baking in the summer

I've made the first peach pie of the season. It was basically this one, though it had two cups of blueberries in it because I only had four cups of peaches. And I used Earth Balance shortening instead of Crisco, because my sister told me it didn't have trans fats. And I don't know if it was the shortening, or the blueberries, or the fact that I used about a tablespoon more water in the pie crust than usual--but it was a seriously excellent pie, and the crust rolled out more easily than any one I've ever made.

There's something counter-intuitive (OK, stupid) about summer baking. It's bad to heat up the house, the kitchen becomes unbearable; I'm sure it's ecologically unsound. But now that we have central air I do it anyway, because I love pie. And bread, and brownies, and...you got the idea. And swim team requires baking, since one way they raise money is to have a bake sale at all the home meets. So there.