4.30.2012

A Love Letter to Robert



In 2010 Robert Reynolds, my dear teacher and friend, had cancer.
But that year he battled it out and walked it off. He baked cakes for the nurses who shot chemo up his veins and snuck Armagnac into infusion rooms so as to properly celebrate the last shooting up. I'd say he went back to work afterwards, but I don't think he ever really stopped - cooking and writing, teaching and tasting, complimenting and criticizing. The instinct towards movement is wild.

But sometimes these things, these cancers, are only sleeping the next block over, resting awhile to renew their fierceness. So it is for Robert. The disease had its rest and renewal, and this time around, its fierceness formed, has claimed a small spot on his brain. Unpredictable difficulty begins again.

The first sign of the cancer's awakening was a word. His loss of it that is. Somewhere in the middle of his sentence the words dropped off, as though the sentence was some vast field, laden with dark ditches where letters can lose their way. But Robert is a writer - that vast field is his home.

To lose a word - Death to a writer.



Upon hearing the news of his cancer's return, the food world of Portland has apparently turned on their ovens, comforting the best way they know how. Nobody knows what to say and nobody knows what will happen, but everybody knows how to cook. Levi, Robert's committed friend and caretaker, says they've never eaten so well, their kitchens and bellies stuffed with charcuterie and pie. Soup and bread. Love and affection. "I can't know what he's meant to them all - but it's clearly something significant," he tells me.

Something significant indeed. - Amongst the acts of a teacher, lives become inspired and even changed. 

But my oven means nothing to him from Santa Fe. I cannot offer pie or soup during these unpredictable difficulties. I can only offer words - the ones I found in my own vast fields. 
So here they sit, a love letter to Robert.

I wonder how I might cope if I lost my words - even a simple one like button.
I might look at my shirt. There is that round thing, holding my modesty. It does have a name... Doesn't it? Perhaps that lump in my throat, the one that rears its ugly head on dark days, would stampede my esophagus.

There is a vivid intimacy between the language and he. Instructions in the Studio are punctuated by his grace with it...

Pastry is ballet: "A dancer can't be halfway through a leap and stop everything because she's forgotten her tutu."
Mixing bowls with attitude: "Scrape the bowl clean. It's an ungrateful thing."
Liquor is living: "You're guided by the principle that the old lady likes her booze!"


I knew Robert long before I started this project, but only barely. We would see each other at dinner parties, chatting about daily life and chickens. But he has always been my teacher - The first time I met him was a lesson on chopping chives. His thick fingers touched the green things with ease. His mere movements showed me the method. But as he spoke, I saw his other art - the sentence - one that washes over you, calming your anxieties over the onions. 

Robert was the first person to tell me I needed to write this cookbook. In January 2011 he invited me for dinner and served a divine, yet earthy cassoulet nestled in burnt-orange ceramic. Dessert was an orange custard like silk on my young tongue. He smirked at our pleasured expressions from the citrus. Armagnac, musty and of memory, sat like caramel in tiny glasses emblazoned with gold swirls. Between the cassoulet and custard he gave even more, pausing for importance sake, encouraging me to write, cook and come to his class. Life has been different ever since.

Were I in Portland, I'd give back a loaf of pain d'eipce, a cup of tea, a cherry pie.
For today I give my words...

Love love love,

Katie


4.17.2012

Shoofly Honey Pie, Part 2

I've lately been reading Janet Clarkson's Pie: A Global History.  In her chapter regarding the universal appeal of pie, I whipped my ever-ready pencil out for a quick underlining. The underlined statement reads, "...one of the delights of a good pie is the contrast in texture between the crisp pastry and the filling - whatever it might be. In a perfect pie, each component is independently perfect - the mouthfeel of the pastry (buttery, flaky, crumbly) and the mouthfeel of the filling (rich, unctuous, tender, sticky, crunchy, etc); and the whole is more than the sum of its parts."

Clarkson's eloquent (and true) declaration on the components of perfect pie could also act as an illustration on how a home cook might approach the daunting and often intimidating task of an unfamiliar dessert: Best to think of the pie in its part. Then revel joyously, bite by bite, in the superior whole.

So in the spirit of that approach, I am super excited to share the new and improved, book-worthy version of our Shoofly Pie!  I want to thank the Guild members who tested this pie and gave fabulous feedback... Check out the Shoofly Facebook page for their photos. Without further ado here it is broken into its simple and perfect honey-inspired components...

(Ok, I made tartlets. But that's no big whoop.) 

4.09.2012

Honey's Innovation on Shoofly Pie, Part 1

“Tradition without innovation is mere stereotype.” – Alan Weiss


The Recipe Testing Guild has been baking away! The first round of recipes included Keturah's Lemon Pie, a Chocolate Pear Tart, and our version of Shoofly Pie. What with that Shoofly Pie becoming a bit of a calling card (someone at the writer's conference called me the Shoofly lady!) it seemed time to share what exactly that card has become and why. 

So Part 1 is how my version of the Shoofly came to be and Part 2 shall be the new recipe. Enjoy! 








From Molasses to Honey

The first time I ventured into the Shoofly Pie baking/tasting arena was actually after I had decided on the name – The Shoofly Project. (props to Kate Stoltzfus for the name idea!) I had actually never even tasted the pie (gasp!) before that decision was made.