Welcome to Pies and Plots. I’m Laura Dembowski. I grew up in Southeastern Michigan, but I moved to Central Florida on Thanksgiving Day 2020. No more winter – woo hoo! I’ve loved writing since I was a young girl. Whether I was writing in a journal or sending letters to friends and family, it came naturally to me. As I grew up, I fell in love with words, and while I even enjoyed writing school papers, novels were calling my name. I have written five novels and five screenplays. I placed in the quarterfinals of the Bluecat and Screencraft screenwriting competitions. Now I just need an agent!
My debut novel Cause of Death was published by Woodhall Press on May 4th, 2021.
The thing with writing is it’s a long, emotional, often not very fun process. So when I have writer’s block, am waiting to hear from a list of agents, or just received some bad news, I head to the kitchen. I don’t mind cooking, but my heart lies in baking. Most of my recipes come from the Internet or cookbooks, but as I have become more comfortable with baking, I experiment more frequently.
In 2007, I found out I was allergic to chocolate (I know, weird, right?). This means I don’t bake anything with chocolate, lucky carob is the perfect swap. They work interchangably!
Pies won’t be the only things I make on the blog because I don’t discriminate against sugary sweets, though they are one of my favorite things to make. Tons of baked goods, and probably a couple of savory recipes will fill the pages, along with updates on my writing, my adventures in fine dining and mail order foods, and my love of fashion.
Tips on how to freeze the baked goods will be provided for every freezable recipe (most of them). I love to freeze what I make; it allows me to enjoy more of it, and it lasts a surprisingly long time at an even more surprisingly high quality. Sometimes I’ve made something I’m not in love with, but a month later when it comes out of the freezer it seems to have a whole new life.
My mom is my best friend, baking partner, shopping buddy, and everything else a girl could ask for in a parent. Baking would be much harder and less frequent if I didn’t have her to help me. My dad waits for taste testing before he joins in the process.
When I’m not baking or writing, I’m a TV addict. It’s actually on when I’m baking and writing as well. I also love watching movies, going shopping, reading, seeing plays and musicals, and finding new and exciting things to do around town. I’m obsessed with makeup and nail polish and have a collection that keeps growing and would probably be impossible for me to use up in my lifetime, or even a couple of lifetimes.
Since I enjoy eating so much, I also love exercise. It keeps me sane, helps me think, and is one of the best parts of my day. I run and play active games on my Nintendo Wii. And yes, I usually watch Food Network when I’m torching calories.
I hope you’ll find inspiration for baking and writing here, but also for life in general. Pies and Plots is about more than just baking and writing; it’s about finding passions, expressing oneself, and more than anything else, following dreams. Let the journey begin!
