The Sweatshop of Love Blog

Last weekend we celebrated the 4th with my favorite food.

PIE!

This tradition was started last year, and we couldn’t wait to revisit it.

Who wouldn’t want to sit in the park eating nothing but pie and drinking nothing but coordinating alcoholic drinks?

Katie, Rachael, and Brian

I made Bailey’s Chocolate Mousse Pie with Bailey’s Iced Coffee, which both turned out awesome!

Gil, Martin, Andy, Katie, and Tara

Other pie and alcohol combinations included spaghetti pie and beer, chocolate pudding pie and raspberry beer, chocolate cheese cake pie with raspberry vodka and cokes, lemon cream pie and blueberry pie with blueberry vodka and raspberry liquor.

Ann

We moved from Logan Blvd to Palmer Park, just to mix things up. We needed all the shade Palmer Park had to offer because it was HOT that afternoon!

Tara, Rachel, and I; Pic by Brian

See? Brian's Picture!

Big Pieapalooza Mess

Everyone got super full of sugar and happily drunk on sugary drinks and beer!

Table! Hi-Tech Drink Containers! Pic by Brian

We were much higher tech than last year. Ann even brought a TABLE on her BIKE! It was fantastic.

The Second Annual Pieapalooza was a huge success!

I love when successes are measured by how full and drunk everyone gets.

Coconut Cream Pie

Once upon a time I was eating pie and I thought, ‘You really don’t need to eat anything but pie.’ It’s true. Everything is better in pie form. Everything is better with pie. Somehow that thought turned into Pieapalooza! The date: July 3rd, a Friday that pretty much everyone had off because of the holiday. The request? Bring a pie paired with a cocktail! I cooked up this coconut cream pie (who knew it was so easy to make coconut cream pie? It is no bake, you just throw some stuff together in a saucepan, heat, make up a pie crust, pour the coconut mixture in the crust and cool it in the fridge. Spread whip cream, sprinkle with toasted coconut, serve) to be served with coconut rum and cokes. Cute, right?

PT and Brat

Kasia and Anders thought we should eat real food first, so we met a few hours before Pieapalooza! was scheduled to start and grilled.

Tofurkey Brat

Kasia picked up these toferkey brats, which I’ve never had before but really enjoyed! I never really liked those Bocca brats, I don’t think they make them anymore. They were always really dry. But this was great! I topped it with sauerkraut, mustard, and ketchup, like pretty much everyone else did.

Chris and Anne, and Brats

I, of course, had my brain on pie. My coconut cream pie and Chris and Anne’s Jewel strawberry rhubarb pie (don’t judge; Emeril’s strawberry pie recipe was total crap so this was a last minute grab) were just sitting on the blanket, screaming at me, ‘Eat! Eat! I’m so good!’

Three Pies to Start

Kasia and Anders, and Pie

Kasia and Anders made the most amazing cherry pie I have ever eaten. And that is saying a lot considering I’m from Michigan and we take our cherries very serious. This was a sweet cherry pie in the same amazing crust her strawberry rhubarb was in last week.

Love

Tally:

1 piece strawberry rhubarb/champagne
1 piece cherry/cherry lemonade
1 piece coconut cream pie/coconut rum and coke

Lemon Pie, Peach Pie

We were barely recovered from the first round when in came more!

1 piece lemon pie/summer shandy
1 piece peach pie

Getting Messy

A couple pieces pi(e) – neapple (clever, and a welcomed break).

Shepard's Pie

I couldn’t eat this one, but it’s so pretty! And patriotic. And this was the only pie that was eaten completely so it must have been great. Or people just felt they needed some protein.

Drag Queen Pie

This beauty is a drag queen pie, or raspberry lemonade pie, frozen and like sherbet! It was fun and pretty and tart as hell!

1 piece drag queen pie/2 vodka tonics (… they were good)

Gil (and Martin)'s Fabric Bag

Between the eating and the drinking and the frisbee-ing, there was a lot of knitting going on. I was a proud mama! Gil finished up her fabric knit bag which turned out so cute! Her bf Martin picked up some knitting skills with this bag, so he gets credit, too.

Bound Off Bottom!

Tara bound off the bottom of her sweater! It looks so cute. See the admirers behind her? Today in Sweater Club she finished a sleeve, so this sweater is really close to being done.

Oh god

We made a mess. There were tiny plates and tiny cups everywhere, people had their hands and forks in pie remnants between laying down quiet time. We would play a little frisbee to make room for more pie.

Pieapalooza!

I was trying not to keep track of the pie I ate on Friday, and I was trying not to add it up afterward. There is nothing I can do about it, all that pie was eaten, there is no use worrying about calories. Thanks to this post, though, I know I ate six pieces of pie and had six drinks. How I’m still alive I’m not quite sure, but we all made it through Pieapalooza! with tales to tell. Pieapalooza! is totally going to be a thing now! Because who wouldn’t want to sit around eating pie and drinking all afternoon?

However, it is not going to happen again any time soon. The party wrapped up around 7 and if the Tigers wouldn’t have gone into extra innings I would have been asleep by 9:30. The Tigers kept me up with a sad, bloaty tummy till after midnight. The whole time I was thinking about how pissed I’d be if they ended up losing and I could have been sleeping it off instead of awake and in pain. It was totally worth it! But seriously I don’t want to be in that kind of pain again for a long time.

Like, a week at least.

