Custom Pie Flavors

I’ve been doing a bit of custom pie work lately. I set out the challenge for any kind of pie and here was one of my first challenges: Banana Cream!

As you can see, it’s filled with rich banana custard, topped with slices of banana and a big dollop of cream. It’s also made of polymer cake and nestled in a beer cap.

It’s always a lot of fun working out new flavors.

Summer Cream Beer Bottle Pie Magnets!

The latest creation from Chez Anthrid: Summer Cream Pies!

Summer Cream Pies include:

Strawberry Glaze: Tiny polymer canes slices form miniature strawberry slices carefully laid in concentric circles leading towards a bright ripe whole strawberry centerpiece. Layers of red tinted glaze make this just as glossy and juicy looking as the original.

French Silk: Thick polymer clay whipped cream tops a rich glossy chocolate base. All of this mousse-y goodness is topped with curls of dark chocolate. A slice is cut out to show both decadent layers.

Key Lime: Real key lime pies have a pale yellow, ever so slightly green tint from the fresh tiny limes. This miniature pie follows in their footsteps. Since key lime is so tart, a swirl of whipped cream topped with a minute slice of lime (less that 1/4 of a inch long) is a welcome addition.

Grasshopper: Rich chocolate pudding flavored with crème de menthe was a classic 1950s concoction, inspired by the cocktail and this polymer clay pie matches up with a glossy chocolate filling topped with a dollop of whipped cream and bright green mini mint leaves.

Coconut Cream: This tropical treat consists of rich custard combined with pulverized coconut and coconut extract. This mini pie features a glossy luscious pale yellow filling topped with dollops of whipped cream sprinkled with toasted coconut.

Should you feel compelled, they're for sale at

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12503097

THANKSGIVING Beer Bottle Cap Pies

I’m a big fan of Thanksgiving.

I like the whole concept of a day where you bring your family around and cook all day and then you eat when it’s all ready.

When I was a kid, we spent every Thanksgiving in Minneapolis, where a big dinner was followed closely by the pre Christmas trip to Daytons! Minnesota didn’t have sales tax, so a good little bunny could hope for a few presents. In fact, I got my very first gingerbread house kit on one of these excursions.

Obviously, it was a good move to judge by my turn to built gingerbread staburs and igloos. Maybe next Christmas I should do a gingerbread pig sty to house the darling marzipan pigs… Hmmm…

In any case, the highlight of Thanksgiving was always the pies! Mom and I are good pie bakers and there was a Trinity of Autumn flavors: Pumpkin, Pecan, and Apple. I’ve faithfully recreated them in a medium more likely to last past the holidays.

Behold!

Pumpkin pie is the classic staple. I’ll admit we always used canned pumpkin, but the results were creamy and rich. This miniature pie is filled with glossy reddish brown polymer clay custard and topped with a decadent swirl of whipped cream.
Pecan pie was preferable made with pecans straight from my aunt’s family home in Alabama. This bottle cap pie does have a layer of polymer clay caramel topped with individually made and detailed pecan halves. The glossy sweet look comes courtesy of syrupy glaze.

Apple Pie was our branch’s specialty. We made the real ones with Jonathans or Macintoshes we picked each year in Wisconsin. These little beauties are polymer clay segments held in with tinted glaze. The effect is completely that of a warm oozy apple pie.

Like the other ones, these are made in beer bottle caps, so they’re very small and have a little magnet affixed to the back. They’re now up on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12476951

To Do List

Gosh, I am all over the place today.

I was knocked out yesterday with a sinus headache (I think I was only awake for half hour intervals) but am now feeling cheerful again.

My agenda:

Take photos of the new beer bottle cap pies. Exciting new flavors! Coming SOON!

Pot flowers for Mom and Dad (Mom and I shopped for plants in a a downpour. Nothing will keep me from buying pentunias! NOTHING!! When I still lived at home I would always get a few interesting plants like chenille or candy corn plants, but now that I only go to look after things, we buy low maitenence plants. Mom has a charming lady of the manor style. She loves flowers and gardens, but hates being in the sun or digging in the dirt. I also cleared and mulched around the roses. Right now the phlox and bluebells are threatening to overrun the place. It’s very nice now because we have those big light resin pots. I just pot ‘em up and put them around the perimeter. Add some hanging plants on garden hooks and the phlox is free to run wild. Looks very pretty.)

