Sixteen. Hours.
This post is late...it is, in fact, almost Wednesday morning and we baked today for a total of 16 hours. SIXTEEN HOURS IS A LOT OF HOURS. I wish I had a more detailed post but all that is left in my brain is to say that we baked. And we baked. And we baked some more. I would bet you that I unwrapped more sticks of butter today than I have used in baking in the entire past year. And the eggs...oh, the eggs. After a second trip to Sam's, we ended up needing 64 dozen eggs today. I won't be able to make an omelet for WEEKS until I recover from cracking 768 eggs in a 16 hour period.
That said, we don't have to bake a single pie in the morning, the Elks Club commercial kitchen is spotless, and each pie is boxed and labeled. I was convinced that we would be working well until the wee hours of the morning - the fact that I'm at home and typing this actually stuns me.
Without question, it took a village today. Jeanne's husband Dale washed so many dishes...I can't even guess how many times he washed the huge whisk thing on the commercial mixer. Our friend Sherry (Chief Brand Officer Sherry) pretty much spared us from hours of extra labor by baking like a crazy woman and making all the labels for the pies (she isn't CBO for nothing, she has mad label making skills). Heck, by the time night fell, even my husband and kids were in on the game by assembling boxes and putting stickers on the boxes. Had it just been the two of us, we would have needed another 5 or 6 hours at least and so with so much heartfelt gratitude, thank you to our peeps for swooping in at our hour of need and helping!
Tomorrow, all I have to do is hand out pies. Honestly, I don't even think I'm going to go into the kitchen for fear that I'll have a flashback to 10 pounds of pecans that need to be chopped. If you ordered a pie for tomorrow, know that it is a) homemade and b) carefully planned, baked, and double counted just for you. A few notes about pickup:
1) Pickup will be at the Elks Lodge at 4747 E. Elk Park Drive. This is on Highway WW, just past Cedar Ridge Elementary. We will be there from 10 until 3.
2) We don't have any waiting lists. All pies are currently spoken for, but if something changes in the morning or during the pickup process, we will post to Facebook and offer those pies for sale.
3) Please plan to pay in cash.
4) Please plan to enjoy your pies, appreciate the box, and find the stickers to be wonderfully designed and placed. It takes a village, people.
5) The pumpkin and French silk pies must be refrigerated until serving, so please plan your pickup times accordingly. The French silk especially is a persnickety pie and even though it is going to be cold out tomorrow, it probably won't do well in your car for longer than 30 minutes or so.
We are excited for tomorrow. We will have super cute Peggy Jean's Pies pullovers on, but you'll recognize us by our limps and dark circles under our eyes. Don't hesitate to come say hi.