Traveling in Dresses, Ballerina Flats and The Goddess Pie Recipe!

I had to do a post/journal entry on traveling in dresses - I told you how much fun I had choosing my wardrobe for this trip and the wearing of it - so easy!  And I looked appropriate no matter where we went; no changing clothes for dinner from the clothes that I wore after walking ten miles.  The pictures are in the order I wore them and I'll just say what town we were in when the picture was taken. Every day Dan was good at reminding me that we needed to take "the dress picture" preferably in a spot that needed remembering as well.  When I forgot, he seemed to have random shots he'd taken, so thankfully, a record was kept!  And your reward for scrolling through my dress journal is a magnificent pie recipe at the end - one I kind of created for the Pie Social I held in August that was originally called "the gods raspberry pie" and has now been renamed "Goddess Pie" by a grateful pie eater who sent me his enthusiastic reaction and thanks for this pie.  Goddess it shall remain.  And I apologize for all these pictures of myself, almost every one.

 Sevilla - super jet-lagged - drinking hot chocolate after flying all night - just waiting until we can check in to our hotel (we arrived early in the morning after a no-sleep-for-me flight) so I can sleep which won't be for many more hours.  Blood shot eyes; faking a smile.  I wore that dress for two days in a row; weird traveling days where there was no real night time.

 So refreshed after a good night's sleep!  Cordoba above and below.

 Granada - the two above.

 Toledo Spain

Avila Spain

 Madrid

 Madrid

 Doing laundry in Madrid

Above and below - Barcelona

 Barcelona

Montepulciano Italy

Once I had worn each dress, I started the order all over again and my daughter Gabe was with me during the second rotation - she wore dresses every day too as per our agreement.

In Barcelona one day down in the Gothic area off La Rambla (Carrer de la Boqueria 30), we passed the most delightful shoe store, Kokua - all ballet flats, butter soft leathers, patent leathers - all leather!  And the colors!  They drew me in and I told Dan to have a seat so I could take it all in.  They were having a buy two get one pair free so that's what we did.  The deciding was tortuous though.  Now I wish I had bought three more pair as they are so comfortable and well made.  Take a look.

 Below - one of my purchases - I walked all day in these - gray/sage suede and butter soft orange leather toe.

Now for the most important part of this post - the Pie!

Raspberry Goddess Pie

Make and bake a single pie crust - make it from scratch and use all butter.

Set the baked crust aside to cool.   Set aside a pint of fresh raspberries that will be put into the bottom of the crust before the cooked filling goes in,

Cooked filling:  Dissolve 3 Tablespoons of cornstarch in 1/4 cup water.  In a saucepan, put 2 cups of fresh or thawed from frozen raspberries (I used the whole bag bag; it was about 2.5 cups), 1/4 cup water or raspberry juice (from draining frozen berries), 3/4 cup sugar and 2 T lemon juice.  Add the dissolved cornstarch and stir well.  Bring to a boil, cook for one minute more and remove from heat.  Let this cool  before you pour it over the other berries in the pie plate.  Chill this while you make the "frosting".

Pastry cream:  In a medium saucepan whisk together 1/3 cup sugar, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch and 1/8 tsp salt.  Whisk in 1 1/4 cups whole milk or half and half.  Beat 3 egg yolks together in a little bowl and add to pan.  Cook all this over medium heat stirring constantly until it starts to simmer.  Let it simmer/bubble for one minute more.  Remove from heat and add 1 T of butter and 1 tsp of vanilla.  Let this cool completely.  Meanwhile, beat one cup of heavy cream until thick.  When pastry cream is cool, gently mix the two together.

Toss the fresh berries into the bottom of the pie crust.  Pour in the cooked berry filling.  Frost with pastry/whipped cream mix.  Garnish with a few fresh berries and a sprig of mint if desired.  This Pie is so amazingly good - one friend said it was downright Holy (like it's so good it's positively celestial).  But let's stick to Goddess.   :)