On special request from my husband, who does all kinds of nice things for me like washing, drying, and folding all the clothes that I throw on the floor and all the yardwork, I am going to bake him a peach pie this weekend.

I hope it turns out pretty.  My pies always taste good, and the Cooks Illustrated piecrust recipe has never failed me, but I’m not very good at crimping the edges beautifully.  I usually use the fork tines method, which isn’t quite as nice-looking.  Does anybody have any great tips on how to make the edges of a pie crust look pretty?

Also, I’m having fun trying to decide where DC and I should go on our almost-free flight to Europe.  It turns out that, unless we get a really amazing base ticket price, it won’t be completely free, because there’s a $230 fuel surcharge per ticket, plus $100 or so in taxes.  That eats up a decent chunk of our vouchers.  Oh well; it’s still a great deal.

I’m leaning toward Italy, because Denny’s never been there and we just finished that Italian wine class and everything.  Plus I was wanting to go there this year, but the Norway thing came up so we did that instead.

Here are the non-Italy possibilities, based on SAS’s flight schedule:

• Denmark:  I’ve never really considered going here before.  Is it fun?  This seems to be one of the cheapest options; our vouchers would almost completely cover it.
• Finland:  See Denmark
• Sweden:  Having spent a fair amount of time in the Stockholm airport, I have a positive impression of Sweden.  It seems spacious and pleasant.
• Belgium:  Home of the pomme frite!  I love those almost enough to make a pilgrimage for them.
• Croatia:  We were thinking of going to Dubrovnik in earlier fantasies.  It looks amazing.
• Czech Republic:  I’ve heard Prague is getting a little played-out as the hipster capital of Europe.  True?  False?  Nevermind, it’s too expensive on SAS anyway.
• Biarritz, France:  Super-close to the amazing San Sebastian, Spain, where crazy Denny has never been.
• Berlin, Germany:  I’ve never had much of a desire to go to Germany, but I did enjoy Cabaret, so maybe I would like Berlin.  I hate Nazis, though, and they were in Cabaret.
• Greece:  The Greek islands look beautiful, but I’ve also heard bad things about Athens.  I’m not sure Greece has a whole lot to offer that Italy doesn’t.  Plus it’s pricy on SAS.
• Luxembourg:  I have absolutely no opinion of Luxembourg.  None.
• Netherlands:  I’ve been through the Amsterdam airport so many times (I usually fly NWA/KLM) that it’s kind of weird that I’ve never actually seen the country.  This could be my big chance.
• Portugal:  Awesome, but we were just there a year or two ago.  Oooh, plus it’s really expensive.
• Spain:  My all-time favorite destination in Europe, plus I have a friend in Barcelona.  This is a good chance to go somewhere new, though.  But dang, it’s cheap!  The vouchers would almost completely cover it.
• Switzerland:  I’ve never seriously considered it, but I’ve heard great reviews.

OK, who has opinions?  If you had a free or almost-free ticket to Europe, which would you choose?