As planned, I got in 45 miles this week.  I was also more conscious of eating moderately as opposed to eating as much and whatever I want.  One example is a variation on the usual breakfast I order when my father-in-law takes us out to his favourite breakfast spot. Normally, I relish one of Ricky’s famous big breakfasts, the Perogy and Egg Platter which includes; 3 eggs, 7 perogies with grilled onions, your choice of bavarian, chorizo or calabrese sausage and toast.

To moderate this indulgence I convinced my husband to share this big breakfast with me along with a waffle breakfast.  I call it the breakfast buffet. In case you were wondering, we split the 7th perogy in half.

Today I’m baking a pie for my father-in-law.  I love the way he hints that it would be nice if I baked a pie. Actually, the beauty of it is that he says, “Are you going to bake a pie?” and then laughs and says he is just kidding me.  I can’t really tell if he is teasing me or hinting but I always commit  to baking a pie, in this case a lemon meringue pie.  I am quite vain about my pie making prowess so it doesn’t take much to get me going.  This is the third pie I’ve baked in the past month.

I have an internal rating system for each effort.  I baked a blueberry pie for a BBQ for workmates which was a disappointing *C*, about the lowest score I have given myself. Of course, I don’t mention the rating system to the eaters as I know any home baking is usually appreciated and most often better than anything store bought. I’m trying to get over making excuses and being too hard on myself for what I cook or bake for others.  As for the moderation, I never say no to my own baking, after all the joy of running is connected to the joy of baking but I will stick to one serving.

I baked a lemon meringue pie for a departing work colleague which turned out very well, an *A* effort.  What made it fall short of an A+?  That would be the aesthetics.  It looked fine and the crust was nicely browned but the edging was very basic with no fancy leaf patterns or other embellishments I sometimes create.

My father-in-law has good reason to remember me for my pies.  For my in-laws 50th Anniversary I baked nine pies in one day.  We had a very big crowd at a brother-in-law’s cottage which was one part of an all-weekend celebration.  I was very touched by my father-in-law’s public appreciation of my efforts which was really the least I could do.  I baked apple pie, blueberry pie, peach pie and rhubarb-raspberry pie.  Other pies in my repertoire include my famous sweet potato pie flavoured with maple syrup and pecan pie drizzled with chocolate.  Pies I aspire to make are banana cream pie, coconut cream pie and cherry pie.

With increased mileage, I find myself looking forward to baking a little more.  Bring on the pies . . . I mean miles.