Cake vs. Pie: a hyperbolic approach

Link sent by my friend Maggie, in support of our wedding pie:

I love cake. Cake is wonderful. But it is too easy to get caught up in the idea of cake. When you compare the data, it is clear that pie is a better choice.




1. Ability of enjoyment to be sustained over time



The first few mouthfuls of cake are almost magical, but as eating continues, enjoyment drops off precipitously. The enjoyment curve for pie appears to be much more stable over time.

lol.

More from Hyperbole and a Half.

We're so trendy we don't even know it.

Did you know that last Sunday, January 23rd, was National Pie Day? Here are some theories as to its origins:

National Pie Day was created by the American Pie Council*. The American Pie Celebration began in 1986 to commemorate Crisco's 75th anniversary of "serving foods to families everywhere."

We have inquired to the American Pie Council to see if this is truly a "National" day, which requires an act of congress. Stay tuned for their response.

Charlie Papazian of the examiner.com also claims to have started this day in 1975. He says he selected this date because it is his birthdate.

I find it shocking that the people who were into pie enough to create a National Pie Day didn't insist on it be March 14th (3/14, like the digits of pi, 3.1415926...), but ok. Anyway, because it was National Pie Day recently, I got sent a couple different articles about how pies are the new wedding trend to replace cupcakes, like this NPR article: Cupcakes Are Dead. Long Live The Pie! I'm more of the "good food never goes out of style" school of thought, but it's cool to see that maybe our wedding will be frontrunners in this new trend. First and last time in our lives we'll be trendy, I'm sure.

*How awesome would it be to say that your job was to work for the American Pie Council?

On Mismatched Expectations

I am a firm believer in the importance of expectations. Take a simple example. Let's say you're a parent, and you are driving your child to get blood drawn for the first time. The child senses that something is going to happen but is not sure what. He asks, "Mommy/Daddy, what's 'getting blood drawn?'"

I see three courses of action here:

1. Downplay it: "Oh, it's nothing! It'll feel like a little pinch."
2. Exaggerate it: "It's going to feel like you left your arm on a hot stove for several minutes."
3. Level with the child: "It will sting a little and will feel a little strange for about a minute, but you'll be OK."

Now, I would bet that it's about an even split between parents who choose Option A and Option C, with a small minority of sadists and humourists selecting Option B. As someone who believes firmly in establishing expectations, I would skew towards C.

Why? Well, it's mainly a process of elimination choice. If I go with A, and my child is particularly sensitive to pain (something that is hard to gauge when dealing with someone else's nerve endings), the child will be (rightfully) annoyed with me for misleading them. If I go with B, the child will likely panic for the remainder of the drive; their relief when the blood is actually drawn (if the blood ever gets drawn) will be nice, but likely small satisfaction. A prolonged reliance on B-like strategies will also presumably cause psychological traumatization (from here).

B, on the other hand, offers fair expectations to the child. They will be nervous, and I may be forced to offer additional reassurance, but they now know what to expect.

People act on expectations all the time. If they expect that new flat screen TV to drop in price for the holidays, they may postpone their purchase for another month. If they expect to get a raise, they may start spending a bit more money in advance. If they expect to have to skip lunch, they may eat a larger breakfast, or may pack a Nutri-Grain bar for the road.

Like most things, weddings are about expectations. Everyone who heard that Katherine and I got engaged had some expectations about what the wedding will actually look like. Likewise, everyone who gets an invitation will, for at least a moment or two, create a picture--or, rather, a mental model--of how the wedding will look.

(This is another one of those principles for me. Back when I was in an educational psychology class, we talked a bit about mental models in learning. One of the jobs of a teacher is to help students draw accurate, understandable mental models of reality; the mental model of the solar system for a third grader will inevitably be less sophisticated than the mental model for an astronomer, but both models need to depict the abstract concept in a concrete way in order to be effective. I see the wedding the same way.)

Mismatched expectations lead to conflict, fights, divorce, miscommunication, wars, and all manners of other problems. Take weddings. If John likes to drink, and assumes that weddings will have alcohol, but sees no alcohol when he arrives, John will be angry. If, however, John has been informed in advance of the dryness of the wedding, John will adjust his expectations accordingly (or wisely send a small gift and skip the affair altogether).

I anticipate that the most controversial aspect of the wedding will be the choice of food. We have made two potentially-unpopular decisions:

1. We will not be serving a full meal; the menu calls for a variety of hors d'oeuvres and other light fare.
2. We will not be serving a traditional wedding cake, having decided that pies are better, and more interesting, than cake.

