Production: What's for Lunch?

Again, lack of updates! I know! The short version of things to play catch up: I've been working for the last week and a half on some additional photography for a feature up at Warner Bros. in Burbank. Since it's only additional photography it's a super short job. We prepped last week, we shoot four days this week, there's probably a little bit of wrap next week, and then I'm done.

I was all determined to cook myself a lunch for tomorrow but I just got back a little bit ago from watching True Blood at L's and at this point I think it's just going to be a sandwich. Oh well. I have all kinds of exciting, tasty things from the Whole Foods I'm anticipating the eating of.

I love Whole Foods btw. I'm so underwhelmed by most of the groceries out here. We have access to such fabulous local produce and yet the Ralphs and the Pavillions et al manage to stock the worst stuff. That's probably not local and is definitely not fresh. What up with that?

I do like all the farmers market stuff but it really does get pretty expensive. And none of the markets I've been to can compare to what I was used to back east. Farmers markets in NYC? Lovely. If anyone has any LA suggestions for a good one, I'm all ears. Suggest away.

But the Whole Foods! They stock local and fresh and not hideously expensive! Plus, the stores are so awesome people just have to start making out on top of the apples! Those are some seriously exciting apples. (I swear I witnessed just that while shopping for Passover veggies with G. It was the Whole Foods in Manhattan Beach. If you were looking for someone to make out with amidst produce, you might want to try there...)

Do I really have to wake up at 5:30 again tomorrow? I love that I'm working and I am enjoying this job. But damn. Much more than three weeks of this would be exhausting. And would it not be nice to have another PA in the office? Oh you have no idea...

I am really enjoying being up on the lot at WB though, I've really got to say. I absolutely adore zipping along the back lot in the golf cart. Our golf cart is so zippy! Heh, and all the tourists on the studio tours totally stare at me. It's the "Look! Someone making movies!" stare that's a half curiosity, half envy, full of excitement stare. I know it well because I've done it plenty myself. And this is my industry. I'm silly.

Okay, I'm going to make a sandwich for tomorrow, set the auto on the coffee pot (most brilliant feature ever), and get some sleep. We start shooting on Tuesday and I feel like this is going to be a very, very long week.

Food: Blueberry Raspberry (Vegan!) Pie

I know this is completely off topic for this blog, but if film is my first love in life then cooking and baking is my second. And since it's my blog, I'm going to post what I want. Plus, I just haven't had much film related things to say lately. I need to write something!

I made pie!

I went to the Farmer's Market with J and L yesterday, and while none of the veggies were really jumping out at me (although the heirloom tomatoes were kind of delicious) the blueberries would not let me pass them by. And man were those raspberries good too... I had to get them. I had to make pie.

So last night as J was watching the MTV movie awards, KT was flying in from PHX, and DL was putting up our kitchen shelf (don't ask?), I made pie!

I've been experimenting with various Vegan pie crust recipes for the last couple of years and I think this one might just be my winner. It wasn't perfect but for a first go I'm very pleased. The flavor is definitely there. I think I overworked it a bit so it's not as flaky as it should be, but I'm confident that on a second try this crust will be the one.

I also didn't have any cornstarch as my first recipe called for so I worked on a different one that used flour for the filling instead. And instead of just blueberries I added the raspberries as well. It came out to be 2 parts blueberry, 1 part raspberry and 100% delicious. I don't think I'd change a thing on the filling.

Only other thing to note is that our oven ended up running a little cold. I've sort of noticed this cooking before but since this is the first time I've made pie in it, I wasn't sure what exactly my time adjustment needed to be. It did take a lot longer than I thought it would, but the pie was baked evenly in the end and looks lovely.

I'm very pleased with this effort.




Blueberry Raspberry Pie Recipe

Crust:

* 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons sugar
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 to 2/3 cup canola oil
* 3 to 4 tablespoons soymilk

Filling:

* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Butter (I use Earth Balance, in keeping with the Vegan thing)

Crust:

Into a 9-inch pie plate, sift together the flour, sugar, and the salt. In a glass measuring cup, whisk together 1/2 cup salad oil and 3 tablespoons milk with a fork. Pour that over the flour mixture in pie plate and mix with a fork until all flour is evenly dampened. If it is still too dry to work with your hands, mix a little more oil with a little milk and add to flour mixture. With your hands press the dough evenly against the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan, allowing the excess to fall on the counter. (This will be the top crumble crust and is about 1/3 of the total crust mixture.) Sweep it into your hand and reserve in a small bowl. Crimp the edges of the bottom crust or use a fork dipped in milk to flatten the crust along the rim.

Filling:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sprinkle the berries with Lemon Juice. Set aside. Combine the dry ingredients. Add to the berries and stir evenly. Add the filling to the crust.Then with an ordinary teaspoon, place little 1/2 teaspoons soft butter evenly over the top of the berry filling.

Crumble the reserved crust on top of the pie.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Check it after 30 minutes. If crust is getting golden but pie filling is not quite congealed, tent the pie with aluminum foil to keep crust from getting too brown.

Let cool and then enjoy the hell out of it!
****

Recipes I worked off of are here:

Used this for the crust: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-live/pollys-perfect-blueberry-pie-recipe/index.html
-For the "Salad Oil" I used canola which is what we had in the house. I really like the flavor so I don't know if I'll change that next time all though it will be fun to experiment with some different oils.
-I substituted Soy milk for the regular milk. I think I might try using vanilla sometime as well.
-Next time I'm going to sift the flour more. And try and handle the crust less. The actual mixing the crust in the pie dish was interesting and worked surprisingly well. This is messy though so I recommend covering your surface with wax paper first.

For the filling: http://www.recipezaar.com/Blueberry-Pie-24521
-Like I said, this only 2 parts blueberry, 1 raspberry.
-I didn't measure the lemon juice, I just squeezed a quarter of a fresh lemon over the berries.
-I did not use any salt. I'm not a big fan of salt in cooking. I avoid it whenever possible
-I ended up using slightly more cinnamon and added about an equal amount of nutmeg, maybe a slightly bit less. I always just add the spices to taste and, as anyone who's tried my cooking knows, I like my cinnamon!
-I'm really very pleased with how the filling turned out. I can't think of one thing I'd change.