Make Me Some Pie: A pie blog in Portland, Oregon. » pie

Pie Judgin’ Ain’t Easy

Joel — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:40:03 +0000

Comment Below on Your National Pie Day Activities for a Chance to Win a Copy of “Pie Contest in a Box”

Thanks to Pacific Pie Company for hosting a great National Pie Day Pie Contest yesterday and for inviting me to be a judge!

The contest was a lot of fun and there were some great submissions! Here are a few photos from the event:

Look for the 1st Place winners on Pacific Pie Co’s menu in February! The winners were:

1st Place Sweet: Judith for Cherry Pie
1st Place Savory: Eric for Pork + Sweet Potato Pie
People’s Choice Award: Autumn for Meyer Lemon Hibiscus Pie -
2nd Choice Sweet: Richard for Pecan Pie
2nd Choice Savory: Veronica for Butternut Bliss

This was my second experience judging pies. It’s always fun, because it gives me a chance to see how my pie-tasting stacks up with other experts, so I was pleased to see that my favorites were mostly in-line with the results.

Pacific Pie Co.’s owner, Sarah Curtis-Fawley, used the “Pie Contest in a Box” kit to run the contest, and I have to say, I was very impressed by the organization of the contest. The scorecards really helped me focus my thoughts on what I was judging and I think it helped the organizers tally the results easily.

With that said, I’ve been sitting on a copy I received of “Pie Contest in a Box” for far too long – so in the spirit of National Pie Day, I’m giving away my copy!

Pie Contest in a Box, written by Gina Hyams, includes a book that “orients judges to the history of pie, discusses why pie matters, outlines different categories of pie and official judging criteria, and includes prize-winning recipes.” Plus, it includes everything you need to run a pie contest, including Pie Contest Judge Badges, Numbered Pie Toppers, Scorecards and Prize Ribbons!

So, here’s the deal, to enter yourself for a chance to win Pie Contest in a Box – tell us what you’re planning, or what you did, for National Pie Day by commenting below! Make sure to use an email address I can reach you at to get your shipping address if you win! I’ll leave it open until Jan. 27 – good luck!

Political Pot Pie: Occu-PIE Portland Event

Joel — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:25:22 +0000

Whatever your position on the Occupy movement is, you can’t deny its close ties with pie. It rhymes with it, and if you cleverly change the spelling, it becomes OCCU-PIE. This is something that Gregg Abbott, owner of Whiffies Fried Pies realized early on in the movement – he brought free pies down to the masses when the Portland protests began.

It’s no surprise then that Whiffies and Random Order will be offering free pie at this upcoming event.

Here are the details:

Your Slice of Occu-PIE
When: Sun., Dec. 11, 4-6 p.m.

Occupy’s made headlines—now what? The Portland Mercury and Bus Project hosts FREE PIE and conversation about how individuals can promote equality in ways other than camping out. Join the discussion with representatives from We Are Oregon, Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office, media outlets, and Occupy Portland. With pie generously donated by Whiffies and Random Order. Also featuring beer from Ninkasi.

Guess Dave’s Mom’s Thanksgiving Pies

Joel — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:35:52 +0000

Dave and Dave's Mom (Dorothy Mengering)

Update 5: Here’s about as “official” word we’ll get from the Late Show’s “Wahoo Gazette“

Whoa! What happened to Dave’s mom’s pies? We didn’t do it this year. Why not? I’m not sure but I heard mom was in the mood for cake. If this helps at all, I ordered two pies from Supervising Editor Mark Spada’s daughter. The pies were Apple Crumb and Pecan.

So, there you have it, doesn’t tell us much, but it’s something.

Update 4: Dave did mention his mom briefly… something about her riding Greyhound buses, but indeed, no pie-guessing this year. But hopefully his mention of her is a good sign that she’s doing alright. Goodnight everybody & Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for guessing Dave’s Mom’s pies anyways… maybe next year!

Update 3: Judging by the fact that people are arriving at this blog by searching for “Why didn’t Dave guess his mom’s pies”, it looks like there was no pie-guessing this year. It will not be done tomorrow, either, as the Late Show is a repeat then. This is sad, but not surprising, Dave’s mom is 90 years old now. I am a bit surprised, though, because she looked great last year. I’m guessing Dave didn’t mention it tonight, as he is a very private person, so it may be a while before we know what his mom’s situation is. Let’s hope for the best! It just doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving without you Dorothy!

