pie month

make some whoopie neath the moon in June

~ jama ~ 4 Comments

        

Hey there! You’re just in time to take a bite of the moon.

                            
Pie Month here at alphabet soup just wouldn’t be complete without serving the one and only MoonPie — not really a pie, not quite a cookie, and a little like a cake.               
               
Since 1917, the famous Chattanooga Bakery in Tennessee has been baking baking baking these iconic treats nonstop. According to the official Moonpie website, these graham cracker, marshmallow filled, chocolate dipped goodies were first conceived by Earl Mitchell, Sr., who was trying to come up with a suitable lunch pail snack for coal miners in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. They became so popular, that in the 1950’s the bakery began to devote itself solely to their production.

I didn’t know anything about MoonPies until high school. I certainly hadn’t seen them in any of our local grocery stores and no one in Hawai’i ever talked about them. But one day in the school cafeteria I saw some kids, army brats from Schofield Barracks, devouring these chocolatey things like there was no tomorrow. I was so jealous! Where did they get them? At the base commissary? Or did family from back home on the Mainland send them a lifetime supply? To me, a MoonPie was positively exotic.

More important, Kerry Madden, one of my favorite authors who wrote the Maggie Valley Trilogy (Gentle’s Holler, Louisiana’s Song, and Jessie’s Mountain), talked about MoonPies on her blog recently. She ordered them special from the Chattanooga Bakery just for her Jessie’s Mountain launch party! She said they’d be just the kind of thing the Weems family would eat. Nuff said!

Now, those of you up north might call these little rascals Scooter Pies, and if you’re from New England, you have your Whoopie 
Pies — similar in concept, but instead of two graham cracker cookies, you like two little round chocolate cakes filled with a fluffy sweet icing instead of marshmallow creme. Go ahead, be independent!

      
                           whoop, whoop, whoopie!

And if you’re inclined to think of this topic as mere fluff, consider the literary contribution by Tony DiTerlizzi, a picture book called Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-This-World MoonPie Adventure (Simon and Schuster, 2000).

          
   JIMMY ZANGWOW’S OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD MOONPIE ADVENTURE
    by Tony DiTerlizzi (Simon and Schuster, 2000), ages 4-8, 40 pp.

In this zany action-filled fantasy decked out in 50’s retro paintings, Jimmy wants a MoonPie, but his mom says it’s too close to dinner time. What’s a boy to do? Make a wish and hold on tight as his junk jumbilee jalopy rockets up to the moon! After a funny verbal spar with Mr. Moon, Jimmy receives a whole year’s supply of Moonpies, but wishes he had some milk to go with them. So it’s off to the Milky Way where he finds "gallons and quarts and pints of milk." He meets 999 Mars Men and a giant Grimble Grinder, who hankers for a Moonpie of his own. You’ll have to read the book to find out how Jimmy gets home in time for dinner.

So, are you hungry for a Moonpie right about now? Check out the MoonPie website for retail stores in your area that carry them, or you can order them online. They now come in other flavors besides chocolate — vanilla, strawberry, banana, lemon and orange, and they also come in double decker and mini! 

The Chattanooga Bakery MoonPie recipe is still under wraps, naturally, but if you’re feeling ambitious over the weekend, you can make your own Whoopie Pies. Knock yourself out. Croon neath the moon in June . . . 


 

mom and apple pie, part two

~ jama ~ 3 Comments

“A lot of people have never really had the chance to taste a decent apple pie, but after a minute’s sensual reflection will know positively what they would expect if they did. They can taste it on their mind’s tongue . . . ”
  ~ M.F.K. Fisher, “Mom, The Flag and Apple PIe.”

Rhapsodizing yesterday about apple pie as a supreme American icon brought back some fond memories.

My mom’s not a baker, but two of her younger sisters made very fine apple pies. It was all pretty mysterious, though, since I never actually saw Aunty Ella or Aunty Inez in full baking mode. Their mouth-watering creations simply appeared in all their glory at family potlucks.

