A few weeks ago I attended a pie baking class. It was instructed by a woman I met at The Big Pitch in June. Her name is Sheila and she runs a local business in Columbus for food lovers. You can read more about her and her company on her website, Ala Carte Columbus.

The cooking class she held entitled “the life of pie” was very well run and informative. At one point in the class Sheila went around the room asking everyone what their favorite flavor pie is. It was mostly cherry, with a few apple lovers weighing in. I was having a difficult time narrowing down my favorite. I love cherry pie, but then again, peach is so good, and let’s not forget about apple! It was almost my turn and I committed to peach – peach it was, yummy, juicy peach. Then the little girl next to me, said her favorite was chocolate cream pie… chocolate cream pie, how could I have ever let that one slip through my fingers? As all eyes turned to me, I made a fast switch to chocolate cream pie! Chocolate cream pie – yes, that’s the winner! Of course as the words were coming out of my mouth, I was still thinking peach! No, cherry! How can you choose just one pie as a favorite?

After we had all finished, it was noted that no one chose peach! This would not make my mother happy – she loved peach pie! I quickly asked her, how can you commit to loving only one kind of pie? It’s just not fair! One thing lead to another and Sheila mentioned how the crop of peaches was so bad this year because of the weather and yada, yada, yada, if you want delicious peaches you have to go to the peach truck. Apparently there was someone who drove a truck to Ohio from Georgia with the most delicious peaches. I immediately grabbed my phone to find their website, thepeachtruck.com, and noted it was coming to my area on August 8th. I put it on my calendar and couldn’t wait for the day to arrive.

That was three weeks ago and I have been counting down the days until finally, it was time to go pick up my sweet, juicy peaches! Yesterday I set my alarm, got myself ready and then set out on my journey. Before I left, I quickly checked their website for time and location just to be sure I was headed to the right place. Ugh! I made a mistake! They came to my area on Friday, I missed it – good think I checked! But how could that be? Then I saw that they were at another Ohio location but it was a 30 minute drive from my house. I had already committed to going, and waited 3 weeks for the day to arrive. I had to go. I grabbed my Carole King CD, jumped in my husband’s convertible and off I went! The sky was blue, it was a cool day and I was off to buy peaches! What could be better?

I pulled into the parking lot of a gardening store, saw a tent next to a white truck filled with boxes of peaches and was excited I had made the journey. While waiting on the line, I asked the two women in front of me if they had purchased them before and they said they hadn’t. They read about it in a local paper and like me, couldn’t wait to buy them. Another woman made a joke she had come the farthest from California! The man running the stand said it was the last day for peaches and they would be back next year. I was the last person on line and when it was finally my turn, I handed Neil from The Peach Truck my credit card. There was only one size box and it was 25 pounds! Okay, I thought, I’ve come this far, peaches for everyone! I was literally the last person to buy peaches for the season. I wheeled the cart to my car, put the large sweet smelling box of peaches in the trunk and off I went. As I sang along to the Carole King song Beautiful, I started to wonder how I would ever explain this to my husband? Maybe I’ll bake him a pie before I tell him how much they cost! So now the question is turned to you… What would you bake with 25 pounds of peaches? I know my mother would bake the most delicious pie! Enjoy!