Post pies to etsy.

How much of this will I get done? That’s always the mystery!

Dinner Pies

You caught me. I am a pie fiend.

Some people find them difficult, but I adore them. Actually, my chief criticism of the movie Waitress was that the pies she made weren’t that original to quality her as a “pie genius.” Brie and ham quiche? Easy peasy. Strawberry chocolate? Yummy, but not so original. I was watching Bizarre Foods set in Minnesota and a true pie genius created Sauerkraut pie. Now that’s bold!

In Norway, I developed a longing for Swanson’s Frozen Chicken Pot Pies. They don’t have those in Norway so I was forced to make my own from scratch. It worked out beautifully, but now every Norwegian who tasted it has developed an addiction. In Knut it took on a near Gollum-like quantity. A dinner of roast chicken was very carefully monitered to ensure there would be enough left over for pie.

On a similar bent, we had tons of ham left over from Easter so I baked some into a quiche with broccoli and Gruyere. Norwegians are not big quiche eaters and Knut was a tad dubious. I paired it with a vinegary mixed green salad and a certain ulv had asked for it ever since. Usually for me, I used a premade pie crust (I usually make my own) and they’re much better than they used to be!

This little pie set is all Dinner pies. You see a Chicken Pot Pie, a Quiche Lorraine, and a Vegetable Tart all baked in bottle cap pie tins. I’m quite pleased. There’s lots of detail and the Chicken Pot Pie really looks edible.

These are up on Etsy!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12260498

Bottle Cap Pies cont'd

I have the bottle cap pies in my purse right now. During my lunch break, I usually go to a pretty little secluded area and relax. There are lovely goldfinches, cardinals, deer, butterflies, and the occasional raccoons there and you’d hardly believe it was in an industrial area. Generally, I have the place pretty much to myself.

I thought I could snap a few nice photos for Etsy while I was there and as soon as my bunny themed bento box was emptied, wouldn’t you know it? 4 cars pulled in and essentially turned it into a parking lot.

CURSES!!

I am a shy retiring thoughtful rabbit! I do not want sweaty men in polo shirts asking “Whatcha doing?” while I pose miniature pies on a fence post!

I did it anyway. They turned out pretty nice, I think, but I won’t know for certain until I take them home and upload them to the computer.

I really am please with the pies themselves. I really did a lot of fine detail work on them. The blueberry and raspberry pies are filled with tiny glass balls and then layered with glaze. The rhubarb is filled with tiny red plastic logs that are held with red tinted glaze. It really looked like a juicy pie that spills over when you cut a slice. The lemon meringue is nicely browned on top with brown glaze and the lemon filling is glossy with just a tiny bit of juice leaking onto the pan. The galette is tiny peach slices, each with whirls of subtle colors, coated in yellow glaze that looks like apricot jam.
And they look very cute on the refrigerator.

I tried out my professional grade Sculpey on these and I am really pleased with the quality. I think they could take a tumble and not chip

UPDATE!!

It's up:   http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11633787

Beer Bottle Cap Pie

Jeez, that sounds like one of those horrid novelty red neck items, doesn't it?  I'll have to pick a different name when I put these up on Etsy.   

I love pies.  Baking them, eating them, and now fabricating them!

These little pies look good enough to eat, but you'd probably break a tooth.  The pie pans are literally bottle caps (MGD and Goose Island.  

Knut's choice as he's the beer drinker).  The pies themselves are polymer clay, glass beads, and tinted glazes.   They're affixed to little magnets to make sweet little fridge decorations.  Don't worry, they're good magnets.  I tested them on a heavy postcard from Istanbul.  

Our flavors are raspberry, blueberry, lemon meringue, rhubarb, and a dainty little peach galette.   Yum!

Up on Etsy as soon as I can take photos in daylight.  

I'll take pie over cake any day, so these were definitely a labor of love.

Monday list

Ahhh… Mondays. I have quite a number of things I’d rather do today:

Make a new charm bracelet for Etsy. I’m thinking of skulls and ice cream cones. Tough but sweet!

