Adventures in Dating

I love date night. There is always something interesting going on. Even if we go somewhere boring, something unusual is bound to happen. Tonight was no different.

I inherited a strong desire for pie from my mother. Of course, I grew up in an era of automats, Woolworths lunch counters, and pie carousels. Mom's favorite thing to do was to shop with her mom and stop for coffee and pie. At a very young age, she introduced me to the delights of pie noshing. To this day, I crave pie. Unfortunately, it is increasingly difficult to find a place that makes good pie. Ski knows that I long for a good piece of pie so he is always trying to hunt a place where we can have some. I think it is a lost art. Pie evidently only comes in a box from the deep freeze at Wally World or something.

Tonight, we walked into a place that had a case with cakes and pies. I thought yipee... My heart raced at the thought of bakery delicacies melting in my mouth. As I perused the menu, I saw what looked promising. There, among other more mundane pies and cakes was listed coconut crème pie. I began thinking of mounds of whipped cream like substance billowing over a yellowy pudding-like coconut concoction and nestled into a delightfully flaky pastry crust. Ohhhh....it is one of my very favorites!! While I had my eye on that and was dreaming and drooling, Ski spied blackberry cobbler. Ski is nutty about blackberry cobbler. He thinks that the messier a food is, the better it tastes. It doesn't get any messier than blackberry cobbler with ice cream melting over a flaky crust hiding extra gooey blackberry goop seeping out. The melting ice cream makes lovely swirls of pinkish purple and the warm/cold combo is just heavenly.

The waitress came and we placed our orders. We chatted while we waited.

In a little while, the waitress deposits two plates in front of us and is gone in a flash.

What is this?!?!?!
My pie resembles nothing I have ever seen before!! It is almost frightening to look at. BTW, the above pic is NOT my pie. It is merely a vision of what I had hoped and dreamed for.

My heart begins to beat rapidly as I realize that the pie I ordered has been made by someone who has no clue what coconut cream pie is. How can that be?!?!? Did they let the guy who washes the dishes try his hand at making pies tonight? As I am so sadly disappointed, I look up to take a peek at Ski's dessert. Now HIS looks like dessert. But, he gives me a look and a disappointed sigh and says quietly...

"This is not what I expected."

Yes, they made blackberry bread pudding and sold it as cobbler.
How could they?!?!?!

I ask if he wants a bite and he asks me the same.

Selfishly, I am hoping that he loves my pie and will beg me to have it. Such is not the case.

As we are deciding whether he is just being nice to offer to eat my pie or whether he actually prefers mine to his, the host comes over.

"How is everything?"

We look at each other -- thankfully with food in our mouths.

We both nod.

"Are you sure?"

I say, "Yes, it's good!!" as Ski mumbles something similar.

"Oh good....for a moment, I thought that there might be something wrong." Relived, he wanders away.

Ski looks at me sadly and says...."I just lied!!!"

We switch desserts and when the waitress comes and asks cheerily if we are enjoying everything, Ski just nods and I say "yes."

Ski says with great shame..."I just lied -- AGAIN!!"

Me?!?!?
I don't care.
I have no guilt!!!!!
Well, what am I going to say?

--Do you call that coconut cream pie?!?!?! It is like and easter egg without the benefit of chocolate. It is like pecan pie with coconut instead of pecans. This is NOT coconut cream!! Where are the fluffy topping and the pudding-y yellow insides? Are you INSANE?!?!?! This is NOT coconut cream!! Give me a cookbook and I will show you what coconut cream is!!

--And since when is bread pudding a cobbler? Where is the sickeningly sweet goop? Aren't Southerners supposed to know how to make cobbler?!?!?!? Even Wikipedia knows how to make a cobbler!!!

So, yes....its food and its edible, but NOT what I wanted.

Ski wanted to buy some cupcakes. They looked innocent enough. I begged him not to.

And for those of you who don't know what a pie carousel is, here's a treat for you...

Pie Carousel from glass on Vimeo.

BTW, did you notice which one pie is missing the most?!?!?! I'll tell you....it isn't lemon meringue!!

Oh, and for my family who thinks I love Key Lime pie....
I like a REAL one once every say....10 years or so.