This saturday was CTDN's company picnic. I brought a volleyball net and was pleased to find that nearly everyone who came was willing to take a stab at it, and we had a lot of fun.

I also entered the pie contest...and won!! Here's the recipe I used. It got RAVE reviews on the website I found it on:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 (3 ounce) package non-instant vanilla pudding mix*
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1(29 ounce) can sliced peaches, drained and syrup reserved**
1(8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar***
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

*there was much debate on the website, but I used instant pudding mix and experienced no problems with the "crust," which is really more cakey than crusty.
**Since they're in season, I used 6 fresh peaches, removed the skin, and cut into 1/8ths. I did buy the canned peaches so could use 3 tablespoons of the syrup in the topping (then ate the canned peaches with some lowfat cottage cheese. Yum). A lot of people who did use canned peaches had issues with overall sogginess, so if you used canned, drain well.
***more debate on the website about the topping being too sweet, so I reduced the amount of sugar used. (I eyeballed it and I'm too lazy to do the math. If you do this, use the 1/2 cup measuring cup and use about a third less.)

Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease sides and bottom of a 10 inch deep-dish pie pan. 1.5. if using fresh peaches, peel off skin and slice them. Set aside.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and pudding mix. Mix in butter, egg, and milk. Beat for 2 minutes. Pour mixture into pie pan. Perhaps b/c I used instant pudding, the mixture was tacky and did not 'pour.' If yours does this, fear not; the crust still comes out yummy and fluffy. Arrange the peach slices on top of the pudding mixture.
3. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons reserved peach syrup. Beat for two minutes. Spoon mixture over peaches to within 1 inch of pan edge. Mix together one tablespoon sugar and one teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over top. I found that the cream cheese mixture expands nicely. So try to thinly coat all of your peaches, and don't worry about getting it perfect. And the cinnamon sugar topping is key -- the pie would be a bit bland without a healthy smattering of cinnamon. So don't skip that step!
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. Chill before serving. I baked for about 40 minutes and chilled overnight in the fridge.

Because this is rather an odd 'peaches and cream pie,' and was often called a hybrid of a cake, cobbler, and pie on the website, I renamed it Peach Cablooie, where cablooie is an amalgam of the words CAke, coBLler, and pIE. ;) It's easy to make, light and sweet and delicious, and I've heard tell of making it with apples and with blueberries, too.

Hey, I hadn't even tasted the thing before in my life -- the judges got first dibs and we had to await their verdict before we could try them ourselves -- and I won a blue ribbon and a better homes and gardens cookbook. So trust me and try this for yourself. Enjoy!

My friend James W. and I take on drag and the 70s all in one go...we're singing "everybody was kung fu fighting...HYAH!" This was on Saturday, August 6th...the karaoke that I spoke of in my August 13th blog. :)

So the wedding was really cool. I already knew that I really like S's friends, and seeing them again only confirmed it. The bride wore the veil her grandmother wore to her wedding. The wedding was held on the Balclutha, a real ship preserved as a museum down at Hyde Street Pier. The ceremony was held up top and then the reception was held below; it was such a whimsical venue. The ceremony was very concise without leaving anything out or feeling rushed. I did find an outfit -- though the right dresses to wear on a ship at night are just not in season yet -- and enjoyed myself immensely.

In other news, I got a new phone. I'm very excited. My old one was crapping out a lot, incredibly finicky about reception, and basically just getting senile. So I invested a little more cash and got a new one...

Here it is. Isn't it lovely? Aesthetics aside, Motorola's are known for being good, solid phones and having great reception, and plus it comes with all kinds of features, including a camera. I'm addicted to it already. Give me a call!

Where have I been?

Singing Karaoke. Working. Going to an A's game with my entire organization. Seeing movies -- the remake of the Manchurian Candidate -- I'd seen the 50's version my freshman year in college. The new one is much gorier, but certainly an interesting update -- corporations are the enemy in this one, rather than communism. Denzel was pretty amazing, though I did love Frank Sinatra in the old one. Also saw Collateral last night, which is sort of a standard action thriller, though not nearly as suspenseful as you'd expect. My over all impression of it is that it was too glossy. Steve gave it a C+, I gave it a B; we both appreciated Tom Cruise's and especially Jamie Foxx's performances.

Steve's best friends are two sets of engaged couples. This weekend, the first set "bites the dust." On a boat at the wharf. Should be pretty interesting. I shall take this opportunity to go dress shopping -- need something formal enough for a wedding, low key enough so that I don't threaten the bride's spotlight, and warm enough for a boat at dusk.

Good thing I love a challenge!

The dowitcher photo didn't work...here's a different one.

The beach house weekend was a blast. A relaxed blast, if that's possible. Turns out Pajaro Dunes abuts a bird sanctuary, and a short walk down the beach brings you right into view of it. There were swarms and swarms of all kinds of cool birds -- the ubiquitous western gulls, but also barn swallows, dowitchers, sabine's gull, some tiny birds that were probably pipers, some big gull-looking birds that were probably albatrosses, and some pelican looking birds. (Forgive the vagueness-- the internet is NOT the best resource for figuring out just exactly what you saw! I will confirm what I saw once I get my hands on my guides after work. )

That was one awesome (mostly personal) hit of the weekend. Lest you think I've given up on my extensive food blogging of late, I'll inform you that the other was Steve's cooking skills. He made a "carpetbag" steak -- a flank steak, marinated in good old magi sauce (you may not know the name but you would recognize the taste for sure -- very traditional steak marinade), cut almost in half and stuffed with (cooked, not fresh, in this case) oysters, capers, shredded cheese, onions, and garlic, and then grilled to perfection.

And I do mean perfection. I nearly swooned it was so delicious. In fact, we had known red-meat-decriers AND even a vegetarian who tried it and also swooned. Amazing. Steve is at last proving his culinary education! Yum.