Pumpkin and Spice

I had a very early morning today, and since I was determined to sleep in as much as possible, I needed a quick breakfast. Good thing I bought those Cliff Bars- the Mint Chocolate one was perfect with my coffee! It was just what I needed to get me going.

When Sissy and I arrived at work, Chef was already there, baking pies! After mixing up my Emergen-C, I got started on a batch of pumpkin filling. Seven pounds of pumpkin! Whoo! It was a busy morning- as soon as one batch of pies came out of the ovens, another went in. The bakery smelled divine! Pumpkin, spices, buttery crusts, toasting nuts... It certainly smelled like the holidays.

Once we had a good start on the pie baking, I started my task for the day- sellin' pies. It was my job to take the stacks of order forms and write invoices for each order. I then prepaired boxes for each order, labeled with the name, pie type, scheduled pick-up time and how many boxes were in the order. As people came into the bakery to get their pies, I greeted them, took their payments, and filled their orders. It was a lot of work, as there were a lot of orders, but it was fun to be able to talk and interact with the guests.

Midway through the day, Sissy and I took our lunch break. I had baked ham with mustard sauce, veggies and a small portion of fettucini. Sissy and I also shared a slice of pumpkin cheesecake. I'm not a huge cheesecake fan (I mean, I like it okay, but I'm not crazy about it like I know some people are), but I have a huge weakness for pumpkin cheesecake! Something about the texture and creaminess combined with the mellow rich flavor of the pumpkin is just perfect.

And then, a little later, I had several bites of pumpkin pie with gingersnap crust! So good- our pumpkin pie has orange zest in it, along with traditional pie spice.

And I had a single bite (at this point I was pretty full) of white chocolate banana cream pie. Not my personal favorite, but then, I don't really care for white chocolate.

It was a long, busy day, but the past few days were very satisfying. Boxing up the pies we had worked so hard and sending them home with people, knowing that pie was going to be the sweet end to a cozy family meal, was like being a part of all of their holidays. I love my little pie babies...

And speaking of pie babies, Chef let Sissy and I take home a pie for our Thanksgiving tomorrow. We're going to be going over to a co-worker's for Thanksgiving dinner, and now we have a sweet potato pecan pie (it's a layer of sweet potato and a layer of pecan pie- I made the crust and Sissy made the filling) to bring in addition to the wine I bought. (Benton Lane 2006 Pinot Noir. It's one of my favorite wines, and at a very reasonable price.)

Well! I hope you all have your own pie babies to enjoy tomorrow, and I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!