the best pumpkin pie. ever.

I love pumpkin pie. I start thinking about it in September and practically count down the days until Thanksgiving, so that I can eat as much of it as possible.

I've made a pumpkin pie every Thanksgiving for the last several and none of them have been quite right. Well, Thanksgiving is more than a month behind us but this year's pie was finally right, thanks to my friend Eve's recipe. I made one little tweak to her recipe, to suit my own taste (see the brandy section), but otherwise the recipe is the same.

Since American Thanksgiving is a few days away, I thought I'd finally post this. We're doing a Thanksgiving repeat this weekend because some of our friends were away for the meal we had at our apartment and I'm going to make this all over again. I only hope it's as good as I thought it was last month!

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Brandied (or Whisky-ed) Pumpkin Pie (via Eve Rockett, via The Vancouver Sun)

Pastry for a 9 inch single pie crust (I used this recipe to make my crust.)

1 (398 ml) can pumpkin
1 1/4 cups evaporated milk
3 large eggs
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 l/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
l/2 tsp. salt
l/2 tsp. ground ginger
l/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
l/4 cup brandy (I used whiskey instead and a tablespoon or two of maple syrup.)

Whipped cream for garnish

Line pie plate with pastry. Trim pastry and leave a l inch overhang. Fold overhang under, pinch to form high fluted edge.

In large bowl beat pumpkin, milk, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and nutmeg with mixer at low speed. Blend until well mixed. Stir in brandy.

Place pie pate on bottom oven rack; pour pumpkin mixture into shell. Bake at 400 F for 35 minutes. Cover pastry edges with foil if pastry browns too quickly.)

Reduce heat to 325F and bake an additional 15 minutes, or until knife inserted in centre comes out clean. Cool pie completely on rack. Refrigerate. Before serving, garnish with whipped cream.

Makes eight servings. 

P.S. I'm not abandoning, this blog ... really I'm not! It's just that things have been wonderfully busy around here and it's unfortunately not the priority it once was. I'm hopeful that I'll be back here more soon, but I'm not really into forcing myself into something that is supposed to be for fun, anyway.

new years eve.

This year we spent a pretty cozy New Years Eve at our friend Patrick's cabin. We counted down to the new year standing in the middle of a frozen slough with champagne sparkling wine at the ready. We ate great food, made ice cream, played Crokinole, skated and curled. (Well, I didn't curl due to an unfortunate skating spill.) It was a wonderful time and bodes well for my desire to have a calmer year.

happy new year.

{An image from one of my "On My Way To ..." posts.}

This has been a wonderful but very busy year! I'm really looking forward to this coming year. Though I'm a total resolution person, I haven't really worked them out as such, yet, but I do know that I want this year to be a little more calm.

I'd also like my little corner of the web to keep going and for me to expand on the repertoire of my blog. In that vein, thank you so very much for visiting this space on the web this year. I sure do appreciate you! I hope you have a wonderful new year.

{Below are the top five posts from this year, picked by number of views. Some of them surprised me!}

{Slut Walk Vancouver. The Day After.}

{Found: One Steamer Trunk.}

{Small Joys: New Apartment Edition.}

{Slut Walk Vancouver.}

{One of my first small joys posts.}

happy birthday mom.

{My mom when she was 18.}

Today is my mom's birthday! She was just visiting me in Vancouver and we had such a great time. We pretty much talked for three days straight, between eating and drinking wine. I'm very lucky to have a mom like her!

Happy birthday Mom!

happy birthday nick.

Today is my love's birthday. He's the kind of guy that a blog post just can't describe. He's my best friend, the best listener and I'm so lucky to spend my days with him.

Happy birthday Nick!

happy hallowe'en.

{Nick and I on Saturday night, as Alfred Hitchock and Tippi Hedren from The Birds.}

happy birthday sister.

{My sister and I in 1987. Terri Whetstone photo.}

Today is my sister's birthday. If I could have anyone in the world for a sibling, I'd still pick her. She's probably the funniest person I know and the most loyal.

