Red, white and yummy

Since we've been without an oven, I haven't been able to bake, which is probably a good thing because I'm not tempted to break my diet. But a recipe from epicurious.com caught my eye and I just had to try it. OF course, I did change it up a bit. The original recipe is for no-bake raspberry cream pie, but I made it with strawberries.

Here in Ventura County, Calif., we grow some of the best strawberries in the world. While we ship out the big, wax-covered sturdy, but relatively tasteless varieties, the sweeter, much more perishable varieties are reserved for sale locally at area farmers markets. But you have to be careful and taste them because they range from the spongy, fairly bitter berries to the really sweet berries, like the ones I bought at the Simi Valley farmers market.

One of my favorite smells in the world is driving around Ventura County through lemon orchards and strawberry fields. Sometimes you can smell both at once and the smell is deliciously intoxicating. This pie tastes like that smell combines with a nice, rich chocolate-y crust. I added some cookies and butter, along with a teaspoon of vanilla, which adds dept to the flavor. I would recommend spraying the pie pan with a baking oil because it does stick to the sides because it's impossible to press the crumbs up the side of the pie dish without pressing them down

According to the recipe, the lemon juice combines with the sweetened condensed milk and creme fraiche, available at Trader Joes, to make a kind of custard. I put the cut berries on top of the pie and let it set overnight, which was a mistake. Reserve the second half of the berries until right before serving. I considered doubling the filling because it doesn't make that much, but this is very rich and it doesn't need more filling, although a dollop of whipped cream would be good.

No-bake Strawberry Cream Pie (adapted from Bon Appetit magazine recipe)

8 ounces chocolate wafer cookies (about 35), coarsely broken
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
7 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup crème fraîche*
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters lengthwise

Place broken cookies in processor. Using on/off turns, process until finely ground. Place chocolate chips, butter, and sugar in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high at 15-second intervals until melted, stirring occasionally. Add vanilla. Add chocolate mixture to processor and blend until combined. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch glass pie dish that has been sprayed with a non-stick baking oil(do not pack firmly). Chill crust while preparing filling.

Whisk condensed milk, crème fraîche, lemon juice, and lemon peel in large bowl to blend. Add half of strawberries. Stir, pressing gently on some strawberries, until strawberries begin to break apart and filling turns pink. Transfer filling to crust. Chill until filling is set, about 2 hours or overnight for a good set.

Scatter remaining strawberries over pie. Cut into wedges and serve with sweetened whipped cream.

*Sold at Trader Joes.

Kitchen science: The filling firms as it chills, creating nice clean slices of pie—but it doesn't contain any thickeners. The secret? Lemon juice. When it reacts with the other ingredients, it helps thicken the filling.

I brought this pie with me when we went to Gen and Sean's to celebrate the 4th of July. Earlier in the day I covered celebrations in Oxnard and Ventura. The annual Ventura 4th of July street festival has grown to amazing proportions. It took me 40 minutes to park. It reminded me of the Waynesville Sauerkraut Festival, which I used to cover each year when I lived in Ohio, although there were no sauerkraut brownies and doughnuts, like there were in Waynesville. The Waynesville celebration usually topped 250,000 people and I swear the crowds were about as big in Ventura.

I also covered the Summerfest Dog show and will be going back there tomorrow for the best in Show award. I've been having so much fun with these assignments, especially considering that last week I was having a terrible time getting people to talk to me. I had not one, but two people just blow me off. I hate when this happens because I only get paid when I get a story. Plus I just hate to be blown off.

I did manage to write one of my favorite ledes on one of the dog show series when I went to pet the head of an Old English Sheepdog the owner had just spent a hours grooming and smushed the dog's hair down. I never realized how much I missed reporting, and now, looking back I can see what a big mistake it was to ever leave it. I just love the role of observer and chronicler.

I believe that there is a greater demand for real journalists, especially reporters, than ever before as people's appetite for information becomes increasingly voracious. It's just the vehicle for those stories has changed and no one seems to know how to make the obscene profits they made in newspapers -- the profits that have proved to be the eventual undoing of the entire industry.

So I'll just keep honing my writing skills and working at keeping to the basic core values of journalism, which, to me, are making the world a bit better by keeping those lines of communication, so necessary for all of us to have type of freedom, open.