It is hard to describe the customer service. It was good if you were a regular and knew how to order. But the counter server becomes inpatient if you haven’t decided your order before you sit down. After eating a large steak burger and sharing an order of pie,  we shared a huge slice of apple pie for desert. It was home-made and the origin of the recipe was on the menu. If you want a bit of nostalgia then you will enjoy The Apple Pan. You will find it in the Culver City neighborhood. www.applepan.com

While in New Hampshire we visited the Canterbury Shaker Village. The village was now a museum since there only three Shakers left in the US. The Shakers are a branch of the Quakers.  One of the things that I did not know about the Shakers is that they were a celibate sect. They increased their numbers by adopting orphans. The orphans were given an option to leave the sect when they turned 18. The Shakers are known for their simplicity. This is demonstrated in their furniture, farm buildings, and even their pies.

We had a pocket pie at the Shaker Village. Pocket pies are now the new rage. William-Sonoma is currently offering pocket pie mold. The pocket pie that we had was a simpler version, no mold required.

The Shaker women rolled out a large rectangle pastry made from flour, shortening, sugar, salt and milk. They would then put dabs of filling (usually a fruit filling) about 3 inches apart on the pastry. Then fold the pastry over and then cut them into individual servings, usually in a square. An opening was cut in the center of each square to let the steam escaped while cooking.  The pies were baked and then given to the men to take to the fields to eat as a morning snack. The pocket pie that we had was a wonderful blueberry in a circle shape. This was a wonderful treat of flaky pastry and sweet, gooey filling.

We are visiting NH and enjoying beautiful views. We were there the week of the Lupine Festival. We found a beautiful field of Lupines that was carefully cared for by a group of neighbors. Throughout the garden was inspirational plaques. While visiting here, we ate our first Whoopie Pie.

Whoopie pie is not really a pie but a small cake about the size of a hamburger. The whoopie pie was created by the Pennsylvania Amish but New England has adopted the whoopie pie as one of their comfort foods. The pie was originally made with left over batter and filling. The pies were made small to be placed in lunch boxes as a treat. When the pie was discovered, the recipient yelled “Whoopie”. So they became known as a whoopie pie.

The pie is soft cake sandwich with a cream filling. The cake is usually chocolate or vanilla and is always made with a vegetable shortening. A commercial bakery in Maine  has baked Whoopie Pies since the 1930s. They use marshmallow fluff for the filling. The local bakers made fillings from egg whites, confectioners sugar, shortening, milk, vanilla, and desired flavor. We had lemon filling between our two vanilla cakes. But you could make the filling with marshmallow cream. I think I prefer the lemon filling.  This is a yummy dessert and would be easy to do at home.

I spent a week in the beautiful New Hampshire in June just at the beginning of the berry season. Our first stop after we got our bags at the airport was to find a fresh pie. We were told that we could get great pie at the Sugar River Baking Company in Manchester. We settled on the strawberry-rhubarb pie since the strawberries were still in season in NH. I didn’t ask about the rhubarb since I can’t imagine having rhubarb in anything especially pie. It happens that my husband grew up eating strawberry-rhubarb pie in the  Midwest and claimed that this was his favorite pie. The strawberry-rhubarb  pie was great. Both tart and sweet at the same time.

I really wanted a cranberry pie since I was in New England. I had a cranberry pie one Thanksgiving and was blown away by its tartness. Luck have it we found a great Cherry- Cranberry pie  at the Common Man Restaurant. The Common Man had to be one of my favorite restaurants. We ate there three times while visiting NH. There are several Common Man restaurants throughout the stare, all with a different theme. The one in Lincoln had woodsy mountain theme and a sophisticated menu. I liked the combination of the cherry with the cranberry. It added sweetness to the pie. These New Englanders have a talent in combining sweetness and tartness.

