Twice-Baked Pie

This weekend a bunch of us got together on the island in the St. Joseph River to celebrate the 100th year of Frank Herlihy, but we didn't end up talking much about FWH (or "Herlihy, you old stink," as Bob Ardrey called him in a letter I brought along, but did not read.) Instead the formal portion of the event was made up of Sam Lipson, Mimi Lipson, and Sonia Lipson (respectively) leading praise of (Uncle) Terry Herlihy, Susanna, and Joanna Herlihy. Those three children of FWH seemed to be just fine with this.

We then attended 12 minutes of fireworks in St. Joseph, and were dumbfounded by the hour-long traffic jam getting out of town. We found that the police had closed off one lane of highway 63, for apparently no reason. Perhaps they needed the overtime. Afterward we spent many hours talking around a campfire. Twenty of us stayed the night in the two river cottages.

We celebrated Kellee's birthday on Sunday, with a twice-baked pie. Or perhaps we'll call it a pie casserole. Here's the recipe. One person accidentally baked a sour cherry pie without sugar. So we took that pie, tipped it upside down in a pan and broke it up until the (delicious homemade butter-based) crust was broken into bite sized pieces. Added some sugar, some sour cherry juice, and some very soft cream cheese and swirled it around a bit. Then we baked the mess until it was good and hot, until some crustiness formed on the crust-bits that were on the top. We cooled it, and then we striped it generously with an icing made of cream cheese, butter, half and half and confectioners sugar. It was a hit all around, especially with vanilla ice cream.

As I write this, many Lipsons & assorted others are traveling across the eastern U.S. on an Amtrak train that will go from Chicago (where Sonia, Felix & Lucy board the train) to South Bend, Indiana (where Mimi, Sam, Luc, Joanna and Ava get on), to Albany (where Mimi and Luc get off), and switching to Boston, final destination. Imagine it, a train full of Lipsons!

The above photo features Ben, Susanna and Terry; the picture below is Kellee & self with twice-baked pie.