Update 2: Our worst fears may be confirmed, the Late Show is currently airing on the east coast and the only tweet I’ve seen said “No Dave’s Mom?”… I will watch tonight and continue to monitor the situation, but it does not look good. I hope Dorothy is OK!

Update: I’m starting to get concerned that Dave’s mom will not be appearing on the show tonight, there has been no mention of it on any of the Late Show’s social media accounts, just lots of talk about Justin Bieber. I think they usually plug “Dave’s Mom” as a guest if she’s going to be on. If that’s the case, that’s a shame, mostly because that probably means his mom isn’t feeling up to it… let’s hope I’m wrong & that this great pie tradition continues!

Each Thanksgiving, David Letterman uses his psychic powers to guess which pies his mother, Dorothy has made. Take the poll below & let’s see if we can come up with the right pies. Last year, the top choices among Make Me Some Pie voters were Pumpkin and Pecan, but Dorothy went with Sugar Cream and Cherry. My guesses this year are: Pumpkin and… Lemon Meringue, Dorothy has never made Lemon Meringue, so this is a wild guess.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Dave’s Mom’s Pie Charts
Thank goodness for the Dave’s Mom Pie-o-Rama website, they keep track of what Dave’s mom makes each year. Use this research to make your choice.

Do You Like Apple Pie? No, I Like Popeye

Joel — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 02:10:42 +0000

I stumbled on this gem in my extensive research in the field of pie in pop culture. It’s an adorable/grating song by Popeye and Olive Oyl that plays on how their names sound like “pie” and “oil”.

Interestingly, I found out that Mae Questel, the voice of Olive Oyl, was also the voice of Betty Boop and in the twilight of her career, she played the hilarious “Aunt Bethany” on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

“Grace? She passed away thirty years ago.”

Portland Pie History – Fred Durst Gets Pied

Joel — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:01:53 +0000

When Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst was visiting a Portland area Guitar Center store on January 13, 2002, he took a pie to the face from a teenager. The pie was of the coconut cream variety. The teen was charged with disorderly conduct and five counts of harrasment.

I’m not sure why the kid did it, but I think it’s safe to assume that he probably did it all for “the nookie”, and we all thank you for that (no offense to all you Limp Bizkit fans that read this blog… but seriously, if you like them, please stop reading this blog). Actually, @TheJoshGross said on Twitter that the kid was in a band called “Blarg” at the time, so maybe the lead singer from “Limp Bizkit” didn’t like “Blarg”. Personally, neither sound very appetizing to me.

Durst was on tour searching for a new guitarist, and also looking for new acts for his record company.

This concludes another edition of Portland Pie History. If you have an interesting bit of Portland Pie History, please email makesomepie@gmail.com.

Source: Durst Finds Pie at Guitarist Search, Yahoo Music.

Thanks to @TheJoshGross for the info.

Photo via Warfieldian, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

Eat Pie for a Cause Portland!

Joel — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 20:28:22 +0000

Two events coming up that benefit some great organizations in Portland – here are the details:

Seizing the Hump @ Random Order

We’re proud to be partnering every Last Wednesday w/ folks doing great work in the community for:

Cocktails, Conversation & Pie.

Join us Wednesday Sept. 28th 6-10 p.m.

Drink to Donate: Cocktail proceeds go to PHAME!

PHAME Academy

PHAME is the Portland region’s fine and performing arts organization serving adults with developmental disabilities. It’s an acronym: Pacific Honored Artists, Musicians and Entertainers.

Bake and Build

Come and enjoy fun activities for the entire family at the first annual Pie Bake-off! All proceeds go towards Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build!

Sunday, October 2
12:00 p.m. to – 4:00 p.m.
Q Center
4115 N Mississippi Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97217

BAKE! Register your pies by September 30, in up to four categories: Sweet, Savory, Gluten Free and Vegan. If you have more than one kind of pie to enter, please fill out one form for each kind. Our special guest judges will be Janette Kaden, owner of Tin Shed and Kate Withiam, pastry chef at Pacific Pie Co. Click here to enter your pie!

TASTE! Vote for your favorite pie to win the People’s Choice Award! $5 for 5 tastes, $8 for 10 tastes or$10 for 13 tastes.

For more information, contact Jennifer Perkins at 503.287.9529 x12 or jennifer@habitatportlandmetro.org.

