Mmmmmm... pie.

I tried a new pumpkin pie recipe this year. Risky to mess with a classic, I know, but my Cook's Illustrated book made it sound like heaven, if a bit more work. I made it on Wednesday just to be sure.

The crust - made from scratch! - was to be pratially pre-baked, which meant an hour of chilling before baking. Then I had to have all the filling stuff ready to go, because key to the success of this recipe, CI said, was the timing. Warm filling goes into hot crust to create some sort of wonderful something that I don't remember. Maybe avoidance of soggy crust. So while the crust bakes, the canned pumpkin and sugar and spices go into a pot and get cooked and stirred and reduced, just so. Pull out the crust, whisk the dairy into the pumpkin, put it all together and pop right back into the oven for Pie Heaven.

Smelled good. Took a lot of self-control not to do any "chef's privelege" taste-testing before Thursday.

We had our Feast early in the day so as to guarantee our being able to have pie at a reasonable time of day. And when all was cleaned up and bellies were rested, I got up one last time to whip some cream. And just as I got the paper plates out...

CRASH!

Ben had come to help me, and was pulling the Saran Wrap off the pie. I think he must have underestimated the grip that stuff can have on my glass pie dish. Let me tell you, when Pyrex goes, it goes with a bang! Eighteen gazillion shards ALL OVER THE KITCHEN, and clear over onto out living room carpet, as well. The funny thing was, the pie remained almost perfectly intact. Perfectly edible, except for all the near-invisible glass sprinkles. Mmmmmmm....sprinkles.

So we had banana-nut bread with whipped cream on top for Thanksgiving dessert. Well, Ben and I did. I think everyone else counted dessert a loss. Except for Joseph, who was in a tryptophan-induced coma through it all.

Epilogue: I dipped my finger into a glass-free bit of pie, and it tasted EXACTLY THE SAME as normal, easy-to-make pie. Also, Matt and I find ourselves wondering if this will become Family Lore, like the Wood family no-sugar pies, or the Burr household's Freaky Friday. We could call it... The Year of the Billion-Shard Pie.