The Boston Pie Experiment

  A few months back I was searching on the internet and found what I thought would be a great opportunity for John and I. It was a call to all home chefs to compete in the ultimate pie bake-off. The only set back was that it would be held over six hours away in Cambridge, MA. Even with the knowledge that we would have to travel a pretty far distance I couldn't help but sign up!
  Not more than a day later we heard back from one of the guys who runs the Food Experiments that we could consider ourselves official competitors. From that moment on we worked hard to come up with table decor and a great product. We already knew that we would be making my Great-grandmother's Blueberry Crumb Pie but the true question was how we were going to travel such a far distance with enough pie to feed 300 people. We decided that individual pies would be the easiest and neatest way to serve our pie.
  The week leading up to the actual contest was, to say the least, very hectic. All we could think and talk about was the competition. We began by purchasing our table cloth which showcased our team name (Bones N' Rose of course) and what we were making. We also did a few test runs to ensure that our pie was up to competition standards. Early Friday morning we began baking and continued until about 1:00am. Our living room was literally lined with Blueberry Crumb Pies. Saturday morning we threw in two more batches then hit the road for Boston!With our two massive coolers filled to the top with pies and our bag of decorations we were on our way to our first competition. After a very long drive we finally made it to our hotel and rested before the big day.
  The morning of the competition was very nerve racking. We worried how many contestants would also be serving blueberry inspired pies (the answer to that was two others), and how people would react to our pie. We showed up at the Middle East Club ready for the day. We were happy to see that we were one of the first teams there. As soon as we saw the tight space we knew our table cloth wasn't going to work. This made me upset but I couldn't let it ruin the experience.  At last moment I sent John out on a wild hunt for a red table cloth. Luckily he came back with a perfect red table cloth. We set up our half of a table and were ready to go!
  As the everyone started to pile in we noticed how overwhelmed people were by the size of our pies. Everyone else had their pie scooped into tiny 2oz. solo cups. Ours were prob four times that size! Other than that we were very happy with the way our pies tasted and our table presentation. It finally came time for me to go on stage to present our entry. Although I was very nervous it didn't end up being all that bad. At the end of the day we didn't place in any of the categories but had a great time and felt like it was worthwhile experience. We can't wait for our next competition!

For more information about the Food Experiments go to:
http://thefoodexperiments.com/