dubliner brandy apple pie

I'm flying out to Paris today and I'm kind of freaking out.  

I have a feeling I won't be blogging while I'm there in lieu of just taking it all in, but I'm pretty sure I'll be 'gramming like a fool.  I won't blather on about how my insides are a ball of excitement, instead: here is a delicious pie recipe.  

Apple pie is a pretty standard pie, but this recipe, is my favorite so far. Mostly because: cheese crust.  I've heard of people serving apple pie with a slice of cheddar, but I prefer this method of baking it into the crust.  I don't know why I haven't done this sooner because the idea sounded amazing when I was watching Pushing Daisies years ago, but I finally got around to it and yum.  I mean, adding cheese to almost anything is a sure-fire way of making it more delicious.  I almost just wanted to eat only the crust, but the brandy apple filling was a nice compliment.

Crust Ingredients:

3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups

Kerrygold Dubliner cheese

6 tbsp cold unsalted butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/2-2/3 cup ice water

Filling Ingredients:

3 1/4 lbs apples peeled, cored, + sliced (appx 9 whole)

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp Apple Pie Spice

1/4 cup boiled cider

1/4 cup Pie Filling Enhancer

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbsp lemon juice

2-3 oz brandy

To Make Crust:

1. Whisk together the flour and salt.  Add the cheese and toss to coat.

2. Cut in the butter and shortening, mixing until well combined.

3. Drizzle just enough water over the mixture to make it cohesive, tossing with a fork until it starts to come together.

4. Fold the dough over on itself until it holds together, then divide it 65/35 into two flat discs with smooth edges.  Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To Make Filling and Pie:

1. In a large bowl, stir together the filling ingredients, mixing until the apples are well coated.  

2. Preheat the oven to 425ºF.  Roll the larger disc of dough out to a 13 1/2 inch round and lay it into your pie dish.  Spoon in the filling.

3. Roll out the second disc either into a flat disc and cover or roll it out and then use a pizza cutter to cut strips to make a lattice top.  Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired.  

4. Bake the pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet in a preheated 425ºF oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 375ºF and bake for another 45 minutes, or until the top is brown and the filling is bubbling.  Remove the pie from the oven and cool completely before slicing.

(gr)attitude

I hope you guys, whether you're celebrating the holiday or not, are cozied up with your loved one(s) today.  While Thanksgiving itself has a troublesome history, giving thanks and expressing gratitude is always a wonderful idea and that's what I'm spending this day doing.  There is so much to be thankful for.  I'm most thankful for my sweet love and our little floof.  They bring me so much joy and happiness on a daily, hourly basis, I can't imagine life without these two

Living in the Pacific Northwest and being a part of a creative community puts me into contact with so many incredible artists, entrepreneurs, and makers.  One of those people is Tiarra Sorte and last Saturday we met up here in Tacoma for an in-home photo session.  Dan and I hadn't had photos of us together (other than tripod photos that I took of us) since our wedding, and I wanted to have photos of just us together before we decide to make a tiny human.  We've also been talking about moving to Seattle sometime next year for a new adventure, and so I wanted to have photos in our very first (owned) home.  

The session was so fun and I'm totally in love with the images Tiarra created for us.  I didn't realize how special it would be to have photos in our home and around our little neighborhood for us to look back on and remember our time in this house forever.  It will be so fun to show our kids what our first house looked, and a peek at our neighborhood.  Whenever I'm in Sacramento with my parents we usually do a drive-by of their first homes.  One I don't remember because I was a baby, and one I just barely remember living in before we moved up to Anchorage.  I imagine driving through Tacoma with our kids showing them our first super tiny house, and then this house just a few blocks away.

I hope you are with people who love you today.  If you aren't, or if the holidays are stressful and your family situation isn't awesome, just know that you are loved and that you are so worth loving.  And I am thankful for those of you who come take the time to read my little blog and comment, or follow on instagram or facebook.  Blogging and social media can be weird, but it's so nice to have connections with other humans, even if it's just over the web.  So here's a big internet hug to you guys. 

What are you grateful for this season?

OUR HOME // living room update

Mid-summer I got the idea stuck in my head that we were gonna split once Dan got home from Alaska, move out of our house into the Winne and sell all our stuff.  After my trip up to Alaska to visit him I came home and started selling our furniture.  I sold and donated quite a bit of stuff, including our couch, but then after Dan came home he got a new job, I got invited to join the Gritty City Sirens and staying in Tacoma started to sound appealing again.  Our house was still in a bit of a jumble from my purge fest and our living room always felt like it was in a state of being unfinished.  

We're still thinking of moving, but that won't be happening until at least after I return from the Wildbride Retreat west coast tour.  So for now, it made sense to make our home feel homey again.  We got a couch again, and I set up the living room into an arrangement that I've never had it in before!  I've always liked the idea of the couch being on the black wall, but I wasn't sure how that'd work with the front door being right there.  I figured I'd try it out anyway and I really love how it feels!  Plus, there's a perfect spot for our Christmas Tree!

See the other ways I've arranged our living room here.

Almost everything is Ikea, thrifted, or Target.

halloween queen

How was your Halloween weekend?  Talk about a crazy day to have Halloween, not only was it on a Saturday, but it was also Daylight Saving night, which meant the partying lasted an extra hour!  I had the most fun Halloween I can remember in recent years.  My burlesque troupe, the Gritty City Sirens, put on a Halloween show and it was so much fun.  We had an awesome bluegrass band open for us, then all us girls did our halloween inspired acts, and we finished the night with another band for people to dance the night away!  I was blown away by how many people came and celebrated the night with us, it was such a blast!  If you follow on facebook you probably saw a peek at my costume, I was a Black Widow Queen so I got super spidery and creepy.  Dan was a wizard.  Dusty didn't get a costume this year, though I almost bought her a cape.
Now that the Halloween show is over I can finally focus on some other fun stuff!  I have some big news coming this week for both Wildbride and Liz Morrow Studios, so stay tuned for that!  And of course, I'm now costuming and choreographing my Christmas burlesque act, so the sparkle train doesn't stop!


 



all items old except shabby apple dress + moorea seal shades | photos by Liz Morrow Studios