Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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June 27, 2010

National Pie Day is now June 19

By JAMIE PARSELL Bluefield Daily Telegraph

— I missed National Pie Day by six months. On a cold day in January, I should have been in the kitchen, making a warm, inviting apple pie for family and friends. Instead, I probably spent the day shoveling snow and drinking insane amounts of coffee and hot chocolate. It was that kind of winter. On Jan. 23, the National Pie Council — yes, America really has a council committed to preserving the history of pie — celebrated pie day with a national recipe contest. The winner created an impressive Italian apple-mascarpone pie with almond topping on a cold, winter day.

I am jealous. I want to make a pie with seven words in the title. I want to win a pie recipe contest too. My name will be in lights, or rather cookbooks and I will be known as the queen of pies. I can tell Paula Dean and Rachael Ray to move over — a new woman is in the kitchen. The Food Network will fall in love with pies. And on every Saturday morning, hundreds, no thousands, will wake up to watch my cooking show.

OK, I jest. Sure, I can fib about my first adventure with a coconut cream pie. Tell the world the pie turned out fabulous, without a hint of imperfection. It had a creamy filling, solid yet soft, and held up to plate and fork. The glossy meringue pilled up nice and high. And in the oven, the white fluffy topping and pieces of coconut turned a beautiful blend of white and light brown. The National Pie Council would be frightened to know the truth. But for the rest of my life, National Pie Day will always be June 19, not Jan. 23. Because six months after National Pie Day, as the heat slowly began climbing towards the 90-degree mark, I pulled out all the ingredients for a coconut cream pie. This was no ordinary recipe. It came from an elderly family friend, who passed away several years ago. During my childhood, this woman would send two pies every Christmas. It was tradition. Even after she stopped baking, members of the family would still talk about the wonderful desserts. But her daughter found the recipe and on a humid Saturday morning, I put the pie together for a family dinner. Everything went smooth. I stirred, whipped and poured the pie into a crust. I fluffed the egg whites and sugar. And at the very end, I placed it in the oven for a quick finish. It looked amazing, sitting inside the oven. After a few minutes, the top of the meringue started to change colors from white to ivory and finally, light brown. I slid an oven mitt under the pie. The rest of the story is painful.

Splat. Pie flew up and landed on my knees and elbows. I stared in horror as pieces of crust slid down the oven door, into the drawer holding cookie sheets and casserole dishes. The golden yellow filling dripped in the floor. I didn’t move. I couldn’t move hand or foot. I had dropped the finished pie in the crack of the oven. Half of the creamy mess stayed in the oven, but the rest ended up in the floor. Therefore, June 19 will always be National Pie Day — the day an entire pie fell in the floor. I cried a few tears, made a sympathy phone call and cleaned up the mess using a spatula. I didn’t have the heart to make another pie. I left the kitchen, flicking off random pieces of pie from my knees and arms.



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At midnight, I placed a cookie sheet underneath pie No. 2 and was rewarded with a semi-perfect pie. The meringue needed work, but I was happy because the pie rested safely on the kitchen table, not the floor. June 19 is forever imprinted into memory as National Pie Day. I learned a valuable lesson on that summer day. Cakes fall and cookies crumble but all of those can be saved and turned into trifles, ice cream toppings and more. But a pie on the floor only has one destination: The trash can. I don’t know if I can ever make another pie without remembering June 19. Next year, I invite residents of the two Virginias to skip pie day in January and celebrate in June. I plan to make an Italian apple-mascarpone pie with almond topping. I like to cook up big dreams in the kitchen. But sometimes, they turn into big coconut messes.

Jamie Parsell is the Lifestyle editor of the Daily Telegraph. Contact her at jparsell@bdtonline.com.

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