Alas! Eating homebaked goods does not come without its risks. We knew, early on, to be cautious of the “Aunty Ella phone call.” Sometimes she would invite us over in the middle of the week to help her polish off baked goods that had been otherwise rejected by her family. Christmas fruitcake from the Depression era and overbaked rock-hard cookies come to mind. We called those toothbreakers “prison cookies,” because my uncle worked as a prison guard and sometimes brought home cookies baked by real hardened criminals. (We assumed Aunty Ella had  channeled their recipes.)

To be fair, though, Aunty Ella was a good baker most of the time, but somehow, I don’t remember eating that many of her apple pies. It was Aunty Inez’ apple pies that we truly coveted.

Continue reading →

mom and apple pie, part one

~ jama ~ 6 Comments

  "In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." ~ Carl Sagan

                  

Everyone, please rise.

Apple pie has entered the room.

Sing or salute, if you like. It’s the patriotic thing to do. And if your mom is nearby, give her a hug.

 Apple pie = America.

It’s part of our collective consciousness — the place where food, emotions, memories, and idealism converge. Yet how did it come to symbolize so much — the prosperity of a nation, core family values, nostalgia for white-haired grandmas with rolling pins, the comfort of childhood and home in an age when families live splintered lives?

Continue reading →

two boys, a splash of summer, and fudge pie

~ jama ~ 15 Comments


      A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee
(Harcourt, 2008), ages 5 and up, 40 pp.

See those two boys on the cover of this new picture book? Their names are James and Eamon and I officially love them.

Here’s why:

They go to Eamon’s grandparents’ house in Malibu so they can attend nature camp.
They do not like nature.
But they do like playing video games, watching TV, and eating Pam’s (the grandma’s) banana waffles and coffee ice cream icebergs.
They wear the same shorts all week.
They romp, run, jump, dash, tumble, crawl, march, sip and spin through this exuberant and funny summer story.
They do not like nature.
They know what summer is for.
They are clever, creative, and mindful of their elders.
They make penguins out of mussel shells and rocks, touching Bill’s (the grandpa’s) heart.
They like nature in their own way.
They are 100% boy.
They are best buddies, always and forever.

Marla Frazee has captured the essence of summer and friendship in this perfectly pitched picture book, which is part narrative, part scrapbook, part comic book. Based on the real-life experiences of her son, James, and her editor, Allyn Johnston’s son, Eamon, this story will appeal to a wide range of ages because of its accessible humor and oh-so-familiar premise.

Kids will love how the words say one thing, and the pictures another. They will want to visit Bill and Pam at the beach, ride in Bill’s red jeep up and down the mountain, and pounce on the blow-up mattress. They will want, in short, to read this book over and over again.

A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever has received starred reviews from School Library Journal, Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books. I guess it’s pretty unanimous, then. This is THE book to jump-start your summer. Better stock up on bananas.

Even more exciting, the one and only Marla Frazee will be dropping by alphabet soup in several weeks for a SOUP’S ON interview! To celebrate this highly anticipated event, here is Marla’s recipe for Fudge Pie, which is included in Writers in the Kitchen, compiled by Tricia Gardella (Boyds Mills Press, 1998). This is one of the most enjoyable recipes I’ve ever read.

People, at this very moment I am wrapping my lips around a warm bite of this death-by-fudge pie. It’s sinful, rich, and has turned me into a totally shameless chocolate pusher. You must try this. Ecstasy never came so easy!

FUDGE PIE

2 squares Bakers chocolate or 3 T cocoa
1 stick butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp vanilla
4 pinches salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Melt Bakers chocolate or cocoa and butter in saucepan. Then add remaining ingredients.

Fudge pie is best when it’s already past your bedtime. Your parents are exhausted and staring at the TV. You sneak into the kitchen and begin melting the butter and chocolate in a saucepan.

Your parents call out, “What are you doing in there?”

Say, “Nothing!” Stir until melted.

Add the sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, salt and nuts to the same pan. Quickly pour this goop into an 8-inch pie pan, and put it on the top rack of the oven for 25 minutes at 350 F.

Your parents call out, “Hey, what’s all the racket?”

Now you can answer with, “I made fudge pie!”

Of course, they won’t send you to bed now. They’ll make room for you on the couch. You snuggle in next to them, but not for long, because fudge pie tastes best when it’s slightly moist, like a brownie.

Get it out of the oven.

Eat it topped with ice cream, or just plain, along with a glass of milk.

