I just ate dinner and drank a big glass of clean, cool water.  Such a simple thing, yet for millions of people around the world access to clean water is a daily struggle.  Chris and I recently watched the documentary Flow, which highlights how equitable access to water is one of the critical human rights and environmental issues of our time.  I highly, highly recommend this movie - go add it to your Netflix list now!  

Honestly, watching this film totally changed the way I think about water, and I will never again take it for granted (nor will Pacific Pie Co ever sell bottled water!).  Millions of people die every year due to preventable diseses associated with lack of clean drinking water.  And the crazy thing is that in most parts of the world water could be made available to local communities - but politics and money often get in the way.  Fortunatly, there are some dedicated organizations working to ensure access to water - and you can help.

Portland Roasting Coffee, a fantastic local roaster that just happens to supply Pacific Pie Co with heavenly French Roast, is putting on a series of events to raise funds for Water for All, a South African based group that works with communities to design customized water solutions, including the fun merry-go-round pump, solar pumps, wind powered pumps, and purification systems. 

Click here for all of the info on the Walk for Water event - a fundraising walk, speakers, screenings of Flow, and a concert at the Aladdin theater.

My love affair with meat pies began in late 2001.  I has just moved to South Australia on a research fellowship, and a friendly Aussie had offered to take me on a hiking trip to the beautiful Deep Creek conservation park.  On the way we stopped at a country bakery - there is one in every town in Oz -which was well known for its savory pies.  I was still a vegetarian at the time, and embarrassed myself by ordering a 'veg paystie.'  All of the Aussies laughed at my faux paus, and I was schooled as to the difference between a 'pah-stie' and a 'paystie.' 

Syntax aside, the pastie was a revelation.  Warm, crisp pastry wrapped around tender veggies with oozing cheese.  What could be better?  I was hooked, and for the rest of my seven years Down Under I ate pies, pasties, and sausage rolls from coast to coast.  I remember an amazingly good little sausage roll in Hobart, Tasmania, lots of great spinach pasties from Bec's Bakery in Adelaide, and then there were the BEST PIES EVER from Stone Hut Bakery.

Stone Hut is a little Outback town in the lower Flinders Ranges, about three hours north of Adelaide.  A few times a year we'd head up there with a crew of friends for a weekend of mountain biking.  A highlight was always a visit to the Stone Hut Bakery, where we'd gorge ourselves on hot meat pies, sausage rolls, and choc caramel slice, and then buy as many cold pies as would fit into our cooler to sustain us back in Adelaide until our next trip.  We always joked that time stood still in this bakery, as all of the ladies working there moved v e r y slowly, so you really had to practice patience.  But after a weekend of biking, all we wanted to do was stuff our faces with pies!

When Chris and I had this crazy idea to start a meat pie business in Portland, I thought - I wonder if the folks at Stone Hut Bakery would let me come work there to learn all about the pie makin' biz?  Chris thought that I was a little off my rocker, but sure enough the kind owners invited me to come work at their bakery.  It was the perfect excuse for a trip back to Australia, so in August 2008 we flew to Adelaide and then headed north to the Flinders Ranges.  We took our mate Jason along, and he and Chris spent their days mountain biking while I learned about pies from the bakery's fabulous pie master, Dawn.  Over the course of three days we busted out hundreds and hundreds of meat pies and pasties.  We even cooked up a batch of the Kangaroo pie filling (the secret to balancing the meat's gaminess is the red wine, says Dawn). 

We returned to the States all charged up about pies -  so yummy!  so convenient!  And yet it was near impossible to find a proper pie in the land of pizza and burritos.  We packed all of our belongings into our little car and drove from Philly to Portland, on a mission to bring some pastry wrapped goodness to this food lover's town. 

And the rest is pie history.  It's been almost a year since we first rolled in to PDX, and we had a fabulous summer at the Farmer's Markets.  The expats found us right away - sometimes it was like a mini-UN at our booth, with folks from Oz, New Zealand, South Africa, Scotland, and England lining up for their weekly meat pie fix.  And while it took a little while for some of our American customers to muster up the nerve to try a *gulp* meat pie, once they tasted that savory filling and flaky pastry they too became pie devotees.

We are hard at work getting our retail space ready, so very soon Portland will have its very own savory pie shop.  Yesterday we trolled the Rebuilding Center and the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and loaded up on light fixtures, old cabinets, reclaimed doors, and recycled shutters.  Just wait til you see what we do with it all! 

It is the day before Thanksgiving, and I have cranberries, ginger, and orange peel gently simmering on the stove, filling the apartment with the sweet smells of the season. 

