Weekend Update!

Weekend Update!

Editor's Letter: Life of pie

Finnish bread and coffee can be found at The Kitchen Garden in Templeton, one of the stops on our fall weekend drive story.
(PHOTOGRAPHY/TOM RETTIG)

 

 

 

 

By Karen A. Webber
kwebber@telegram.com

Pie fixes everything.

If only it were that simple. Yes, a wonderfully warm slice of fruit pie and a steaming mug of coffee cure many ills. But what about the pie itself? Who puts pie-making in the simple category?

Our story about Lucy Parker, who spent years perfecting her pie-making technique and became a blue-ribbon baker, brought back memories.

When I was a kid, Saturday was baking day, and muffins, coffeecakes, turnovers and yes, pies, were favorite fare. A classic crust was made with sifted flour, a pinch of sugar, salt, Crisco and a bit of water. Once in a while I was allowed to smooth the dough with the rolling pin ("don't press so hard!") to form that not-so-perfect pie circle. Add the filling — apple being the favorite back then — and soon the aroma of cinnamon and sweetness filled the air.

Fast-forward to young adulthood.

My first apartment was on the third floor of a six-family house in Waltham. The kitchen was the biggest room in the place, so entertaining often involved food.

When my parents visited for the first time, I decided to impress them with a homemade strawberry pie. My father loved strawberry pie so much that the ladies at the bakery used to call him at home when a (rare) strawberry pie came in. This happened more than once, and he delighted in teasing my mother about his other "girlfriends."

For me, the pie stakes were high. It took at least three crust failures before I got it right, and it was still not very pretty. But it tasted good and my father was encouraging enough that I made him a strawberry pie for his birthday for years to come. Luckily, he was born in strawberry season.

I don't make pies very often these days, but I still eat them. Recently, I had a wonderful blueberry pie on the road in Maine, and brought another home from a local farm stand. So good.

As summer turns into fall, it's the perfect time to explore and maybe stop for coffee and a sweet treat, or something healthy and green at local farmers market. Our weekend drive story gives you a few ideas for meandering through the county before winter puts some of us in hibernation mode. We also travel a little farther to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Soon, the foliage will be at its peak.

We have other trails for you to follow. For hikers, there's the Midstate Trail, which slices through the heart of Central Massachusetts. Or, you can take a different tack and visit vineyards on the Coastal Wine Trail in southeastern New England.

We introduce you to Lettuce Be Local, an organization that helps raise awareness of the farm-to-table movement. We visit a house that's partly underground. And we reminisce about Worcester's Water Street.

This is our Best of Worcester Living issue, so be sure to see what readers have chosen as their favorites in food and dining, retail, services and entertainment. There's so much to sample.

We hope you enjoy the issue. Now, pass me a slice of pie.

Karen A. Webber can be contacted at karen.webber@telegram.com

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