At the end of an informative talk about the Steamlands at SL9B by Herr Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach, someone mentioned that punch and pie had been promised. And so someone set out a variety of virtual desserts.

Well, I don’t have punch, but here’s some family-recipe pie.

Long story about this pie: it’s strawberry-rhubarb, and in my family it’s called “Damn Sour Pie.” One of my adult cousins requested it be made several years ago for a big family gathering (it was a sad yet happy gathering; a memorial party for an elderly relative that was truly a party). It was his favorite, and he hadn’t had it for many years because nobody in the family remembered how to make it, EXCEPT for a distant female cousin who had come in for the memorial parky.

As he’s a photographer, he had to document the pie first, and this is the result. His brother’s first words as a young child were not “Ma-ma” or “milk” but “I WANT PIE.” The brother was apparently a “late talker” and refused to speak until a pretty advanced age, because he got everything he wanted by pointing and grunting.

This is all about… 50 or 60 years ago now. The story is, he pointed and grunted at the pies after Thanksgiving dinner, and his grandma or aunt had had enough and insisted that if “If you want pie, Patrick, you’ll have to say ‘I want pie’ or you won’t get any.”

Several slices disappeared, claimed by more verbal family members. He pointed and grunted furiously but everyone ignored him, taking their cue from the lady at the head of the table.

Finally, my cousin could stand it no longer. He stood on his chair and bellowed “I WANT PIE.” And he got it – eventually, he even learned to say “please” and “thank you.” He was about… 4 years old if the family story is to be believed.

My photographer cousin happily ate the damn sour pie after taking its picture, but I still have the plate. 😉