked them and they're still warm from the sun. They are soft, fuzzy in a lovely teddy-bearish way, firm but yielding (if not you've picked too soon, friend). They are irregularly shaped orbs of promise.

Peaches are great as is but they are also fabulous tossed in with more savory ingredients (see this wonderful salad of mine: Tomato, Peach, Chevre, and Herb Salad with Apple Vinaigrette) and grilled, roasted, stewed, and baked into things like pies and muffins. Two of my favorite ways to enjoy them cooked are in this Arugula Salad with Roasted Peaches, Pistachios, and Mozzarella, and simply grilled and topped with my Mint-Pistachio Pesto. 

Tomato, Peach, Chevre, and Herb Salad with Apple Vinaigrette

Mint-Pistachio Pesto

Heck, now that I've gone down the wormhole, I'm remembering how much I love these Ginger Peach Muffins and also my Grilled Peach Crostini. 

Grilled Peach Crostini

And the jam possibilities are endless!

to-be Brandied Peaches

Clearly, I have a thing for peaches. And I am not ashamed.

Back to the pie. I have, over the years, worked on what is, in my opinion, the best representation of a number of pies: blackberry, apple, coconut, pecan. This summer, I set my sights on their peach cousin, and I think I'm nearly there.

It is, like my others, simple. It lets the primary fruit shine bright which is what the best pies do. I use peaches, sugar, lemon, and spices but have upped the ante slightly by including an apricot or two for a marvelous bit of tang and some muscovado sugar for depth (muscovado is a dark, unrefined brown sugar with a high level of molasses {in both content and flavor}. I use cinnamon and ground ginger and am considering using nutmeg, but we'll see. Peach Pie!

Paired with my crust, salty and flaky and perfect, the peaches shine. Which is just how it should be. 

Dispatches from the beach

I can hear the water lapping against the shores of the channel, can feel the breeze whisper against and across my shoulders as I rock slowly on the second floor porch. Some birds perch, others soar, boats and jet skis head home. The sun is setting, moving south as if through multiple filters. It is vivid orange. It is blinding yellow with rays bursting in all directions like a child's drawing. It is muted behind the prism of layers of clouds moving in various directions. Some are utterly static while others race. How is this? How do some freeze in the face of forceful currents?

Last night we celebrated my mother-in-law's 70th birthday, and today, she, my father-in-law, brother- and sister-in-law, and nieces headed home. It was a wonderful week- getting to see the kids together, see them truly love and delight in playing together is a treasure.

yellow cake with whipped chocolate caramel ganache frosting - recipes by apuginthekitchen

My crew decided to stay the day and are glad we did. I had peach apricot pie for breakfast (made this yesterday!), went for a run, we spent a last couple hours on the beach, and saw Wonder Woman. As have many, I cried in several spots, moved by her fierceness, wisdom, compassion, courage, and unabating morality. If only such sorts of people actually led our country right now. If only...

Instead, we have an ignorant, insecure, greedy, lying, fraud in the big seat, and innocent people like Philando Castile are murdered in cold blood for no reason other than their skin color and their killers are set free. This country is not moving forward, and it is utterly disheartening and enraging.

With a wink, a nod, and a clenched fist of hell yeah, I leave you with this.