baby don't you cry

It's the second day of June, the second unofficial day of summer, and it's pouring. The past three summers I have occupied myself with various projects: photographing myself once a day for a fashion Flickr group, launching and abandoning a webcomic, even trying to eat my way through the Pioneer Woman's massive recipe archives. I am a "project" kind of gal; there's something cathartic about assigning, carrying out, and completing a task, and if it involves food, I am all for it.

If you have never seen the movie Waitress, go out and Netflix it NOW. Seriously. I'll be waiting here when you finish.

If you have, then you know that it is quirky, heart-breaking, heart-healing, sappy, passionate... difficult to describe. It's the kind of movie that you watch at different times at your life and feel differently each time. But at it's heart, there is warm, gooey, oh-so-comforting pie. Sometimes it is a "I hate my husband" pie kind of day, and other times it is a "Peachy Keen" tart day. Today is the kind of pie you make on the second day of June when it is dumping buckets, cold, and you have just finished photocopying a hundred logic games to tote with you to the library. Or, today is the perfectly auspicious day to start a project baking your way through the movie Waitress.

In total, there are 18 pies baked in the movie. Prescribing to the "work smarter, not harder" academic mantra, here is a list of the pies compiled by TechLifeWeb

All the Pies of “Waitress”

Pie #1: Blue Plate Special I DON’T WANT EARL’S BABY PIE or BAD BABY PIE – Quiche with egg and brie cheese with a smoked ham center (later referred to as BAD BABY QUICHE PIE by old Joe)

Pie #2: KICK IN THE PANTS PIE – Cinnamon spice custard (Today’s Special)

Pie #3: I HATE MY HUSBAND PIE - “You make it with bittersweet chocolate and don’t sweeten it. You make it into a pudding and drown it in caramel …”

Pie #4: SPAGHETTI PIE – has at home with husband

Pie #5: MARSHMALLOW MERMAID PIE – From when she was in her mermaid stage. Pie made for Dr. Mueller, and given later in the appointment to Dr. Pomatter. “Biblically good!”

Pie #6: FALLIN’ IN LOVE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE PIE – made for Dawn

Pie #7: BABY SCREAMING IT’S HEAD OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND RUINING MY LIFE PIE – New York-style cheesecake, brandy brushed and topped with pecans and nutmeg

Pie #8: PEACHY KEEN TARTS – made for Dr. Pomatter

Pie #9: EARL MURDERS ME BECAUSE I’M HAVING AN AFFAIR PIE – “You smash blackberries and raspberries into a chocolate crust.”

Pie #10: I CAN’T HAVE NO AFFAIR BECAUSE IT’S WRONG AND I DON’T WANT EARL TO KILL ME PIE – “Vanilla custard with banana. Hold the banana …”

Pie #11: SPANISH DANCER PIE WITH POTATO CRUST – Joe orders at the Diner

Pie #12: NAUGHTY PUMPKIN PIE – brought to appointment for Dr. Pomatter, but unexpectedly with Dr. Mueller. Dr. Pomatter unexpectedly out of town with wife

Pie #13: STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE OASIS PIE – After Joe orders this one and Jenna tells him that it’s just a pie: “Just a pie! It’s downright expert. A thing’a beauty … how each flavor opens itself, one by one, like a chapter in a book. First, the flavor of an exotic spice hits ya … Just a hint of it … and then you get flooded with chocolate, dark and bittersweet like an old love affair …” – Joe

Pie #14: PREGNANT MISERABLE SELF PITYING LOSER PIE – “Lumpy oatmeal with fruitcake mashed in. Flambéed of course …”

Pie #15: LONELY CHICAGO PIE – Teaches Dr. Pomatter how to make this one

Pies #16 & #17: CAR RADIO PIE and JENNA’S FIRST KISS PIE – These are pies Jenna’s mom used to make that she fondly remembers.

Pie #18: OLD JOE’S HORNY PIE – Jenna states she is going to invent after a saucy story from Old Joe.

My goal is to work/eat my way through these 18 pies this summer and fall, and document this process so you can enjoy it vicariously through me. I can't promise that I'll like them all (Marshmallow Mermaid Pie combines two of my least favorite ingredients: marshmallows and coconut), but my goal is to capture the spirit of the pie, as well as create my own.

So, even though it's raining and bleak... "Baby don’t be blue, Gonna make for you, Gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle"