Day 2: Bake an Apple Pie (from scratch)

Cost: $30 (less if you already own a pie plate, rolling pin, vegetable peeler and common ingredients)
Difficulty: 4
Time: 3-4 hours including obtaining ingredients, preparation and clean-up.

I'd originally scheduled to donate blood for the second day, but a double winter storm shut down the city and cancelled the blood drive. My first alternate plan involved driving, which almost turned disastrous when I nearly drowned my car in a small lake at the end of my street. My second alternate plan was to visit Mount Auburn in Winter. Unfortunately, even the cemetery was closed. I considered returning at night and scaling the walls, but decided instead to bake an apple pie from scratch an idea inspired by a suggestion from Emily Taylor.

Apple pie is a comfort food for me: it's what my mom always baked for my birthday instead of a cake. The pie part of it is simple, but "from scratch" really requires making the crust. And that's the hard part.

I followed a recipe I found on allrecipes.com and tried to adhere to the advice given to me from every source: keep everything cold.

Having just moved, I started with almost none of the required materials. 

I used a mini Cuisine Art to mix the ingredients as suggested by an online video.

The final product.

The pie came out well, but the crust was a bit heavy and not the ideal flakiness. My best guess is that I overworked the dough because I couldn't tell how thick it should be. But it was a good first pie and a delicious dinner.