My friend Anna had a significant birthday back in July. I sent her a card saying I’d bake her the birthday treat of her choice and she chose banana cream pie. Delivery worked out to be the Friday of Labor Day weekend, and the day after the new student orientation for the on-campus students at the iSchool (I know, I know you’re saying, “how is that related?” but read on …)
I made the pie Thursday night, and added the whipped cream on top Friday morning. I knew they wouldn’t eat the pie till dinner time, so I was fairly conservative with the height of the whipped cream so that the pie would fit into one of my pie carriers, and I didn’t follow the recipe’s instructions to sweeten it with granulated sugar, that I felt would make it water out quicker; I used powdered sugar, a.k.a superfine sugar with cornstarch, instead.
The plan was I’d drive to work because I had a 9:00 a.m. meeting with a student, try to get a space under H.C. White, and store the pie in the work fridge. Where it would only have to be for an hour or so while I met with the student, and then I’d drive the pie over to Anna’s on the near east side.
I drove about 2 blocks with the pie resting comfortably on a dish towel spread out on the floor of passenger seat in the car. I got uncomfortable with my plan: “I’ll never get a spot in H.C. White, I’ll have to go over to my ramp which is a 15 minute walk”, and “There was that big orientation yesterday with a dinner – the work fridge’s gonna be crammed with leftovers”.
I glanced at the temperature on the car dash board – 65° – and it came to me. Turn around, go back home, get a couple of iceys and a towel, and you can just leave the pie safe where it is, in your car in your own parking spot. Worked a charm, and I even got 8,000+ steps with all the back & forth to the ramp.
And even though I didn’t like the recipe’s instructions for the whipped cream, I learned a tip about baking crusts blind: crimp the edges with a fork, and bake it for longer with the foil and beans than I had ever done, about 30 minutes. That worked a charm, too, and the next day I actually saw the same instructions in an (overly complicated) recipe for a tomato pie.