Yay!  It’s Pieathalon day – whoop whoop!

One of my favourite things about having a blog is getting invited to participate in some really bonkers challenges.  Once a year ACE food blogger Yinzerella over at Dinner Is Served 1972 organizes a Pieathalon – lots of people send her pie recipes, she shuffles them up like Paul Daniels with a deck of cards and we all cook the pie assigned to us.

I feel like a VETERAN now as I have participated in this every year since Yinzerella’s crazy mind came up with the concept. Up until now, I’ve always scored a SWEET pie to cook

Pieathalon #1 – Mile High Lemon Chiffon Pie

Pieathalo #2 – Magic Cream Pie

Pieathalon #3 – Creme de Cacao Pie

Pieathalon #4 – Rum Pie

But this year, I was excited to get a SAVOURY pie, an onion pie.

Or *WAS IT* a savoury pie?

I don’t need to take this quiz.  I am 100% savoury.  Crisps rather than chocolate. Beer rather than wine.  A starter rather than a dessert – you know the score…

But you know what, this pie was so WEIRD, myself and my three guests could not really work out if it was sweet or savoury.  It had onions in it, but also lots of sugar and vanilla essence and raisins….  I made it, but I had absolutely no idea what it would taste like…

I was THRILLED that Melbourne food blogger  Taryn Fryers was in the UK at EXACTLY the right time for a PIEATHALON MEET-UP.

Taryn brought her fabulously funny friend Monica and Battenburgbelle rocked up after an afternoon at the movies.

We had a totally brilliant afternoon.  The alcohol flowed, much grub was consumed, we tried each others’ pies and we celebrated the mad world of the internet that makes all of this lunacy possible.

Here are a few quotes from the day.

Me: Do you think this pie is sweet or savoury?

Taryn: Sw-avoury.

I forgot to write down who said the following but I suspect it was Battenburgbelle.  I had made a lot of things to go with the pie (including a Shirley Jones’ Mexicali Corn Casserole – here on the right…)

and Robert Quarry’s Texas Potato Salad

which I will blog about soon)

Battenburgbelle: “It’s all really nice apart from the pie.”

Somebody (Taryn I think) said this about my pie, “It’s surprisingly good considering the ingredients.”

At one point defending my pie against the very delicious pies that Taryn and Battenburgbelle had made I said, “I think that all the pies have something to recommend them” Taryn’s chum Monica said in a perfect tone, “Do you?”

Finally, when I was debating what to do with the ENORMOUS amount of sweet onion pie that was left, someone suggested that I take the rest of it into work and not tell them it had ONIONS in it.  I could offer a prize to whoever guessed what the secret ingredient was.

It was suggested that the prize should be, “something nice to eat”.

I do not mind at all that my pie was mental.  That is the way of the Pieathalon.  I did take some to work and reactions were priceless.  James said, “I don’t know what to say, my brain can’t process it.”  A couple of people said that they liked it, despite the weirdness of it. My favourite comment was Obi’s.  He said, “I’m not sure if it’s delicious or if I don’t like it.”

Taryn brought beautiful flowers, delicious pink champagne and a fabulous Vincent Price Pineapple Meringue Pie that was put forward by my chum Peter Fuller of the Vincent Price London Legacy

I had NO IDEA he was participating in the Pieathalon, had I known I would have invited him to join us.  NEXT YEAR!

I took lots of pix of Taryn’s pie as it was much more photogenic than the sweet onion pie!

 

I really loved Taryn’s pie.  Here’s me doing my Vincent Price impersonation…

Cathy made a Frosty Vanilla Pie which was also super yummy.

it was like ice-cream in a pie, delicious.

I’ll link to Taryn and Cathy’s posts about their pie when their posts are up.

I had no idea that I could eat three pieces of pie in one day.  But I did…

I will link to all the Pieathalon posts when they are up but for now, here’s my assigned recipe – crazy but GOOD.

Please note, if you really love sweet onions, you can chop them up and put them on ice-cream.  These recipes are from a cookbook ALL ABOUT SWEET ONIONS!

Noonday is a place in Texas where they grow a lot of sweet onions.

The last time I saw someone eat an onion as if it was an apple they had been hypnotized on stage by Paul McKenna.

Image result for paul mckenna

Yes please Paul.

I was really hoping that he’d pick me out of the audience to be hypnotized, but when I saw someone eating an onion as if it was an apple I was glad he hadn’t.

I was really hoping the Noonday Onion Festival was still going on (especially as I’m currently reading a book about this kind of food related event recommended by the lovely Mark Brisenden)

but it seems as though it’s gone the way of so many brilliant community events.  Kaput.

BUT, I loved reading about the Annual Noonday Onion Run.

Gunny Moore and Joe Tyner and their chums take an 8 hour motorcycle trip just to get their Noonday onions each year.  And what is more, THEY HAVE MADE THE SWEET ONION PIE.

I’m going to see if I can get in touch with them!

Thank you Yinzerella for organizing another Pieathalon, thanks Monica, Battenburgbelle and Taryn from Retro Food For Modern Times for sharing a pie day with me and thanks Kari for this crazy, but good pie recipe.

As the writer of the article about the Annual Noonday Onion Run puts it, “The awesome moral of this story: food may bring us all together, but good people is what makes those times special.”

Hurrah for all my fellow Pieathaletes!

Our great leader Yinzerella at Dinner is Served 1972 made Kate’s Pie

It’s not from a Vintage Recipe Card! Surly made a Dutch Peaches and Cream Pie

Kelli at Kelli’s Kitchen whips up a Chocolate Mousse Pie

Dr. Bobb experiments with Ritz Cracker Mock Apple Pie

Marguerite Patten’s Cheese Pie is on the menu over at Kelly’s Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en

Kari, The Nostagic Cook, presents The Tansey

The Granny Pantries are open as Poppy Crocker tries her hand at a Strawberry Ginger Pie

The Battenburg Belle gets her bake on with a Frosty Vanilla Pie

What is Mock Pecan Pie? Find out with Sally at My Custard Pie

Taryn tries her hand at Vincent Price’s Pineapple Meringue Pie at Retro Food for Modern Times

Camilla goes on another Culinary Adventure by making a Peaches and Cream Tart

Peter Fuller, the curator of Vincent Price Legacy, UK gets all cute with a Puddin n’ Pie

Say ‘bon jour’ to Renee’s French Raspberry Pie over at Tortillas and Honey

The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook goes Hawaiian with Aloha Meringue Pie

A pie called The Millionaire? What? Mimi at Once Upon a Salad will find out!

Sue, of Vintage Cookbookery (and the world record holder for the largest privately owned cookbook collection) serves up Yul Brenner’s Walnut Pie

I don’t know who Tyler is, but he has a pie. Go visit Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm

Go inside the Heritage Recipe Box with Clara and an Olde English Egg Nog Pie

Open the Book of Cookrye and discover Cool Mint Cookie Pie

Debra at Eliot’s Eats gets fruity with an Apricot Meringue Pie

Join Judy, Vicki, and The Book Club CookBook for the questionable “Almost a Pie”

The classic Seafoam Cantaloupe Pie is what’s for dessert at Recipes4Rebels

Kaci, the Homicidal Homemaker, presents Lemon and Beer. In a sponge pie!

 

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