Paras and I spent the 4th of July with E and M at their Wallingford abode. E and I started preparing the day before by constructing and baking our first-ever pie, following Mark Bittman's recipes for a flaky pie crust and a classic apple pie. It was certainly time-consuming, but less so with two people. We finished assembling the pie late in the evening, when I was dizzy with tiredness (having been awake since 3:45am). As such, the pie was very lopsided and generally unappetizing in appearance, even with the addition of a little pastry star on top, so we named it Freedom Fugly.
There was some leftover pie crust and a few seasoned apple slices, so I shaped a little turnover and named it Mini Me. After Freedom Fugly and Mini Me went into the oven, I went to bed. The next morning, when I asked about Mini Me's whereabouts, I was told that E & M had unceremoniously consumed it in the middle of the night. Outrage ensued, and I had to be placated with coffee and a scone (more on Seattle coffee later).
This deep disappointment aside, Freedom Fugly's stint in the oven significantly improved its appearance. And, as we discovered during the Independence Day afternoon, we had made a completely delicious, unequivocally successful pie.
Other than pie, we enjoyed berry dacquiris, corn/bean/tomato/feta salad with crackers on the balcony.
The lights and candles that we arranged on the balcony gave our entire celebration a rather elegant effect once the sun went down.
An hour or two after pie and snacks, we had hot dogs and chicken apple sausages with fajita toppings. Completely stuffed, we had only to await the fireworks, which were every bit as satisfying as our dessert, drinks and dinner (in that order) had been. A fabulous 4th of July!
