Let Freedom Ring (while you're eating an icky pie)

I love the 4th of July and everything it represents. I am always proud to be an American and thankful to live in this free country, but the 4th allows me to force ask my family to wear matching red/white/blue flag adorned clothing, bake apple pie, load up on fireworks and not look too much like a nerd. (Thank you to Jimmy Buffet's Sirius channel for reminding our house throughout the day to take a moment and think of our troops who put their lives on the line for our freedom - they deserve our thanks, thoughts, and prayers.)

This year we were invited to a friend's house for a BBQ and swimming - a great time was had by all. I baked two pies to bring - one was a triumph old fashioned apple from one of my favorite cookbooks and the other was a hugely disgusting not so good cherry pie that I will never bake again (here's a tip: don't make a recipe for the first time that you're serving to guests). I think it was a combo of too much sugar and vanilla extract that made this pie awful. Plus, I used arrowroot starch for the first time as the thickener. Could that have altered the taste? The pie certainly looked lovely (looks can be so deceiving); I made the top crust using different sized star cutouts and placed them in a lattice fashion. It baked up beautifully but I noticed it never quite had that cherry pie smell.

When we were cutting it, I sneaked a bite and then I knew - this pie had to be the worst cherry pie I've ever eaten. So while the fireworks were taking place and kids were running around with sparklers, apple pie was served to all and the cherry pie got pushed aside. I was not about to ruin such a great day with such an icky pie (that's my freedom of choice, right?)