Virtual World Meets Real World

Blogging is a virtual thing.  Probably more than any other aspect, that’s what I’ve come to realize and appreciate about this gig.  We sit, in our house, and blog and cook and photograph, and then share everything with all of you electronically.  It is both a bit mind-boggling and challenging.  For someone who blogs about inviting people into your home to create community, because that’s what I crave, it’s at times ironic that we do it all in complete isolation.

Which is perhaps why, when we got to meet a fellow blogger live and in person, I was practically giddy.  Joy the Baker (Joy Wilson) has just published her second cookbook, Homemade Decadence, and she was in Seattle doing a baking demonstration and book signing.  (If you’re unfamiliar with Joy, check out her blog at joythebaker.com.)

Jon and I, along with about 70 other groupies, crammed into The Book Larder in Seattle, a bookstore that classifies itself as a “community cookbook store.”  This is the kind of small, local bookstore that Meg Ryan owned in You’ve Got Mail until that horrible Tom Hanks came along and changed everything.  This is the kind of little guy that you root for always.

In front of her captivated and mesmerized audience, Joy prepared a pumpkin pie.  A pie!  For some, a pie is possibly one of the most intimidating desserts to make.  The mere thought of making a pie crust from scratch has reduced more than one somewhat competent cook into a sweating, cussing, anxious heap of frustration.  And that was in the privacy of her own kitchen, not in front of an audience.  Oh, wait.  That was me.

And, yet, Joy the Baker performed her pie making skills in front of an audience, all the while chatting with us as if we were sitting in her kitchen and had been friends like forever.  She was, in a word, just simply adorable.  And I don’t think I was the only one in the room developing a serious girl crush on her.

The audience oohed and ahhed and whispered amazement to their neighbors.  We all knew the difficulty of the task she was undertaking and that with just a tiny slip up, we could potentially witness grave failure.  We wouldn’t have been more spellbound had she been suspended 100 feet above us, dangling by her teeth from some thin wire, slowly performing pirouettes.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know I’ve had more than one tragic attempt at making pie crusts from scratch. (Click here or here if you care to relive my somewhat less than successful attempts.)  More than a bit discouraged from my past attempts, I had pretty much given up.  But, I have to tell you.  After watching Joy, somewhat effortlessly, turn butter and flour into a masterpiece, my spirit is rekindled.  I’m getting back on the flour-dusted pie horse and giving it another try.  Besides the fact that I’m probably 20 years older than Joy, I’ve decided when I grow up I want to be just like her.

Check out Joy’s new book:  Joy the Baker Homemade Decadence: Irresistibly Sweet, Salty, Gooey, Sticky, Fluffy, Creamy, Crunchy Treats.  You can find her recipe for pumpkin pie on page 144.

Happy Entertaining!