See these apricots? These apricots are a sweet and delicious gold medal.
Let’s talk about the importance of rewarding ourselves for facing our fears and accomplishing goals.
When I first started seriously considering having a baby, I made a list of things that I wanted to get done before that happened. The big three were; loose 25 pounds, finish my online marketing certification, and learn how to drive a car. Of those things, learning to drive was by far the most daunting. After spending 28 years walking, busing, bike riding, and ride mooching, I had become pretty fearful of getting behind the wheel.
Over the course of my 28th year I sweat my ass off at the gym and counted calories until I lost the weight. I hit the books, showed up to class, learned all about AdWords and SEO until I earned my marketing certificate. I spent a whole year with a learners permit, driving with friends and professional instructors, failing a behind the wheel test once and then trying again, until finally getting my license. Booyah! I checked off those items, turned 29, and one month later I was pregnant. Ain’t life grand?
Here’s the thing though, after getting my license I didn’t drive again until I bought my first car about a month ago. This 6 month gap was been long enough for my fear of driving on city streets and my downright terror when thinking about the freeway to reemerge. In the past month I’ve worked my way back to being comfortable driving on city streets, and this week I decided that it was finally time to conquor the freeway.
So I did what any rational person would do, I bribed myself with a trip to my favorite grocery store. The deal was, that if I could drive to the store round trip on the freeway I would make myself the fruit pie of my choice. Allow me to point out here that I live in Oakland CA., just across the bay from San Francisco and our freeways are not insignificant. There are a lot of lanes, interchanges, commuters, and even bridges to contend with when taking a drive on one. Just sayin’.
This whole story has been to say that I made it to Berkeley Bowl West via freeway yesterday, and treated myself to 2 pounds of the finest apricots that I’ve seen this season. It wasn’t a long trip, but friends…. I have never tasted a sweeter fruit. I got them all home and proceeded to make a simple pie that was by no means healthy, a but 100% well earned indulgence.
Never underestimate the motivational power of pie!
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- 9 inch pie crust
- FILLING
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons flour
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 cups sliced apricots
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- TOPPING
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup butter, diced
- Prepare a 9inch pie crust. I used this easy no roll pie crust recipe: http://joythebaker.com/2009/10/easy-no-roll-pie-crust/
- Combine sugar, flour, and nutmeg.
- Fill pie crust with apricot slices and sprinkle with sugar mixture.
- Sprinkle lemon juice over top.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and flour for topping.
- Mix in butter with a fork or stand mixer just until the topping is crumbly.
- Sprinkle topping on pie.
- Bake at 425° for 25 to 35 minutes.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This is such a great post Ayah! I’m so proud of you and all of your accomplishments. You inspire me – and one day I’ll learn how to drive too, because I love pie!!!
I’m first in line to bake you a pie when you get your driver’s license!
Way to go, woman! The hard things in life are what make its indulgences even sweeter.