Josie and the Pie, with Diamonds
Jul 23rd, 2008 by Marilyn
Every August, the heat here ceases to be punishing heat and becomes cruelly disciplined heat. That is our signal to escape - we flee Kansas by driving straight through an Iowa haze, further north by the hour, looking for a lake. When we finally stop in Duluth, Minnesota, we cross a bridge that skims the long blue curve of Lake Superior, and I can taste the woods. I remember what it means to like summer.
We will spend the night there, happy to swim, nibble fudge, and watch the aerial bridge rise and fall in the dark. The next morning we’ll take off on Highway 61 for a three-hour drive to the northern lodge we love, and on the way up, as sure as smoked fish and smooth agates, we’ll roll through Two Harbors and stop at Betty’s Pies.
Betty’s is a tradition we share with thousands of families, fishermen, leaf-peepers, canoers, kayakers, truck drivers and rock hounds. They all love Minnesota, they all love pie, and since 1958 they’ve come to Betty’s counter for giant slices of Bumble Berry, 5-Layer Chocolate and Lemon Angel pie.
Now I am a most dedicated pie eater, but the slices are huge, and often follow a late Betty’s breakfast of scrambled eggs, thick ham and fresh-baked raisin rye toast. So first, I think of the road ahead. I check my purse for Maalox. I look at the daily pie board before breakfast, weigh the consequences, and decide.
But my daughter - well, Josie has jackrabbit metabolism and her father’s iron stomach. It seems impossible, but we created an even more devout servant of the pie than me. She runs into Betty’s, Lake Superior across the road. “Look at the lake!” I yell, but she’s already slammed the screen door, scanning the board for raspberry, huckleberry, every berry.
At the table, I encourage a split - come on, the slices are so big - until she gives in, sulking. After that, each bite is watched and the forks move fast. This much-hated splitting makes me the pie Scrooge every time.
Except one time.
I’d been hearing some vague backseat crabbiness since we packed up and left Duluth that morning. I’m bored, I’m hungry, I’m hot. I’m cold, I’m bored, I’m sitting on something. I flicked my head up from my book. Greg was still staring at the road, he’d heard nothing. I’m sitting on something.
“No, you’re not.” I kept reading.
“I am sitting on something. I am sitting on something and it’s bothering me.” Now she was a faint buzz.
“No, you are not.”
This went on. Sitting, bothering, blah blah blah. Once in a while I’d humor her.
“Maybe it’s a ponytail holder.” No. “An eraser.” No. Now crabbing in earnest, she says it feels like a rock. Bothering me!
Then, silence. “I got it.” Whew!
“It looks like a diamond.”
Mm. Boy, the trees are tall. Greg, still in highway hypnosis.
She keeps at it. “It looks like…I think it’s a diamond.”
“Mm-hm. A diamond, under your shorts. Whatever.”
I thought nothing of it for exactly six more minutes - and then a wild thought commanded me to look at my hand. Wedding band - check. Engagement ring –
I whipped off my seat belt and spun around. On my finger, the engagement ring I’d worn since 1992 sat prongless and empty - but in Josie’s little palm, glinting with cartoon sunlight, was my diamond. Oh. My. God.
“It was a diamond, it was a diamond, I TOLD you.” And it was. Somewhere between Lawrence, Kansas and Duluth, Minnesota, the little rock had taken a tumble. It could have been on the highway, under the wheels or at the bottom of a rest stop toilet, but it was in my daughter’s vindicated and beaming hand.
I was so happy. So happy that something most unpleasant, something I didn’t even know had happened - a real vacation-ruiner, an insurance hassle and certainly a weeper - was already solved. We were all three smiling and gaping at the tiny miracle of Josie sitting on a diamond.
I tucked it into a zipped pocket of my makeup bag, which I never touch by the lake. It would sit there safe until we got back, and all week I felt like a nervous jewel thief - but we had a bang-up time, starting right after the incident with a stop at Betty’s Pies.
Josie’s reward was humble, but divine - her very own, no-split, enormous piece of Bumble Berry. That’s Betty’s special four-berry mix, a juicy heap under flaky crust. Such a small prize - but who doesn’t love the halo of good deeds, the thrill of being right, and a great big piece of lakeside pie?
Bumble Berry Pie
from The Original Betty’s Pies Favorite Recipes Cookbook
pie dough, enough for a 10-inch two-crust pie
1 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1 cup raspberries
1 cup strawberries
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Line a 10-inch pie pan with crust.
Combine the sugar, flour, corn starch and cinnamon, and mix well. Lightly mix in the fresh fruit and pour into the pie shell.
Dot with butter and cover with a top crust. Prick the crust and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 50 minutes in a regular oven, about 35 in a convection oven; until juices are thick and bubbling from golden crust.
OMG! I had never heard that story! Somehow, I bet you both felt like you got the best end of the deal. You found your diamond that you didn’t know was lost and well, who wouldn’t love a WHOLE piece of pie all to themselves…..
What a great story!
(one time my MIL lost her diamond and she looked all over town for it — retraced her steps to every store she had gone to that day — called all over — nothing. My FIL found it on the basement floor next to the washing machine.)
