Listen to our very own Ryan Trager on KUOW today discussing this issue’s POWER soundtrack on “The Beat”!
Pretty cool!
The FAIR was so much fun! The bands rocked, the pie-eating contest was fierce, and everyone left with full bellies and our cool new RIVET totes (which will be for sale on the merch page soon). Thank you to everyone who baked pies and everyone who came out to the event. Look at what an awesome time we had …
Big thanks to www.chitterlings.com for this one! Mmm, I hope someone makes this for the RIVET FAIR on Sunday.
4 large potatoes
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1 pinch cinnamon
1 pinch nutmeg
1 store-bought pie crust
or your can just line a pan with vanilla wafers
instead
1/2 cup milk
Boil the potatoes until tender. When you stick a
fork in them it should go in easy but you don’t
want them to fall apart.Let the potatoes cool and then peel them.
Put the potatoes in a large mixing bowl and
mash them thoroughly with a potatoe masher.
Melt the butter and pour it and the other
ingredients in the bowl of potatoes. Stir
until well mixed.
Whether you used a ready made pie crust or
just cookies, pour the potatoes mixture
into the crust.
Put into an oven preheated to 375 degrees.
Cook for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick
inserted in the center comes out dry.
I like to eat the pie while still hot. It’s
good cold too though.
If you want you can make a meringue topping by
blending confectionary sugar with egg whites.
After the pie is almost done, spread the
meringue thinly across the top. Continue baking
until the meringue turns light brown.
In preparation for the RIVET FAIR, another delish pie recipe to cook up. Thank you, www.foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com for this amazingness. Make sure to check the link for photos and other helpful hints: http://foodiefarmgirl.blogspot.com/2006/08/savory-tomato-pesto-pie.html
Farmgirl’s Savory Tomato Pesto Pie
Makes One 9-Inch PieFor The Pesto:
Makes about 1-1/2 cups (you will need 1 cup)
1/2 cup (about 2-1/2 ounces) raw whole almonds (optional)
4 ounces fresh basil leaves (about 4 cups packed, but it’s best if you weigh it)
6 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 cloves of garlic
4 Tablespoons finely grated pecorino romano cheese
10 ounces tomatoes (about 3 smallish ones), any kind, quartered
1/2 teaspoon nice salt
For The Pesto:1/2 cup (about 2-1/2 ounces) raw whole almonds (optional)4 ounces fresh basil leaves (about 4 cups packed, but it’s best if you weigh it)6 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil6 cloves of garlic4 Tablespoons finely grated pecorino romano cheese10 ounces tomatoes (about 3 smallish ones), any kind, quartered1/2 teaspoon nice saltSpread the almonds on a baking sheet or piece of aluminum foil and place them in a 350 degree oven or toaster oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Mix all ingredients, including almonds, in a food processor until thoroughly combined. (You could probably also use a blender–or a gigantic mortar and pestle if you are trying to build up your arm muscles.) Add more salt to taste if necessary. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
For The Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour (I use Heartland Mill organic)
4 teaspoons baking powder (make sure it’s fresh!) **
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick/ 4 ounces) cold butter
1 cup (about 2-1/2 ounces) finely grated pecorino romano (or other hard cheese)
3/4 cup milk
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix in the butter using a pastry blender, fork, or your fingers until the largest pieces are pea-size. Stir in the pecorino romano. Pour in the milk and use a fork to gently form a soft dough. Do not overmix. Divide the dough in two pieces, making one slightly larger than the other.
On a generously floured surface, use a rolling pin to gently roll out the larger piece of dough into a circle about 12 inches across, rolling from the center outward. Sprinkle dough with flour if sticky. Gently fold the dough in half and transfer into a 9-inch pie pan. If the dough tears, simply press it back together with your fingers. Roll out the remaining piece of dough into a slightly smaller circle and set aside (or wait until you have the filling in the pan and then roll it out).
Assembling The Pie:
1 cup pesto, divided
2-1/2 pounds of the best plum tomatoes you can find, sliced lengthwise into 4 or 5 slices each (I used San Marzanos & Golden Romas to add extra color as well as more flavor)
8 ounces mozzarella, grated or thinly sliced (I used fresh which can’t be grated)
1/2 cup (about 1-1/4 ounces) finely grated pecorino romano (or other hard cheese)
Using a spoon, spread 1/2 cup of pesto over the bottom layer of dough in the pie pan. Layer about half of the tomatoes over the pesto. Cover the tomatoes with about 2/3 of the mozzarella. Layer on the rest of the tomatoes (you may not need them all to fill the pan). Carefully spread the remaining 1/2 cup of pesto over the tomatoes. Cover with the remaining mozzarella and the pecorino romano.
