What do volleyball and fruit pies have in common? Nothing, unless you happened to be at a volleyball tournament this past weekend at MIT. After the rousing success of our Guac-off this summer, pals Robin and Samantha were looking to plan another foodie/VB event at the next possible opportunity. Since we were all playing on the same team on Saturday, they decided it was time for a Pie-Off.We settled on fruit pies, to keep with some kind of theme, and roped in Shannon, my ever-agreeable co-conspirator, to provide a fourth entry (a scandalous translation on the fruit pie theme, much discussed among the judging faction). I must publicly apologize to Shan, here and now, for failing to photograph her pie. It didn’t travel well, and looked a little worked over by the time it arrived. However, it was lip-smacking good in every way, and we’ll say, under different circumstance, it would have looked something like this…
photo credit Julie Van Rosendaal
The rest of the entries were a trio of traditional fruit pies…
Traditional Apple Pie with Volleyball Pastry Detail a la Sam
Blueberry Crumble Pie a la Julie
Apple Crumble-Top Pie a la Robin
It was all quite official. We had signage announcing the event…
An official judging form (with authentic smearing)…
Volunteer judges flocked to the table to stuff their pie holes and give their opinion…
Coach Dill taste-testing the entries
The youngest judge fills her pie-hole 
While it was a ‘competition’ of sorts, truly everybody wins when there is pie involved. Blueberry Crumble came out on top (you can see that recipe here), though it was very close. It really it is hard to argue with a glorious ingredient such as this:
Robin kindly awarded me the Golden Spatula (ok, it was red) for my efforts, and we are already planning our next VB foodie event. Dips? Chili? Brownies? Whatever it is, I will dutifully report back here, so stay tuned
Thanks, ladies, for a fun event within an event! I really need to remember to take some photos of the volleyball action next time.
Registered dietitian. Foodie. Mother of three. Wife. Coach and teammate. Scrapbooker. How to balance it all? I'm learning how to juggle. Check out my blog for family-approved healthy recipes, the occasional treat, and a little nutrition on the side. And maybe a laugh or two :)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This event *needed* one scandalous entry. What’s a contest without controversy? Happy to oblige, cuz that’s the way I roll, baby…living on the edge. Even my graham cracker crust was nearly expired.
Good times all around. (Until I dropped your daughter.)
Love-love-love! So fun!