I have been eating amazingly well over the past three days. Just uploading the pictures I’ve taken since Thursday inspired the title of this post. No one in the world has eaten better than I, starting with Thursday’s dinner party with my friends Kasia and Anders. PT and I made guacamole (PT made guacamole), which was nothing compared to what we were served.

Goat Cheese Flan

Starting with this beautiful Goat Cheese Flan served on a bed of salad. The Goat Cheese Flan was unbelievably good until you hit the halfway point, when it became ridiculously rich. I wanted to eat every bit of it, but just couldn’t! It was creamy and thick and cheesy! But non of us could finish it.

Beet Soup

This beet soup on the other hand! I scraped the bowl clean. I’ve never had beet soup before, or chilled soup for that matter, but this was so good. Especially when you got a scoop with goat cheese in it.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Basil Ice Cream

But the highlight of the night was the dessert. This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie was one of the best pies I’ve ever eaten. The crust was buttery and crisp and flaky, the filling tasted like strawberries sweetly kissed by God. If God had just finished eating a sugar cane field. And the sugar cane field had been danced in by rhubarb fairies. The whole thing was set off so nicely by the basil ice cream! The whole dish was so fresh and seriously perfect in every way.

Friday's Dinner of Sides

Friday for dinner PT and I had some food that needed to be eaten so we combined it into a dinner of sides. Brussel sprouts, plantains, and corn dogs. The brussel sprouts were broiled in the oven in olive oil, salt and pepper. The brussel sprouts themselves are amazing, but the best part of this method is when the outer leaves fall off while cooking and become brussel sprout chips, all crispy and salty!

Poor brussel sprouts get a bad rap. They are usually over cooked and droned in butter at Thanksgiving by meat eaters who have no idea what they are doing.

Fried Plantains

We also had some sad looking plantains laying around that had to be cooked Friday or not at all. So brussel sprouts and fried plantains? Sounds good to me! I pan fried these up in oil and they were better than ever. I had been trying fake butter before, but oil is the way to go. They cook faster and get browner and sweeter in the oil.

After dinner PT and I watched some baseball (the Tigers broke their 7 game winning streak/Twins won= one of us was happy), but it was such a lovely night PT suggested some ice cream. The Sweatshop has had a big week; a nonprofit asked for class donations (exposure! fame!), and I got a nice link on Carrots N Cake (exposure! fame!). There is no better place to celebrate exposure and fame than Margies.

Large Chocolate Sundae, Anyone?

We shared, which I don’t like doing, but it was midnight, and a lady can only eat so much ice cream after midnight before she starts looking like a balloon.

PT was excited. And yes, the sundae warranted that face. Margies never lets us down.

Two spoiled days down, one to go!

I know I’ve already posted a picture of the Amigurumi duck, but I finished the one I’m sending as a baby gift and it was too cute to not post again.

I Love This Duck

I also love the Target brand Tums bottle in the background of this picture. Behold:

Potpie Genius! The Crumble Top

Friday night potpie dinner!

It was enjoyed all weekend, as opposed to last time when it was enjoyed in one sitting. That was painful.

Speaking of pain, though, the Dykhuizen household is now the proud owner of a pasta maker. And it worked very hard Saturday afternoon.

Pasta Explosion

Manicotti, spinach and mushroom ravioli, squash ravioli, and linguine. Whew. It hurts to remember.

What Better Way to Start a Pasta Dinner?

Egg rolls, of course! Or spring rolls? I don’t know. But they were delicious. And now I have to stop talking about food because my tummy is still recovering.

Back At It!

After the Grandma’s Hat break I got back to working on the sweater jacket. I finished the second sleeve and am working on the neck now. It is hard to pick up stitches with the Homespun yarn because you pick up the big stitches and then knit front and back and front in the stitch with the smaller needles and yarn. It is looking even so far so I’m going to go with it. After this I’m just knitting the button bands! This sweater has knit up so quickly! I love it.

Time to review Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for book club tonight! And eat some pasta.

Yay!

Done! It is slightly bigger than I would have liked, like maybe 10 stitches around too big, but other than that I’m in love.

Pretty

Not that I’m complaining, by any means, but of course I finish the sweater and it decides to be 65 degrees. But I’m going to wear it soon! It is very warm and soft and will be perfect for another two months, I’m sure.

Since finishing the sweater I’ve been working very hard on Valentines presents that I’m almost done with. I don’t want to ruin the Valentines Day surprise for anyone (PT and Mommy), I’ll save the pictures for next week. I’m also fashioning a class around what I’m making! Stay tuned.

I feel like I spent the entire weekend in the kitchen! Slaving over the crock pot making chili and curry.

Veggie Pot Pie

We knocked it out of the park with an impromptu veggie pot pie on Saturday night. I made a quick pie crust, and we threw in all the vegetables laying around in my fridge with a can of cream of celery soup. Don’t let the portion fool you! PT and I ate all but two pieces that night.

Toy Class tonight! I’ve got to print some patterns and get needles ready. I think I’m going to start knitting my Fitted Knits Sweater that I was supposed to knit for sweater class, but that I’m going to get a head start on. I love it and am excited! It has taken everything in me to get these Valentines presents done and not just tackle that sweater. Pictures to come! I ended up getting some fun yarn at Joann that I’m excited to show you.

Ok class time! And now all I want is a huge pot pie to stick my face in.