cherry cranberry

Texas is lucky to have several pie shops. There is Fredericksbutg Pie company in Fredericksburg, Beverly Kitchen in Chappel Hill, Royers in Round Top, and  Texas Pie Company in Kyle, Texas. It was hard to decide which one to visit, Since Texas is so big, it ended in being a decision about location. Being near Austin, the Texas Pie Company in Kyle was a definite destination.   Texas Pie Company is lunch counter diner where you can order sandwiches, soup and chicken pot pie. With you sweet pies, you can either buy a whole pie or a small individual pie. There were a large selection that day and choosing just one was too difficult.   So we chose three individual pies. My husband’s choice was the pecan pie. Their secret is a special spice that they put  in the pecan mixture.  I had heard about the Texas Buttermilk Pie and definitely wanted to try a slice. The Buttermilk pie is similar to a chess pie. The filling is  simple mixture of buttermilk, eggs, and the secret spice. I was intrigue by the Almond Joy pie. The filling consist of buttermilk, coconut, almonds, chocolate, butter, sugar and eggs. It did taste like an Almond Joy candy bar.

If you are in Austin, visit Kyle Texas and then head West to the Hill Country of Texas to visit President Johnson’s ranch know as the Texas White House. The ranch is now a state park and still an active working farm. You may have to negotiate around cows and tractors but well worth the trip. You can see why Johnson loved coming here. In the Spring, you can witness bluebonnets and many varieties of wildflowers covering the rolling hills. They have restored the working office as it was in the 60s. It was interesting to see pictures of the Johnson hosting Texas barbecue for foreign head of states.

American Pie has been replaying in my head since Garth Brooks rendition Sunday at the Inauguration concert. I must admit that I watched it from the comfort of my living room. I live near DC and was one of the many locals who said, no way am I going downtown. Many of us who live here, have at least one horror story about dealing with the crowds on the national mall during a holiday visit. But, when our friends from NC wanted to stay with us and attend the Inauguration, I said yes. I was not sure that I would go with them but would be glad to give them a warm home near a metro stop. But watching the Sunday concert, I decided that I wanted to be part of history, even it meant watching it on a jumbotron. I had not been able to obtain one of those prize purple, silver, blue, yellow or orange tickets that would place me in a seat so I would be joining the masses on the mall. Our plans were to go early to get a good spot in front of one of the huge screens know as the jumbotron. The news had been predicting huge crowds and encouraging the use of public transportation. Our fear of not being able to find a parking space at metro prompted us to arrive at 6am. We found a parking space with ease but the crowd was all ready lined up to get into the station. I have been in several large crowds either waiting to see Obama or waiting to vote. There is something different about these crowds. They are happy, sharing jokes, giving advise, polite, and patient. There is no pushing, rude remarks, or jostling to get ahead of the crowd. At least that has been my experience but you must know that I am an optimist. All went well on our trip in and we arrived in time to claim a place in front of a jumbotom on the mall.

The time went fast. We enjoyed talking with other viewers on the mall. Many were locals but we met a lot of people who had taken buses from New Jersey, Florida, and other states and would be leaving that night. All were celebratory. We also dressed in layers and had hand and foot warmers, so we stayed fairly comfortable either though it was 28 degrees. The swearing in of Barack Obama as the nation’s 44th president was greeted with tears, clapping, yells, and sighs of relief that this day had finally come. You did not hear it on television, but the crowds booed both Bush and Cheney when they were introduced. President Obama’s addressed was inspirational. The crowd was glad that he did not shy away from addressing the missteps of the Bush administration and declaring that things were going to be different now that he was President. After the ceremony, we left the mall feeling hopeful for our country and a sense of glee that we had a president that we could be proud of.

