Where My Pie is At These Days (Guest Post)

Where is she?  Where has The Pie Queen gone? Upstate New York for the whole month of August, that’s where. She is busy honing her craft, getting inspired and hanging out with some new foodie friends. A much deserved retreat and writing intensive featuring clever turns of pastry phrase, delicious food and breath-taking running paths.  I’ve seen a few pictures, but am generally giggly that she has the opportunity to ignite her inner baker/writer and generally recharge her batteries. You, on the other hand, are stuck with me-- west coast sibling.  I am one of a three guest bloggers in the No More Mr. Nice Pie sphere this month.  Good luck to us all…

In preparation for this week’s assignment—pastry bench sitter turned starter—I’ve had to be a bit reflective on the subject of pie and dessert in general.  As a west coast based urban planner, I find the mental space that I devote to pie these days just ain’t what it used to be.  And, let’s be honest, it’s become a little cerebral.  From the school pot-lucks with a sub-event known as a “dessert dash” to Pi(e) Day on March 14—where people bake pie to honor one long number.  My how the times have changed.

I have pondered pie paths to travel for this week’s entry including highlighting the pie-ful stylings of my group of dear friends who gather weekly here in Seattle for a get together known as “Friday Feast” where the food and drink are plentiful.  The pie has been known to flow at these events. This summer in particular Friday Feast charter member Beth has been pointedly charged with making pie whenever we gather.  She is both good at it and willing to dive in to the lattice with great gusto.  She is handily helped by her 11 year old, Malcolm, who took a cooking class last summer and has quite an affinity for pie making. That kid makes a mean crust.  Although she will be horrified by my plentiful use of the ellipse, em-dash and parenthetical in this post, she was willing to go full-throttle pie baker this summer for Friday Feast.  That is a quality I respect in a person.

I have also contemplated the “Pie about Town” approach for this post.  Seattle has lots of pie emporiums these days.  Hand pies, mini-pies and the standard 9” variety with all sorts of fruit, nut and savory fillings.  One place even has a version stuffed with mac and cheese. Methinks Ellen would not approve of such a thing.  They do have good berry pie as well as one that is comfortingly full of broccoli and cheese…really more of a quiche, let’s be honest but a worthy companion for a winter brunch.

My favorite late night go-to Seattle pie place recently went from a full service restaurant to a catering-only kitchen.  A good move for them—with food truck culture picking up steam here in Seattle—my guess is that they could get more money with less fuss and muss if they rented out their commercial kitchen instead of preparing for the daily onslaught of ribschickensausagecornbreadgreensANDpecan pie…but their pecan pie was sure good.  This particular establishment, Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ, also has great name recognition for me.  When my youngest son was about 7, he was typically unwilling to let go of his version of reality once firmly planted in his head.   He was CERTAIN that the name of this BBQ joint was Smokin’ Pizza BBQ.  Seriously.  There was no moving him.  Even the sign clearly stating the name was insufficient evidence.  This is the young man who requests pumpkin pie for his April birthday, as well as lattice pie (the filling is really not important but the lattice…now that is the thing that sets a pie above others).  His brother, the elder, is not that bomb on fruit, so he leans towards the lemons, the chocolate creams, the buttermilk custards.  Or else cakes shaped like streetcars.  It’s a broad range but one that has generated fond birthday memories for us all.

I must say that my relationship to the dessert course has changed over time, heavily influenced by the onset of what I lovingly refer to as “the mommy belt.” This phenomenon results from becoming a mommy, working full time and not really ramping up that P90x regime or half-marathoning like SOME people do.  A liberal application of dessert just serves to feed that mommy belt.   And, although my east coast people are actually quite socially and fiscally conservative, they are very liberal when it comes to the dessert course(s).  The Grays are firm believers that dessert is a joyful, necessary, thrice daily event. My delightful west coast husband, on the other hand, who is socially liberal and fiscally conservative, appreciates a good dessert but is much more agnostic about the whole thing. His family considered dessert to be a treat, not a daily rite.  In a most respectful way, he has pointed out on a few occasions that the Gray family passion for “two o’clock ice cream” and “multiple dessert courses” after a meal is lovely, but a little unusual.  I have come to the conclusion that the east coast Grays are, well, a little dessert liberal if you can go there with me.  Hard to believe, really but I think quite true.

So, now that I started that firestorm (stirring the pot from 5,000 miles away has a quality all its own, really), I’ll close by wishing my folks, Rom and Jerry, a happy 65^th wedding anniversary celebration. While they both love pie, they are really equal opportunity dessert players and I hope they have one or two quality examples on their special day, August 7. You know you’ve hit a major milestone when Hallmark doesn’t even have a gift suggestion for this year  (GG, just so you know, the 60^th year was diamond and I think in absence of another suggestion, you can just use that one again…).  My dessert reflections are completed for now…next week, the Boston blogger steps in…I wonder where his pie is at these days???