Life On The Central Coast

Back with Week #7 of my 52 weeks of pie! Like most of us, I wanted to create a really beautiful pie, well actually a tart, especially for my Valentine, Wes. It had to be chocolate, decadent and beautiful all at the same time. After looking high and low on the internet for something good, I decided on THIS wonderful Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart featured on the Frayed Apron Blog. I mean, look at her picture! Who wouldn't want to make and eat this??!! (From the Frayed Apron Blog) Now, you may say a Tart isn't a Pie but it actually is. It has a crust and a filling so in my book, its a VARIETY of pie. Over the course of my "52 Weeks of Pie," you will see tarts, pies and galettes, a free form type of pie. So keep checking back, you'll be glad you did! The first different thing for me was the crust. It's put together much like the others with just the addition of cocoa powder. I did use the vodka again instead of the water or milk as suggested because...

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite days of the year. You should see the pile of Valentines I've collected over the years! I still have years worth from when I was in grade school...antiques...like me. When I was little, my mom mostly bought little Valentines for us to exchange. I'd always throw a little something extra into mine, especially for those people I really loved! As I grew up, those Valentine's took on even more meaning. I met my husband when I was 15. We had only known each other a couple of months on that first Valentine's Day. He bought me a BIG heart shaped box of chocolates and a really sweet Valentine's card. I was in LOVE....big time!! Now we've been married nearly 35 years! Then, in 2001, Valentine's Day as I knew it came to a crashing halt. It became the day my beautiful sister passed away. She wasn't even 50. Her daughters, the age of mine now, were motherless. The "heart" of their family, and ours, rippe...