I wish I could say that our trip home was as easy as the trip in but that was not to be. I had expected problems with delays but I had not realized that we might be trapped in the shopping mall of hell for over two hours trying to get on the metro. Our station at Federal Triangle was closed and we were directed to L’Enfant Plaza. There is a small shopping mall there, where we decided to take a bathroom break and get some hot coffee. It was a wrong decision because when we finally moved to the mall corridor that led to the  metro, the crowd was huge. There was no organized lines or assistance from any officials, just a sea of overdressed people in a hot mall trying to converge on a small metro entrance. As the wait dragged on, people started fainting. Calls for EMTs, doctor or nurse were heard about every 15 minutes when another Obama supporter went down. The crowd did their best to help those fainting and all recovered. Many of us started taking off all those layers that had severed us well while we were on the national mall but was causing us to become overheated now that we were in a crowded hall. We finally got assistance from the National Guard who manage the crowd and got us all to our trains. We were lucky to be one of the first on the train and claimed a seat for the long ride home.

So even if I couldn’t see Obama up close and our trip home was long and difficult, am I glad that I joined 1.8 million people to stand on our national mall for over four hours. The answer has to be yes. I am glad that I was there. I was excited about the election of our new president and was so glad to see this day come to fuition. It was enough to be there and share this experience with other excited supporter.

January 23, is National Pie Day. Bake a pie, eat a pie, have friends over for pie!

Since I am not traveling this week, I visiting my local pie shops to see what they have cooking. Mom’s Apple Pie Company and Vienna Pie Gourmet are the two closest to my house. I decide that the Pie Gourmet is the closet and will be my pick this week. Anymore, I would have to exercise four hours a day. The shop is small but all pies are baked daily in a kitchen in the back. You can actually see them rolling out the pastry. The cream pies (Banana, Chocolate Cream, Coconut, French Silk, and Key Lime), look especially good today. I picked the Key Lime for my husband since it is his favorite pie and this week is his birthday.

Visit the American Pie Council Web page to read about pie cook offs and other ways to celebrate National Pie Day.

Texas Hill Country

On our recent visit to Texas, we took the opportunity to visit the Texas Hill Country. The Hill Country is 70 miles northwest of San Antonio and 70 miles west of Austin. We had heard that some of  Texas best wineries were located in Fredericksburg. I also wanted to visit the Fredericksburg Pie Company. Fredericksburg has a population of  9,667 but the town triples in size on the weekend with the influx from Austin and surrounding towns. Tourist come for the German heritage, wineries, wildflowers, lavender farms. and the beauty of the area. This area is also known for its peaches and pecans. We were visiting in the fall and missed the peaches but there were lots of pecans.
My first stop was the Fredericksburg Pie Company. I had read an article in Southern Living about this pie shop and was anxious to visit to taste their pecan pie. It was in the middle of the week and it was not very busy. This gave us an opportunity to visit with the owner, Charlotte Freeborn and her son. Charlotte and her son makes all the pies at the shop. Charlotte was not the first owner.  Charlotte thought this business would be as easy as pie to operate but soon found that it was hard work.

A different pie is featured for the month. But every day a different pie is feature. This week the featured pies were peanut butter, key lime, buttermilk, and German chocolate. They all looked great but I had my heart set on pecan pie. And boy did I come to the right place. My husband tried the pecan pie which is made with molasses instead of corn syrup. There was an abundance of pecan halves in a tender crust made with butter and flour. I went for the Bourbon Orange Pecan Pie on the recommendation of Charlotte’s son. It has to be the best pecan pie that I ever tasted. The pie filling is made with orange zest, bourbon, molasses, and pecans. It was so smooth, sweet but not too sweet. The secret of a great pecan pie is plenty of pecans not just a few pieces in a syrup filling. We were not disappointed.

While we were at the shop, several regular customers came in for slices to go or to order whole pies. There would be not reason to cook your own pie in this town as long as Charlotte is still making pies. This was a very pleasant visit and would be one of my regular stops if I lived in Texas.