Happy birthday Ann! Can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend.

wine country.

For the long weekend we went down to Summerland to do some wine tasting. The weather was brilliant and I knocked one thing off my summer list: swimming in natural water. I swam in Lake Okanagan twice and even though it was really cold, it was totally worth it! It was a lovely way to spend Canada's birthday, and mine!

gramps.

As I mentioned before, I've been scanning photos for my family. They've really been making me miss my Gramps whose birthday would have been today. So here are a few of those photos. Miss ya, Gramps!

P.S. Happy Friday!

happy father's day.

{My dad and me in 1987.}

My dad is very special. He's loyal and warm and a salt-of-the-earth kind of guy. He just is who he is. He's one of the people I most look up to and admire. I'm so lucky to have a dad like him!

Happy father's day, Dad!

(And to Harry and Gord, who aren't here for father's day anymore: I think of you often.)

happy birthday roddy.

{One of my favourite photos of my dad from 1993.}

Today is my dad's birthday. He's taught me to drive, shoot a gun and also, how to be a good listener. One of my favourite times with my dad was when I moved back in with my parents for three months between Halifax and Vancouver. He had just retired so we spent a lot of time together. That year started our annual hunting trip. He was also my photo assistant when I got a freelance contract to take photos of building projects. He also spent a lot of time listening to me talk about what I wanted to do next with my life. Happy birthday Dad! (And see you soon.)

happy mother's day.

{My mom on a recent trip to San Diego, looking gorgeous. Via my aunt's Facebook page.}

Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful mom! I'm lucky to have a warm and lovely mom who has always encouraged and loved me. My mom just decided to retire so this will be a new and exciting chapter in her life. I'm also selfishly hoping it means that I will get to see much more of her.

Also a happy Mother's Day to my Nana!

P.S. I don't have a single good picture of just me and my mom. I'm going to have to raid my Edmonton photo stash when I'm there in a few weeks, and take some photos of Barb and me. How did it happen that I don't have any photos of us?

happy birthday nana and auntie jackie.

{Helen during a visit to Vancouver in 2009.}

My nana is 89 today. 89!! And doesn't she look amazing?! She's pretty incredible. She was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and immigrated to Edmonton when she met my Gramps during World War II. She was in the war herself, and met my grandpa driving trucks. (How rad is that?) She's been a mother to four kids (my mom is the third) and is the grandmother of six girls. She's one of the most well-travelled people I know and travelled to Singapore, by herself to visit my Auntie Jackie at 80-years-old. She recently got back from a trip to San Diego, with her kids, Doug, Jackie, Barb (mom to me) and Terri. Happy, happy birthday Nana! To many more. XOXO

{Update: My auntie Terri pointed me to this
gorgeous photo on Jackie's Facebook page.}

It is also my Auntie Jackie's birthday! (That would have been a great birthday present for Nana, that year. A baby girl!) I don't have a photo of her because I haven't seen her in waaaaay too long! She hosts wicked parties and is one of the warmest people I know. She once hosted my mom's entire side of the family (eighteen people) at her house in Colorado for several days around Christmas. We had the best time eating her marvelous food and catching up. Lots of love to my Auntie Jackie!

happy birthday auntie terri.

{Photo ripped off of my aunt's Facebook page, because it's rad.}

Today is the birthday of one of my favourite people. My Auntie Terri! Terri is a painter who lives in Blandford, Nova Scotia. She's a kindred-spirit, even if she'll always be waaaaaay cooler than me! She taught me to sing 'Born to Be Wild' at the tender age of eight and let me live with her family when I first moved to Halifax. She also serves me tequila and talks with me into the wee hours when I go to visit. I miss her lots and lots! Happy birthday!

yay mom + dad.

{My parents dancing the night away at our friends' wedding in August 2008.}

My mom and dad have been married for 27 years today. Go parents! Congratulations!