Apple pie, my eye

Of course that pie looks good — I only spent the better part of a day making it. The question is, will I make it again? I swear, I never considered apple pie could be so much work.

I think the germ for this endeavor was planted in Baybay City, an hour and a half from Maasin. With time to kill, we found ourselves at Ciudad Coffee & Bar, along the breakwater. It’s a nice place to hang out in, especially on a balmy moonlit evening, I imagine (we were there at 1PM), looking out over the horizon, preferably with a cold cordial in hand. If it were nearer, I know I’d be.

Anyway, I was in an unusual mood for dessert, so I ordered two: chocolate mousse and apple pie. Don’t tell my doctor, okay? In any case, I belatedly found out that Ciudad’s dessert fare is mostly outsourced, and while the mousse was good, the pie definitely was not. No wonder: it was from S&R.

I dunno about you, but I’ve never taken a liking to S&R’s bakery selection. Or their pizza, for that matter. Too American for my taste, perhaps? Like I said, I don’t know. When it comes to apple pie, there’s only one that I really like: my friend Grace’s. The thing is, the last time I had some of that pie was 25 odd years ago, so I can’t even begin to tell you what made it so good, or even if it was Che (as we fondly called her) and not one of her sisters who made it. Proust I ain’t.

So there I was at Ciudad, thinking: How hard can it be to make apple pie? Or perhaps I’m simply trying to rationalize why I absentmindedly picked up a pack of Granny Smith apples at the supermarket a few days later. As to the question: not hard, just tedious. It shows, doesn’t it?

At least it was good — nowhere near as good as Che’s, but certainly better than S&R’s, which I have to admit isn’t saying much. Let’s see: the pie crust was too flaky, the apples sliced too thinly, and the whole thing a tad over-baked. But what am I going on about? It’s not like I’m gonna do this again, am I now? I mean, just look at that pie — you don’t have to read the recipe to know that the enterprise spells Major Effort. I should stick to cinnamon rolls.