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Blog

c'ville pie fest!

Andrea

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know that I spent the end of last week learning about the C'ville Pie Fest, deciding to enter, quickly developing a recipe spinning off of the Italian Plum Cake that I made last weekend, testing and tweaking the recipe for two nights and then deciding not to enter the contest at the last minute.  It was a whirlwind 36 hours, starting at noon on Thursday and ending at midnight Friday, with most of the action occurring between 6pm and 12am both nights.  By the time I decided that I just wasn't prepared with a contest-worthy entry I was exhausted, covered in flour and so sick of plum pie that I vowed to not eat anymore for a year (until I woke up Saturday morning and had it for breakfast).

Despite being disappointed with my lack of an entry, the whole C'ville Pie Fest experience was fantastic.  I made some new friends on Twitter and met most of them in person at the lovely and brand new Mudhouse Coffeehouse in Crozet, including Brian [The Food Geek], MariJean [STL Working Mom], Mollie Cox Bryan [author of Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies, which I'll be reviewing here on Bella Eats in the next few weeks!] and Angie Brement [Angie Brement Photography].  The organizers put on a wonderful event that drew an impressive crowd of spectators, bakers and judges, all to benefit PACEM, an organization that helps the homeless in Charlottesville.

A few photos from the event.  First, thank you to Mudhouse Coffeehouse for lending your space...

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So many delicious-looking pies...

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The judging begins...

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The spectators are allowed to join in the fun...

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And only shrapnel remains...

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To read more about the event, check out The Daily Progress and CBS19 News.

I learned a few important lessons over the last four days, namely that one should never enter a pie contest with only 36 hours to prepare without a fool-proof recipe in hand.  I also realized that I really have no pie recipes in my repertoire, other than this cranberry apple pie that only does me good when cranberries are in season.  And so, since we are approaching two major holidays that traditionally include a lot of pie, I've decided to declare October Bella Eats Pie Month, focusing on one pie recipe each Thursday for the next 4 weeks.  Are you excited?  I am!

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This Thursday I'll start Bella Eats Pie Month with a recap of the trials and tribulations for the Italian Plum Pie I had hoped to enter in C'ville Pie Fest.  I hope to have reached a solution by then...keep your fingers crossed for me.

For the other three weeks, I was planning to feature some traditional holiday pie recipes but am still open to suggestions.  Please leave a comment and tell me what you'd like to see, I look forward to your feedback!