Lauretta Jean’s Joins Forces with Cafe Velo

Joel — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:02:36 +0000

Lauretta Jean’s has opened a storefront operation as a collaborative project with Cafe Velo at SW 6th and Pine downtown.

I’m not sure if they’re “officially” open yet, as the representative I spoke to said they’d be opening “September 15thish”, but Eater PDX is reporting that they are open now.

Lauretta Jean’s pies had previously only been available at farmers markets around town and they also had been supplying The Sugar Cube with cherry pie, which we reviewed here, and it was amazing (they no longer supply to Sugar Cube, though).

They will continue to be set up at farmer’s markets, including Saturdays at Portland Farmers Market PSU, the World Trade Center Market (through September), and the OHSU Market (through October 4).

Congrats to owner Kate McMillen, I think this will be a welcome addition downtown. By my estimation, there is not a lot of good pie available in that area of town.

Image borrowed from Lauretta Jean’s Facebook page.

Hurricane Pie-rene

Joel — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:30:43 +0000

This baker takes his job of bringing pie to the people very seriously (as he should!) Here’s video of the owner of Pie Land in Feasterville, PA VOWING to stay open during Hurricane Irene. God bless you Andy Moreno!

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A Pie a Day is Good for the Soul

Joel — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:12:02 +0000

More proof that Oregon is an awesome place for pie in general: Karen Amarotico lives down in Ashland, Oregon and she is giving away a pie every day for a year to a different person every day. She is on Day 145 today! It may be someone she knows, or just someone she runs into that day, but she’s doing it every day and she writes about the pie and the person she gave it to on her blog, pieadaygiveaway.com What an awesome way to spread the cheer.

The Ashland Daily Tidings had a good article about Karen here:

Clipped from: www.dailytidings.com (share this clip)

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Immortal Pie & Larder Shuttering August 13

Joel — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:35:01 +0000

Sad day in Portland Pie news. Immortal Pie & Larder has decided it’s time to “fold ‘em”. I really enjoyed their little personal pies & their creative flavors + they had a great location next to other great pie purveyors, Bipartisan Cafe and sometimes-pie-purveyor Country Cat on SE Stark. However, that does mean they are having a clearance sale – so if you’re looking for deals, you may find one.

Here’s the official word from the owner:

Kenny Rogers song “The Gambler” came out in November of 1978, I’m pretty sure the first time I heard it was in 1979, when I was almost 5 years old. I was living in Plaquemine, Louisiana and at a neighbor’s house, sitting on the floor of the bedroom of their daughter. There were a few girls in the room and I was the youngest. I don’t know if we were actually playing cards or if the memory of a song about poker just makes me think we were playing cards, but one of the older girls turned up the radio when this song came on and I got my first, solid, memorable piece of life advice. From Kenny Rogers. I am sure that my parents were giving me advice left and right about many more urgent issues like, “if you see a big, black snake swimming in the water, don’t touch it!” and “eating all your Halloween candy at one sitting will make you vomit”. All good advice for a child, but that afternoon I got a glimpse into a bigger world than the child’s one I lived in. I remember thinking that I had only a vague idea of what poker was, but that surely, this knowing when to hold your cards and knowing when to get out of the game was an important thing to remember, in cards and otherwise.

So, cheesy as it is, good old Kenny (bearded, pre-facelift Kenny) and his song about gambling have been rolling around in my head for the last few weeks. I’ve decided it’s finally time to heed his good advice. After much thought and doing-of-math I’ve decided to close Immortal Pie and Larder. Our last day will be this Saturday, the 13th.

Starting Wednesday, we’ll have all remaining inventory on sale. Mostly pantry items like oils, vinegars, tea, chocolates, vintage beer glasses, etc. Some of our display pieces and tables will also be available to purchase (though not the big farm table, that one is heading for my dining room!). We will be selling pies both baked and frozen unbaked until they’re gone. Frozen pie flavors include many favorites like: Chicken Leek, Beef & Beer, Sausage Bell Pepper Hand Pies, Blueberry Pie, Rhubarb Strawberry Pie, Strawberry Pie, Tollhouse Pie, Jamaican Pumpkin Pie and Bourbon Pecan. We also will have frozen pie shells in 9″ sizes and “Pot Pie dough kits” which includes two dough balls and a compostable, oven safe dish. We will be closing at 6pm Tuesday through Thursday and open a bit later for Friday and Saturday.

I like to thank our regular customers for being so enthusiastic and supportive over this last year and a half. May the pie be with you!