Don’t worry about the dishes.

Your parents wil do them after you go to bed.

**Edited to add: Congratulations to Marla on winning a 2008 Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award for this book! Yay for James and Eamon and Bill and Pam!!

pies in the nursery, or, let’s put the people back in the pie

~ jama ~ 10 Comments

 

Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair;
Said Simple Simon to the pieman, “Let me taste your ware.”
Said the pieman to Simple Simon, “Show me first your penny.”
Said Simple Simon to the pieman, “Sir, I have not any!

Even if you can’t remember the very first pie you ever sank your teeth into, chances are very good that you can recite the most well known pie encrusted nursery rhymes with a certain flair and bravado. 

Whether you favor Simple Simon, Georgie Porgie, Little Jack Horner, or Sing a Song of Sixpence, let’s face it — they all taste good rolling around in our mouths, evoking happy childhood days when we cared more about cadence than calories.

As I mentioned back in November when I did Mother Goose Week, many of these seemingly innocuous rhymes have interesting histories and were written to satirize or immortalize political events. There really was a Jack Horner, for example; he was a steward to Richard Whiting, Bishop of Glastonbury (1461-1539). When Henry VIII began seizing all the abbeys for their gold and estates, Whiting tried to bribe the crown by offering the deeds to 12 manors, secreted in a large pie entrusted to Horner.On the way to London, Horner knew this bribe was futile, so he pulled out the deed for the “plum” of all estates, Mells Manor. Whiting was accused of treason and his abbey was destroyed, but Horner moved into Mells, where his descendants lived until the 20th century (no doubt enjoying all manner of pies).

But my favorite pieful nursery rhyme is Sing a Song of Sixpence:

Sing a song of sixpence a pocketful of rye,
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the birds began to sing,
Oh wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?

The king was in his counting house counting all his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!

Apparently hiding living things in pie was pretty common in olden times as a form of banquet entertainment. Just when I thought live blackbirds were a pretty cool surprise, I come to find they also included other small animals, such as frogs, turtles and rabbits. The ultimate surprise, however, involved small people! Yes, diminutive individuals were hidden in pies, popping out to the delight of assembled guests, after which time they might stroll up and down the table doing tricks or reciting poetry.

Probably the most famous of these little pie poppers was Jeffrey Hudson (1619 -1682), whose birthday is this Saturday. (Be sure to sing the birthday song in his honor, for he deserves your remembrance.)

At age seven, Jeffrey was served in a cold pie to surprise King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria (15 at the time) at a banquet given in their honor by the Duke and Duchess of Birmingham. Before Henrietta could cut into the pie, Jeffrey popped out, a perfectly proportioned 18″ little man, dressed in a suit of miniature armour. The Duke graciously presented Jeffrey to Henrietta as a gift, since upon seeing him she was keen to add him to her collection of oddities. Jeffrey was dubbed “Lord Minimus,” and became the Queen’s dwarf, trusted companion and court favorite for 18 years. He was charming, delightful and even inspired several poems and narratives.

Queen Henrietta Maria with Jeffrey Hudson by Van Dyck (1633) National Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Apparently he didn’t grow another inch until after he left court, was kidnapped by pirates twice, and descended into slavery for 25 years. I guess during this time he wasn’t called upon to hide in any more pies, so he allowed himself to grow another 45 inches. Though Simon’s rhyme is more well-known, I vote for Jeffrey Hudson as the ultimate pieman!

So, my friends, if your cherry is the pits, your custard won’t pass muster, and, God help you, your pecan has everyone positively peeved, consider prebaking a double crust, and then filling it with one or two of your shorter friends. This will guarantee your stature as an uber hostess, and no one will ever call you flaky.

Seconds and thirds:

If you’re in a crafty mood, try making your own blackbird pie out of construction paper and a few art supplies.

Order this cute blackbird pie print by Debbi Hubs.

If you’re in the mood to let off a little steam, get a ceramic pie bird.

Best of all, for some musical pie, watch Nina Mae McKinney and the Nicholas Brothers in this fabulous old time soundie, “Pie Pie Blackbirds,” circa 1932! Sure to get your feet a tappin’ . . .

  (Thanks to Linda Stradley, “The History of Pie,” What’s Cooking America, 2004.)