Thus, going forward, we have two places for potential disappointment or, worse, outward anger (particularly when combined with freely-available social lubricant). My goal here is to determine how best to enhance the mental models of our guests, and head off any potential problems before the wedding day.

I see a few different ways to do this:

1. Strategic leaking: We can leak to select potential (chatty) wedding guests that the menu will be mostly hors d'oeuvres, and that we are serving pies, rather than cake.
2. Publicly-available website: We can direct people on the invitations to this blog or our wedding website, which will have the full menu available to readers, well-wishers, and guests.
3. Invitation enclosures: We can include a copy of the menu in the wedding invitation.
4. Caveat emptor: We can do nothing, and conduct a small social experiment.

Option A gives me the enjoyment of categorizing our guests according to their interconnectedness (and loquaciousness), which might be perversely fun. Sadly, I think it is ultimately too difficult to verify that the information has been passed.

Going with only Option B requires a good bit of additional work from the guests. Most people will not visit a website that they receive on a piece of snail mail. People are busy, and have far more important things to worry about than our wedding. (As my mother would say, it's probably not in "their top two.") By the time they start thinking about the wedding, it is quite possible that the invitation was lost, or that the information was written elsewhere.

I personally am leaning towards Option C, likely in combination with B. It is the most direct and transparent way to circulate the information that I want to circulate. It also, I think, gives people a chance to look inside the process a bit, and to feel involved.

In another context, Option D could be fun. But I would like to get the marriage off on the right foot. There are thousands of potential flashpoints in this sort of social interaction; as the logistics guy here, my goal is to minimize them.

So, as of now, I am in favor of including the full menu along with our invitations, preferably on some sort of ceremonial stationery, along with posting it on the website. Katherine agrees, but we're still trying to figure out a way to word it and make it look classy. Any ideas?

Lattice pocket pie mold

How adorable is this pie mold from Williams-Sonoma?

Definitely one of those unitaskers Alton Brown rails against ($9.95)

Brought to my attention by Jenny of ljcfyi

To give you an idea of the scale.

She also made some savory pies: swiss cheese, goat cheese, and mushroom.

I wonder if you could make a whole bunch and freeze them? They'd be much easier to store than regular size pies and therefore could help achieve the pie theme more easily. And (here goes the rationalizing) if they do freeze well, Dan could have homemade pie lunches/dinners instead of getting frozen chicken pot pies from Trader Joe's and such. Hmm.

My Jello Americans

Senior year, my roommates and I decided to decorate our common room with an America theme: a red/blue/white quilt, pillows, etc. but the crowning glory was the "Wall of Great Americans." This included such luminaries as Stephen Colbert (from whose book I Am America (And So Can You!) it all started, really), George Lucas, Bruce Springsteen, and Jay-Z.

Anyway, we threw an America themed party as well, dressed up as 50s housewives, serving jello shots that had red, blue, and clear layers to them. I can't remember if I even had any, but they were still awesome.  If the My Jello Americans blog had been around then, I'm sure it would've been even more stunning:

the Oreo

Walk and Shoot Gum

the What-a-Melon

Any wedding would be improved by jello shots of this caliber, methinks.

We moved! (again!)

Ah wedding blog world, I've missed you! My 'to blog' list is quite full and I will try to clear it out slowly as I also catch up on comments with all y'all's posts. I love our new place but once all the essentials were unpacked I hit a wall on working on the apartment. Hopefully the couch we're buying off of craigslist will make it in this weekend so I can then do some furniture rearranging and gather energy to tackle it a bit more after my trip to Philly/Lancaster this weekend and before my trip out to California the following week.

To ease into it a bit, here's a champagne recommendation for Canals & Nubiola I found from Nothing But Bonfires as I read through her archives when I wanted to procrastinate from packing.

at the time of the review, it was under $10. Right now it's at $12.99 on BevMo.

Eat Drink Chic's surprise wedding

Amy of Eat Drink Chic left blogland for a bit to throw an engagement party...which turned out to be a surprise wedding instead!!

You should clickthrough to check out the full set of images, I quite enjoy the styling:

I chose 'simple', 'rustic', 'recycled', 'vintage' and 'casual' as the key themes of our wedding 'picnic'. Wanting to capture a fresh, spring feel I set bright warm reds, oranges, pinks and yellows ablaze against a rustic landscape of wooden furniture, vintage crates, wine barrels, an odd assortment of collected jars and and bottles and bamboo plates and cutlery. Guests were advised a dress code of 'smart casual' to maintain the relaxed and understated tone of the event.

