First Entry/Pie Bake-Off

Hello and welcome to my first blog on blogger! Decided on a whim to start this out considering I finally gave up xanga and I have sudden urges to blog about me life. So here I am. As similar with my previous blog, anything interesting that goes on with my life will be entered here.

And what better way to start it off by talking about pie!

I know I've told a lot of my friends that I placed 2nd in a Pie Contest (NOT A EATING CONTEST) this past Saturday, but I just can't believe it. Amongst the many many different kinds of pies, my humble little Banana Cream Pie came out as one of the best! Needless to say, I am very very honored.

Considering I really do not bake much, this is how my pie came to be. My work had a Chicken Wing contest and I decided to make a Banana Cream Pie, which I made once before, for everyone to eat. Long story short, it ended up winning the chicken wing contest. Well, technically I didn't win because I told them I shouldn't considering it wasn't chicken, but I had enough votes to put me through. And after that, I made it a few more times for other small occasions.

When I had heard KCRW was throwing a Pie Bake-Off, I had to jump on it! I really wanted to see if my pie was really that good, or if my friends were just being really nice. Mine was entered in the "Cream/Chiffon" Category.

The Pie I Entered

During the event, I was really nervous when the judges were eating my pie. My preliminary judge was Elizabeth Belkind, Executive Pastry Chef/Owner of Cake Monkey. She seemed to enjoy it a lot!

Elizabeth Belkind

After I made the Top 5, I could have just passed out right there. I was super excited to make it that far. The next round of judging began. This time, all the judges had a taste of my pie!

All the judges

Right before they announced the winners in the cream category, I felt really excited, but more nervous. It was great to be in the Top 5, but I really wanted to see if it could go even further. When they announced the 3rd best pie was #5 (my number is 15), I thought to myself that it was over. I was shooting for 3rd and I was thinking mine's wasn't good enough. But when they called the 2nd place pie was #15, I was super excited! I honestly don't remember much because it was so surreal and everything was a big blur. But after all said and done, I, an extremely casual baker whose only good dessert is banana cream pie (so far), had won second place at a major pie contest.

Me with my Ribbon


My pie won 2nd in the Cream Category!


1st place Marni Landes and her mom (Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Banana Pie)
I can honestly say her pie really deserved 1st place. It was that amazing!


Fellow 2nd place finisher in the savory category Zoe Jarocki (Mushroom Pie)


KCRW's Good Food Host Evan Kleiman
She's definitely my hero!

I just want to say a BIG thank you to all my family and friends, especially Sean and Amy who showed up, for wishing me good luck on this. I worked really hard on this pie and it was really an honor earning this ribbon. I also want to thank KCRW and Good Food for making this event happen. I had a blast doing this and maybe this might be a turning point in my hobby of baking....

Just needs some guidance from others.