While visiting Fredericksburg, I would also recommend going to some of the wineries. I would skip the Fredericksburg Winery on main street. I did not feel that their wines were that good and there are some excellent wineries just outside of Fredericksburg. Be sure to stop at Becker, Grape Creek, Torre di Pietra, and Woodrose Winery. All have lovely wines and beautiful tasting rooms. I especially enjoyed the tasting room at Woodrose Winery and discussing wines with the vintner. We has some wines shipped from the Woodrose Winery. I was very pleased that I received a phone call letting me know that the wines had been shipped.

I could not get Charlotte to part with her receipe for the Bourbon Orange Pecan Pie. I will share another very rich pecan pie recipe.

Mocha Pecan Pie
Crust
1/3 cup butter
1 cup unbleached white flour
3 tablespoons ice water
Filling
3/4 cup sugar                                                                  1 cup toasted pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup or dark corn syrup                   2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons coffee liqueur                                       2 tablespoons of unbleached white flour
3 large eggs                                                                     1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 400
For the crust, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add about 3 tablespoons of ice water and combine until the dough clings together in a ball. Roll it out on a lightly floured board. Place the crust in a 9-inch pie plate and crimp the edges.
To make the filling, place all the filling ingredients except the pecans in a blender or food processor and puree until the chocolate chips are completely ground up and everything is smooth. Pour the filling over the pecans in a bowl and stir just enough to coat the nuts. Pour the filling into the unbaked 9-inch pie shell. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, the reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes or until the filling is set but still moist. Cool completely before cutting.

OutHouse Exhibit at Grape Creek Winery. Artists Betty Rhodes and Greg Glowka.

Fall is the time for apples. I could be visiting any number of states for apple pie but I am staying close to home and visiting Charlottesville, Virginia. Virginia rates fourth in the US as producer of apples. In the fall you can pick your own apple from local orchards or just buy a bushel from road side stands. We started our day in Charlottesville very early at Jefferson’s home place, Monticello. We were attending a vintage apple tasting in the Monticello orchards. We tasted 12 different varieties, Esopus Spitenburg, Pippin, Pomme Gris and more. It was just like a wine tasting. We learned about the different varieties, history of apples in America, and of course what makes a good apple pie. The best apple pie should not taste like spices but like apples. A combination of sweet and tart apples with big apple slices and thick syrup. Monticello is a wonderful place to visit but check out educational events offered each month.

After our apple tasting, we went over to Carter Mountain Orchard to pick apples. The orchards are at the top of the mountain with a beautiful view of Charlottesville. In addition to fresh apples, there was apple cider, apple jelly, apple wine, and of course apple pie. The pie had large apple slices with a thick syrup with a tinge of cinnamon. The crust was flakey and held up to the thick syrup.

If you are in the area in November, check out the Apple Harvest Festival at the Vintage Virginia Apples, All kinds of apple products with an apple pie contest. You are bound to get great apple pie.

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This trip took us to Lake Tahoe, California. We signed up for a wine tour in El Dorado County, California. El Dorado is known for its agriculture. It was a beautiful drive through vineyards and orchards of every imaginable fruit. Depending on the month, they may be harvesting berries, cherries, nectarines, plums, pears, or peaches. We were visiting in September, right at the time of the apple harvest.

We stop at the open-air market for Boa Vista Orchards in Placerville, California. The objective of our stop was to taste wine produced from the Boa Vista Vineyards. The market was bustling with people. I lost count of the variety of apples. Instead of the wine tasting, I went to the bakery to taste the apple pie . This apple pie was what is called a Double Crusted Pie. The filling was made from gravinstein apples, cinnamon, and sugar. The crust was made with flour and vegetable shortening. The wait people were very friendly and eager to share how their pies were made. The pies are made the same but a different variety of apple can totally change the taste of the pie. I could taste the cinnamon but it didn’t mask the taste of the apples.

El Dorado County is a testimonial to the rich farm country and variety of produce. I feel we only sampled a small portion of what this section of California had to offer. Maybe they make nectarine pie. I do believe that they are ripe in August.