I can’t believe you got your diamond back! My Mom lost the big rock in her wedding ring one day (of course that day she had been out shopping all over town.) It was never to be seen by her again. She was bummed but she did get a new ring from Dad.
That pie looks REALLY good…
Ten (or more!) Cheers for Josie and her Princess & The Pea butt! Holy carp. I was almost in tears reading this. I’d have had heart palpitations if it was me. Phew!
OH.MY.GOODNESS…That pie looks AMAZING! Absolutely amazing. I’m not even a pie fan, apparently it’s because I’ve never met the right pie! I’m just north of Minnesota…maybe I should head south, huh? Wow! BTW, thanks for stopping by my blog, I really appreciated your comment.
This is the single most tortuous post I have ever read. Pie, Northern Lake country, breakfast and a diamond! Are you trying to kill me?
Hurray! That was great! What a miracle! So deserving of her own big slice of pie too. I once lost the diamond out of my engagement ring but fortunately I found it on the kitchen floor. Whew! I’ve still am able to wear my original wedding band and engagement band. I need them sized a little though.
phew–disaster averted! and really, i can think of no better reward than a huge slab of pie. and did someone say fudge?
There was this coffee shop in a little town called Souris in MAnitoba, Canada that served the best umbleberry pie ever!! We would go there every summer, walk along the river and stop at the shop for a generous slice.
Oh, that pie looks scrumptious! ANd I love the diamond story as well!
Pam:
There’s a million stories you haven’t heard! Unfortunately for Greg, he’s heard ‘em all. And lived most of them, too.
Cathy:
There are soooo many lost-diamond lost-ring stories. Check your hand, right now! I am sending you some virtual pie and a hug. Uh?
Jean:
Princess & the Pea is right - but thank goodness, eh?
Jeanine:
Thanks for coming by! I am truly envious of your far-north, much cooler location. And everyone should love pie. Everyone!
Rechelle:
I would never try to kill you. Not when you’re on the brink of mega-super-bloggo-boffo-stardom! Besides, you’re headed somewhere yummy.
Junebug:
It was a miracle, I guess - a sign from Betty!
Grace:
Like all good vacation spots, there is fudge a-plenty up north. And it is all good. I mean, is there bad fudge?
Maya:
I know you meant “bumbleberry,” but it made me smile to see “umbleberry.” It’s like Michael Caine ordered a slice of ‘umbleberry.
Amy:
Thank you! And thank goodness it had a happy ending.
That is so funny and so lucky that your diamond was under Josie.
That pie looks yummy too.
Now…just how do I get that song out of my head? Or will I ever sing it with the right words again?
That’s a great title! And a scary story with a happy ending - and pie.
This makes me think I should take my ring off so I won’t have to search for it up a chicken’s butt or in a pig pen. Now, I think I might need some bumbleberry pie very soon. I have the blackberries…..
Jenni & Robin:
I can’t get the song out of my head now. Help!
April:
That ‘pasty chicken butt’ post of yours is still cracking me up. Lots of berries at the farmer’s market…
This is a really good pie recipe and I made it yesterday. Very fun to do.
Very fun to present, and delicious. Great way to start our weekend of family coming up. That and sharing your blog post. Thanks.
Just read it again. Still cracking me up.
I got tears in my eyes reading this. I grew up going every year for a full week to a rented cabin maybe 10 miles up the shore from Betty’s Pies. (The Cliff House- no longer for rent)
The old, little Betty’s Pies. When it had criss cross cut fries. And every one had to cram inside because it was very small. (Are the “bathrooms” still out back?) We would go at least once during our week vacation, after a hike at Gooseberry Falls or the Temperance River. I remember one time in particular. It was rainy and the windows were steamy. I was waiting for my burger basket and a piece of coconut cream pie. I would alternately look out the window at the Lake Superior waves, big and crashing on the shore, and then around the warm cafe at the hand printed signs and kitchen-ey knick knacks that were the decorations. I felt so secure and so happy and so in love with that big lake and the pie that about to come. It is a moment that has always stayed with me .
I just started taking my family up to the North Shore (as we Minnesotans call it) in the last few years. Betty’s Pies has gotten bigger and some of my old haunts are gone but on my list of “to do’s” is always - have a piece of pie.
Oh P.S. I also do think that is fabulous that you found your diamond! Way to go Josie!
So glad your daughter found your diamond, that was close. Thanks so much for sharing the pie recipe. Can’t wait to make this one when the weather turns cooler. xxoo
Anne: glad you enjoyed the pie. Makes me want to whip up another one!
Alicia: I wear my empty original engagement ring on a chain around my neck - we had the rock re-set in something new - and every time I look at it, it still cracks me up, too. Whew!
Heidi: Gooseberry Falls and Temperance are two of our very favorite places for hiking to waterfalls. So beautiful up there, no wonder you have such fond memories. They were lovely and make me want to sit in a booth at Betty’s more than ever.
Carolyn: I can’t wait to make another one either - warm or cool!
Oh my goodness, now is that fate or what!!! So glad you found the diamond that you weren’t even aware was gone!!!! Glad Josie got her own slice of pie! Those pics are so enticing. I am not a pie lover, but OH MY…I think I am going to have to WIDEN my horizens in the pie department. I think I am MISSING OUT!!! LOL.
HUGS