Pie Photo Shoot

 

Just published America's Most Unforgettable Pies. What a fun story to research, taste for, and write. Found out all sorts of interesting things, including the following:

- Most key lime pie is made from key lime concentrate, not fresh squeezed limes. And that can make all the difference.
- "Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" is a great song that gets easily stuck on autoloop in the mind. But with lines like "Makes your eyes light up, your tummy say 'howdy'," it's not a hardship.
- You don't have to live in Northern Michigan to enjoy sour cherry pie from Northern Michigan. That's what overnight shipping is for.
- Buttermilk pie makes people weep with happiness.

Pictured above is the green chile apple pie with a cheddar crust and apple streusal from Chile Pie (& Ice Cream) in San Francisco. Last weekend, Joel and I went out for a little tasting and photo shoot. The operation was a success.

Breakfast pie, an idea whose time has come?

I'll admit that sometimes (today), if there's a bit of leftover dessert (apricot pie) sitting in the fridge in the morning, I find myself coming up with reasons why that dessert would actually be a totally acceptable breakfast.

Let me clarify that I'm not thinking, "Aw, what the hell, I'll just eat pie for breakfast." No, I won't just admit that I want to eat pie, instead I have to couch it in terms of health and balance. So it's more like, "Well, I'd eat fruit for breakfast, and toast and pie crust aren't so different. Oh, and of course cereal often has a lot of sugar in it. Therefore this pie is actually healthier than breakfast."

After eating the pie (cold, perfect apricot texture, crust that really held up to a night in the fridge), I continued on my path of justification and started thinking about how maybe pie is a perfect thing for breakfast. Why can't I get pie for breakfast when I eat out? Why has this idea not caught on? And then I started thinking bigger, to savory breakfast pies. And then 1988 called and wanted their quiche back.