Roll out the second piece of dough if you haven’t already, and carefully place it over the pie. Fold the edge of the bottom piece over the top piece and press together to seal. Use your fingers to make a crimped design around the edge. If any dough falls apart, simply press it back together with your fingers. Don’t worry if it isn’t perfect. The handmade look has much more charm. Cut four slits in the top of the pie for steam to escape. Bake at 375 degrees F in the center of the oven until the crust is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Cover the edge with foil if it starts to brown too quickly.
Let cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving. Crust edges may be sampled much sooner. (As with nearly any fruit pie, if you cut into it while it is still warm, some juice will seep out. If you plan to store any leftover pie right in the pan, simply drain off the juice so the bottom crust doesn’t become soggy.) Or cool pie completely, cover, and refrigerate.
The schedule of country mayhem is as follows…drum roll please…
1:00 p.m. Eric Miller & Jeff Cole
1:45 p.m. Cupcake Walk Part I
2:00 p.m. Jack Wilson & Ali Marcus
2:40 p.m. Three-Legged Races
3:20 p.m. David Isley
3:45 p.m. Cupcake Walk Part II
4:00 p.m. Pie-Eating Contest Spectacular (bring your own bib)
4:20 p.m. The Maldives
Find out more about the afternoon’s shenanigans here!
We’re gonna be making a lot of pies this week, folks. The RIVET FAIR is coming up on Sunday, August 26, so get ready! We’ll be posting pie recipes all week to whet your palate.
Here’s a fascinating one: Avocado Pie, from www.grouprecipes.com:
Ingredients
Directions
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Bearforce 1.
They’re Dutch, they’re gay, they’re bears and they’re a boy band. Academics are going to have a heyday with this one.
Thanks to the Queen of All Media for the tip.
Pike Place Market is 100 years old! Celebrate the centennial on Friday with free Starbucks coffee and Le Panier onion tarts for breakfast, a championship salmon toss and the Market Party concert, starting at 6:30 p.m. Performers include members of Pearl Jam, Harvey Danger and the Presidents of the United States of America. (And don’t miss the super-talented relative newcomer Choklate.) The party’s at Victor Steinbrueck Park, 2001 Western Ave. at the north end of the market. Pikeplacemarket.org has all the details.
My junior year of college was a rough one. I fell in love, lost a scholarship, went to rehab. Yesterday, I found a mix CD I made for myself during that time, all Cat Power songs, mostly from albums I don’t own and haven’t listened to in years. Some of the songs are bootlegs, and I have no idea where I got them. But there they are, all twenty-four of them, encompassing a year that to me was earth shattering.
It’s strange to listen to them now. I think about what I knew of Cat Power at the time: she was a heroin addict, seeing her in concert was chaotic (if she showed up at all). I wasn’t even sure at the time what she looked like. All I knew was her voice and the fact that the boy I fell in love with was in love with her. And I was in love with her, too. And we listened to her music every day, while we did all kinds of drugs I wouldn’t dream of doing now.
Cat Power has become something completely different than she was back then. She kicked heroin, started showing up for gigs, won the 2007 Shortlist Music Prize. But while the critics are saying her latest album is her best, I can’t help thinking the mix tape I made of her earlier music, the songs that became the mirror to my own chaos and drug addiction, is my favorite album by far.
The music industry has been saying that iTunes, and other online music download sites, changed the face of music. Consumers don’t buy albums as whole anymore. And if they’re purchasing songs individually, why even market whole albums as a product, why not just release singles and be done with it? But the consumers know, it’s always been this way. Even before iTunes, we’ve been taking albums and cutting them up into our favorite bits, making our own albums out of the best songs and passing them around to friends. And these were our favorites, the soundtracks to our lives, the albums we played over and over (on cassette tape no less) until they broke and were gone forever.
I have a whole stack of CDs sitting next to my bed, cleaned out of the same box as the Cat Power CD, that don’t have anything written on them. And while I’m partly afraid of where in my past this rediscovery will take me, I can’t wait to hear the mix tape that will come out of it.
[Editor’s Note: Jessica Star Rocker’s column, “Cut Out The Middle Man,” brings us straight to the primary sources.]
It’s a country benefit bonanza for RIVET—complete with a pie-eating contest, a cake walk and hot, rockin’ country tunes from the Maldives and more! Join RIVET as we throw down with the hay bales and (lots of) beer to bring you the swingin’est gingham afternoon of the summer. Check out the schedule of activities here.
GENERAL ADMISSION $7
Includes five tickets for fun
JOHN WAYNE PACKAGE $40
Includes 10 tickets for fun, a RIVET tote, a RIVET subscription, an entire pie, a Cupcake Royale coupon and your very own John Wayne button (value = $56)
POLLYANNA PACKAGE $20
Includes 10 tickets for fun, a RIVET tote, The POWER Issue, a slice of pie, a Cupcake Royale coupon and your very own Pollyanna button (value = $32)
DON KNOTTS PACKAGE $15
Includes 10 tickets for fun, The POWER Issue, a slice of pie, a Cupcake Royale coupon and your very own Don Knotts button (value = $21)
