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This is not a recipe for Derby-Pie

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When we lived in Kentucky, one of the things I liked best about Derby Week was, for lack of a better name, Derby-Pie.

When I say lack of a better name, I mean Derby-Pie is a registered trademark of Kern’s Kitchen in Louisville, and Kern’s lawyers are really aggressive about defending the trademark, so around Louisville and Lexington you’ll see menus with “Kentucky pie” or “May-day pie” (because the Derby is always run on the first Saturday in May).

Generically, it’s a chocolate pecan pie with bourbon, but no one in Kentucky calls it that.

Ingredients

  • 9-inch deep-dish pie crust
  • 1 stick of butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 3/4 cup light corn syrup
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/4 cup bourbon
  • 1 cup chocolate chips, more or less
  • 1 and 1/2 cups pecan halves, more or less

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. With a mixer, whip the butter, sugar, corn syrup, eggs, vanilla and bourbon together until frothy
  3. Spread the chocolate chips and pecans evenly on the bottom of the pie shell
  4. Pour the mixed ingredients into pie crust and back at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until set
  5. Let cool 30 minutes before serving (it’s good with ice cream or whipped cream)

Love of the game

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Marcy and I are still trying to wrap our heads around the fact our kids are good at sports.

We aren’t slugs, exactly. We hike and play tennis, but I’m not what you’d call “coordinated.” I haven’t played on a team since I played football in 4th grade. Heck, we don’t even get ESPN.

O, though, is a pretty good soccer player, and A never played a sport she didn’t like.

She’s a basketball player first, but she’s tried soccer and volleyball, and this spring, she’s playing softball. Considering that she’d never played the game until a few weeks ago, she pretty good.

She takes it seriously, listens to her coach and plays hard. Mostly, though, she has fun. Sometimes,  when she’s playing, she just can’t help smiling.

Last night, she played a 7:30 game, but it started late. Marcy took her while I stayed home to put O to bed. It was almost 10 before they got home.

“Dad!” she said as soon as she walked in. “I got a girl out, and I got a hit! I got on base!”

That’s great, I said. Who won?

“I think we did!”

It really didn’t matter she won or lost. What mattered to her was that she played the game.