Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Pies! All Pies!
The differences between living in the north and living in the south continue to add up. I’ve covered the differences in weather, bugs, construction hard hats, motorcyclists who don’t wear helmets, people who openly drink and drive, the thickness of grass blades and the cost of living, to name a few.
Today was fried pie day. If there are fried pies up north, I’ve never tasted them let alone heard about them. So I went along on the journey to the infamous fried pie place not only to see what the hype was all about but also for the road trip. And it was quite the road trip. We didn’t go to Gainseville as one reader guessed. We didn’t even stay in the state of Texas. We drove all the way to just north of Ardmore, Oklahoma. To give you an idea of how far that is, if you were to stay on I-35N for about 140 or so miles, you would reach Oklahoma City.
We took a detour as we attempted to avoid construction on the main route, unfortunately, there was also construction on the back roads. Nonetheless, I got to see little towns and places I would otherwise not have seen....rural and suburbia Texas. (According to me.) I also claim once again that the eastern side of Oklahoma is really rather pretty although this time there were no storm clouds in the sky to watch. Bummer.
Eventually we got to our destination, the fried pie place, out in the middle of Nowhere, Oklahoma and pulled into the parking lot. As promised, I took photos of the experience because I know you all just love the random, useless photos I use to add spice to my little stories.
Here is the outside of the fried pie place:
With mounting anticipation, I found myself inside the infamous fried pie place and staring at a cooler with a sea of pies:
I then took a look over the menu of pies. I was informed that if I only ordered one, I would be upset with myself later so I followed the trend and ordered three. They had meal pies...like dinner or something and then they had fruit pies and dessert pies.
(Sorry about the flash reflection--the bottom of the second menu states “Just like your mom used to make ‘em”.)
I quickly scanned through and made my order of one coconut cream pie, spinach and mushroom pie and comfort food pie. The other orders were placed as well as a few extra fruit pies for later on and we waited while the meal pies were freshly made. Shortly after our order was placed, the fried pie lady handed us two boxes of pies and informed us to be careful as the meal pies were very hot.
We crawled back into the vehicle and proceeded back to Texas. I was in charge of fried pie distribution and threatened teenage children with no pies or pies thrown out the window and splattered all over the freeway if they didn’t pipe down and tell me their wishes one at a time. They love fried pies.
Then it was my turn. I opened up the box and found one of the fried pies that I ordered:
...and took a bite. First bite was all bread. Or...fried pie crust rather. Second bite had filling and it wasn’t so bad. True to fried pie lady’s word, they were hot and fell apart in their little baggies making for a messy meal, which I really don’t need as I am a messy eater and do quite well on my own. Nonetheless, they were pretty good. I ate half of the spinach and mushroom and then tried the comfort food which was a little bit better. I also then tried the coconut cream fried pie which, of course, tasted better than the other two. The best way to describe these things is to compare them to Hostess fruit pies only these are, obviously, much better.
We finally got back into town and I was exhausted and ready for a nap. However, I was so concerned that all the fried pies would be gone before I got to try the apple and the cherry so I had a half of each one of those as well about an hour after we walked in the door. Let me tell ya something. One fried pie is enough. Two is pushing it. I probably won’t be able to eat for the next three days and I also slept a very long time but I have now experienced southern fried pies just like someone’s mom used to make ‘em.
If you ever find yourself traveling through Oklahoma near Ardmore on 1-35...I suggest you stop in. And don’t be fooled by the fact that this place is in the middle of nowhere. They apparently do a lot of business as they were busy when we were there.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go see if my pants still fit me.
<--- Here Endeth The Lesson