This is the first Thanksgiving that Chris and I are spending far away from both of our families - my parents, sisters, and grandparents in Philly and Chris' family down in South Australia.  I am feeling homesick and nostalgic for so many things: drinking champagne on the sunny deck at Uncle Lino's house, listening to jazz at my mom's, walking on the beach at Glenelg, the smell of autumn leaves in Valley Green. 

But I am also so grateful to be here in Portland.  In less than a year this city has embraced us and we feel so at home.  We have started our dream pie business and we have so many amazingly loyal customers.  We are privileged to work with dedicated farmers: Lonely Lane Farms, Sweet Briar Farms, SuDan Farm, Deep Roots Farm, Heavenly Harvest, SunGold Farm, the Sellwood Garden Club.  Pacific Pie Company has just moved in to a beautiful new kitchen, and sometimes when Chris and I are baking pies and the sun filters through the windows and we are listening to good music I think - I really am living my childhood dream. 

And I am so grateful that my cousin Andi and her family live here in Portland, and that we can share the season and create new traditions.  Our old, dear Aussie friends have also joined us this week, and it is wonderful to reconnect and reminisce.

I wish you a joyful and abundant Thanksgiving.

Ok, before you get too excited this is not the PPC pie crust recipe - you'll never get that one out of us!  But several friends and customers have contacted me lately asking for a good pie crust recipe for all of those Thanksgiving pies. 

I used to be afraid of making pastry, but this is a (fairly) fool proof method that will result in crust that is both flaky and tender.  The vinegar is essential - the acid prevents too much gluten from forming when the flour combines with the water - and gluten = tough, heavy pastry.  Some pie crust recipes add a tablespoon or so of sugar, but I don't really think it is necessary...your pie filling will be sweet enough, and I like the contrast of the buttery, crisp pastry and sweet filling.  I also think it is worthwhile splurging on some good butter - we use Rose Valley butter, which has a great milkfat content and fantastic flavor.  Trader Joe's usually has good prices on organic butter, or even better try to find some butter at your local farmer's market.  

This recipe will provide enough pastry for one double-crust or two single-crust 9-inch pies.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup ice water

Method

Cut butter into small pieces, put into a bowl, and put in the freezer for at least 30 minutes and up to several hours.  If you have room in your freezer, it is also helpful to combine the flour, salt, and baking powder and put that bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes as well.  Getting the butter nice and cold will ensure a nice flaky crust - flakiness results when small pieces of fat melt during baking, resulting in the beautiful layers of the best crusts.

Once all of your ingredients are very cold, put the flour mixture in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse one or two times to combine.  Add the butter, and turn on the processor.  Add the vinegar and then the ice water in a continuous stream through the feeding tube.  Immediately turn off the processor.

Turn out the dough onto a clean, lightly floured work surface.  Smear it back and forth a few times with your hands until it starts to come together.  Often it seems too crumbly at first, but don't fret!  Just keep working it a bit and it should come together.  If it is really crumbly for some reason, sprinkle over a teaspoon or so of the ice water and keep gathering it together.

Divide in half, and then form the pastry into two rough squares and wrap each in saran wrap.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight. Proceed with your pie recipe...

Good luck and let me know about your pie baking adventures! 

As I am sure you have heard before, every time you make a purchase you are voting for the kind of world you want to live in.  This is so true and important when it comes to food.  Having access to fresh, local, seasonal, sustainably harvested vegetables, meats, and artisan products is one of the true joys of living in the Pacific Northwest.  But the only way we can maintain this local food economy is to continually nurture and support it.

The Oregon Environmental Council has just launched the Vote with Your Fork! campaign to educate folks about how to support and sustain the local food system.  You can take their pledge to make at least one change in your eating habits - if everyone in Oregon did this, we would see some major positive impacts on local economies and ecosystems. 

Here are just a few of their ideas about how you can vote with your fork:

Host a local foods potluck.  With the farmer's markets bursting at the seams with the most dazzling array of seasonal produce, it is a great time to invite your friends and neighbors to share the bounty of summer.

Compost your food scraps.  Even if you don't have a yard to establish a composting system, there are great under the sink or counter top composting options, such as Bokashi.     

Support a local farmer.  Buying directly from farmers, either at the farmer's markets or at a farm stand means that your entire food dollar goes to the hard working farmer and stays in the local economy.

To do my part, I am about to go cook dinner with fish we picked up at the farmer's market yesterday, greens from our friends at Sweet Leaf Farm in Eugene, and shallots and tomatoes from the good folks at Deep Roots Farm in Corvallis.  And I think I will mix up some vodka tonics with vodka from New Deal Distillery, which happens to be right up the road from where we live.  Eating local is sweet!