Feed ducks. I can’t explain this but I’ve have this inexplicable urge to feed ducks lately. Maybe not inexplicable. I love ducks.

Wash the dog. He’s getting distinctly gray.

Work on onesies. Must do!

Make Knut a couple of amusing new polo shirts. I take weirdo things like 1960s Norwegian sardine wrapper designs and put them as a logo on polo shirts so he can wear them to work.

Try out that professional grade sculpey.

Test out my shiny new watercolor kit. I could paint the ducks I’m not feeding.

Put out more bird seed. A cute little red headed finch comes to the window sill. I saw a funny little raptor on the window sill a few months ago too!

Watch creepy Channel 4 documentaries about the sex lives of less than averagely attractive English couples. It’s amazing how many of those there are (on both counts!).

Get around to wikipedia-ing Metalocalypse or however it’s spelled. I can’t figure out what’s going on. Is the brown haired guy Scandinavian or Canadian?

Do some hot (350 degrees) Shrinky Dink action.

Make polymer clay pie magnets. I love pie. Pi is okay too. Check out Dev’s fractal pecan pie!

Wear a nightie.

Walk the doggie. I live in a cute neighborhood. I’d like to see it in the daylight a little more.

Work on a top secret project for a person who shall remain nameless who frequently reads this blog. Keep out, person of unconfirmed gender!

Daydream about what my brother may send me from Japan (Fabric? Keychains? A whimsical adventure with adorable fuzzy woodland spirits?)

Go to the library and get a book on Seattle. I am soo excited to see my cousin Gretchen! And see plenty of Seattle fun like orca whales and Archie Mcphee!

Force my lazy self to the hardware store to buy those dog tag chains for single luchador mask necklaces. May try this with hex signs too.

Find out when Kjelli and his girlfriend will be coming up to visit. Yay!

Take my time and enjoy cooking dinner. Tonight: faux-jitas!

Remove the pockets from those pants that would be very flattering—if they didn’t have pockets!

Plan a weekend excursion to Starved Rock.

Sew the buttons on my red coat (got awesome magenta sliced nut buttons) and on Knut’s bunad. Norwegian Independence Day is right around the corner!

Help Miss Eloina Montesinos celebrate her 2^nd birthday! While I’m daydreaming, let’s go to Disneyland! Yeah!

Cheerful Vegetables!

I was looking around at all the desert themed items available on Etsy and then on the dieting threads on the forum.

Could there be a correlation? Just in case, I decided to make the Happy Vegetable Charm Bracelet.

A good reminder to try to eat healthily. And they’re smiley!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11000879

Mini Mouse!

Ugh. Mondays.

I am not a morning person.

Especially Monday mornings so soon after Daylight Savings Time. I fact I hate DST. Gah!

Okay, more cheerful, huh?

I really love polymer clay, as you might have noticed. I always loved playing with clay but there were always drawbacks. 1. Need a kiln (regular clay) 2. Little bits of lint stick to it until it gets so gross you have no choice but to throw it away (modeling clay) 3. Mold (salt and flour clay).

Polymer clay neatly avoids those nuisances!

I also like the really fine detail you can get. This mouse is hardly more than a centimeter high, but he still has his own little nose, eyes, ears, tail, and feet. Shown next to a penny for scale.

I made four or five of these little guys and gave them to my mother in law for a Christmas bazaar, along with some insects and gnomes. They all sold very well, but 2 months after the fact she demanded I make her another one (why she didn’t take one of the ones for the bazaar is a mystery).

I was kind of moused-out by then and haven’t made more.

Wedding Cake

So here’s the question you all haven’t been wondering about! What sort of wedding cake topper did I have?

Well, to begin, I got married in a red satin dress to a Norwegian guy in britches (actually he wore his bunad, which is a sort of folk costume popular in Norway. And very attractive!). Our wedding was in a 1920s cottage surround by woods. The idea was to have a relaxed affair that felt like an old fashioned wedding in someone’s home.

Our regular white wedding cake was topped with lily of the valley, but this little number topped the groom’s cake. Knut had a kranzekake which is a cake made from ground almonds that is layered in rings so that it forms a cone. We had gotten into the habit of depicting ourselves as a wolf and a bunny through letters and doodles, so I figured we might as well go all the way.