Last week I was in Philadelphia. Not for vacation, not to see the Liberty Bell, nor Reading Terminal Market. I was in class. QVC class. Yep, in a few months I’m going to be on that famed shopping network promoting my cookbook. (Aaaahhh! Live television gives me the vapors!) But before I can do this, I had to get trained in the nuances of what it means to be on television– QVC -style. That meant a trip to the Philadelphia area, which is where QVC is located, and a long and grueling day of media training.
Now I’m not complaining. I needed it. And it was only one day, but by the end, I was in media overload.
That evening, after sitting in traffic on the expressway, then fighting more traffic in the city, I was more than happy to fall backward onto my cushy king-sized hotel bed overlooking the Philadelphia Art Museum. So I ordered room service (something I haven’t done in quite awhile). When the waiter came to my door a half hour later, I expected to see my salmon entree. It was there alright, with a little something extra too.
Excuse the dim photograph. And excuse the backdrop of the flat screen television, and the stack of papers behind. But what you are looking at is a copy of the cover of my cookbook superimposed on a giant slab of white chocolate, coated in gelatin. Oh yes!
There were some bonbons, and a macaron, but the piece de resistance was that replica. I didn’t quite know what to do, so I just thanked the waiter profusely, and chortled embarrassingly. I guess the pastry chef must have had some extra time and some extra chocolate on her hands that day.
As I finished my salmon that night, and was about to dive into my dessert course, I found that the replica was one of those edible, inedible foods, kind of like fondant, but the bonbons were delicious. Good thing that I ordered room service that evening! Who knows what would have happened to the replica of United States of Pie?
Wow! What an amazing surprise!
This is awesome! I took your book about pie out of the library a month or so ago.
Wait–a backstory–my mother (who’s from Indianapolis) and I have been looking for 50 years for the recipe for Cream Pie. Every time she goes to Indianapolis we have to buy a frozen cream pie and eat it because that’s the only place she can find it. My mom’s 82 years old and she still wants that recipe since she lives in California.
Back to your book. As I was driving home from the library I started thumbing through your book and whoa! There’s a recipe for Hoosier Cream Pie! Never mind that we called it Indiana Cream Pie–it sounded like our Cream Pie!
So my daughter made her Martha Stewart pie crust and I made the Hoosier Cream pie and….it tasted just like the Cream Pies from Indianapolis, only way better!
I’m sorry for all the exclamation marks but when a woman has been searching for a recipe for 50+ years and finally finds it, the story deserves great excitement.
And right now I am in the process of…rendering lard. I can’t believe it but I’m determined to make a decent pie crust before I die. I special-ordered the leaf lard from my local food co-op and know it’s antibiotic/hormone/steroid-free and raised in a good way. I copied your two pages about lard and gave it to the meat manager.
So I’m looking forward to making another pie from your fabulous cookbook (which I actually bought in my hometown of Lexington KY from my local bookstore The Morris Bookshop).
Thank you so much for this wonderful book. I read every recipe and love your writing style and the great recipes. My family is reaping the rewards of this book
Write more!
That is so fantastic! I am so happy you found that recipe, and even happier that you are enjoying the book!
I’ve made the pumpkin pie recipe twice, once with pumpkin and once with butternut squash. The squash actually blended up smoother than the pumpkin but what was amazing to us was that nobody could tell the difference between the two. We all would have thought they were both pumpkin! So that definitely says something about the role of the spices. I did add a little nutmeg to the squash pie. Now on to the quintessential apple pie!