Into each life, a little burnt pie must fall...

It's been a long week, a busy week, and thankfully, a week of good food. That is, until we got to the chocolate pecan pie...

I was so excited; finally my two Gay Husbands (among others) were coming to dinner. Usually, we do dinner at their place, cause there's more space, a lovely garden and a big, bright kitchen with a Wolf range. But tonight I convinced them to take the journey to the exotic land called Fruitvale, for an evening of gluttony and red wine.

I decided to remain on my Rick Bayless Mexican food binge, and made another pot of Oaxacan Black Bean Soup, using the chorizo variation this time. Also on the menu: chips and homemade salsa - this one featured tomatoes, jalapenos and garlic, all roasted and smoky, augmented with bright, clean bursts of flavor from white onions and cilantro. So simple, so good! Then we had tacos with roasted chicken and spinach stewed in a roasted tomatillo-serrano sauce. I think I need to add "all things roasted" to my list of addictions! The tacos also featured savory red rice, baked with with some of the roasted tomato jalapeno salsa, and little crumbled bits of queso fresco. Swear to gawd, it was all smooth as butter. Rick Bayless is ruining me and I'm loving every bite.

And then there was the pie. It's not every day that I bake a pie, let alone a chocolate pecan pie. I had to even go against my better judgment and buy a bottle of corn syrup - cause ya just can't make pecan pie without it. And so I did. Along with molasses, dark brown sugar, and a ridiculous amount of eggs. And bittersweet Scharfenberger chocolate, and fresh cream. I was so damn excited about this pie.... so excited that I forgot to turn the oven down from 400 to 350.... so excited that apparently I didn't even smell the little lovelies burning to a crisp, until Emily called me from next door and said "Hey, don't burn the pies, man"...at which point it was too late, and the guests were arriving. "Hello, welcome to dinner at my house, and please don't mind the smoky smell of burnt nuts!".

Fortunately, my friends are a very forgiving bunch. Dinner was so good, and the wine so plentiful, that by the time dinner was over, we all decided that it would be fun to scrape off the burnt bits and see if there was any chocolately, nutty goodness to be had underneath. And you know what? There was! It was a treasure hunt, made all the more fun by using our fingers! Miss Manners would be mortified! We stopped just short of flinging burnt bits of pecans at one another, and a good time was had by all.