My favorite bits are probably the flower and food displays:

(for real both pretty and casual and not indie-unattainable)

Non-glue tiered cake/cupcake stand

I like this construction method (drill hole in plate and use allthreads, drawer pull, and hollow candlestick) better than the usual 'glue thrifted plate to vase to plate' method because this would be easier to store, since it comes apart. Then the decorating team can mix and match on the day of to their hearts' desire.

(tutorial at Giver's Log, via not martha)

Watermelon tap.

I don't care what the negative comments say, this project is made of WIN. If I had to make a list of limited (the horror! I love food!) foods I had to eat for the rest of my life, watermelon would definitely be near the top of that list.

instructions at evite

During senior year, we made a vodka watermelon with watermelon-flavored vodka. Our enthusiasm for the idea of the project outweighed our enthusiasm for the result by far, but this project seems to have a high likelihood for success.

As with all projects that would need to be made very close in time to the event, though, this probably needs to be farmed out to someone. Hmm, maybe my dad would be up for it...I can't decide if he thinks this would be an interesting enough challenge to go at it or if it would go on the long list of 'bonkers things my family has asked me to do.'

Cupcakes in teacups

Every couple of days I waver on whether I should keep Style Me Pretty in my Google Reader, because sometimes it makes me feel like I'm overdosing on unattainable imagery, especially since they feature a lot of photo shoots and not just real weddings. Then, they will go ahead and post something like these cupcakes in teacups:

(photos by Red Bliss)

Catering state of mind

Useful advice on food/rental items, from chic on the cheap:

• On planning a dessert reception: link
• On self-catering a dessert reception: link
• On buying silverware, glasses, linens, etc. instead of renting: link

I'd been thinking of self-catering but because the reception is relatively early in the day (not as much time to prep and setup ourselves) and the location is far enough from our home bases in either Jersey City or Monmouth County that I'm not sure what we would do about storing all the pre-made food and then transporting it over to Princeton. It may just be worth the cost to hire caterers in the end.

We met with Kelly of Chez Alice last weekend. She seems like she has a great deal of experience in catering and is very willing to be flexible and work with us to keep things within budget. Her proposal included the following:

• assorted pies & tarts
• coffee, tea, lemonade,
• simple sandwiches (meat and vegan options)

We won't be able to do an individual tasting with them but their Yelp reviews seem to indicate that they're more than a competent bakery.

We also got a proposal from Emily's Cafe, who has one 5-star rating on Yelp for a wedding reception. I was really impressed by their detailed proposal, which broke down the different parts (food, beverage, server costs) very clearly and also included their suggestion of rental items as well (under $1000! makes me feel much more secure that that won't have to spiral out of control as an entirely unexpected cost).

• Artisan Cheese Board
• chef’s selection of Stilton, Vermont cheddar, brie, boursin, port salut, Parmigginao Reggiano, pecorino, Aged Gouda, Jarlsberg
• *Crostini, crackers, flatbreads             
• garnished with seasonal fruit
• Paired with: 
• Pastry Encrusted Baked Brie stuffed with Raspberry Preserves
• *crostini, flatbreads, crackers
• Tiers of Tea Sandwiches
• prepared on assorted breads to include: pumpernickel, sourdough, black olive, and multi grain
• mango chicken salad, prosciutto and marscapone, smoked salmon and crème fraiche, cucumber and dill
• Assortment of Miniature Scones
• white chocolate & raspberry
• chocolate chip walnut
• cranberry
• *served with clotted cream and preserves
• Assorted Petite Tartlets
• Butter Tartlet Shells with: Lemon Curd, Chocolate Ganache, Maple Walnut, Whipped Cream and Berries 
• Miniature Cupcakes
• Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
• Ice Cream & Sorbet served in cones on artist palettes
• Additional Beverages
• Gourmet Coffee & Tazo Tea 
• Lemonade & Iced Tea Station

With all the server costs, this proposal exceeds Chez Alice's by about $600, so I would need to go back to them to see where it could be cut down a bit more (and of course, remove the nut items. Dan also hates Tazo tea, maybe we could bring our own?)

However, Dan and I have a disagreement about the suitability of a dessert or afternoon tea reception with the wedding pie idea. Dan thinks that the food should just be sandwiches and the dessert is the pies, standing in for your usual wedding cake. He thinks that this way, it's a very clear statement of your awareness in breaking the 'rule' of general cake, and that if you have a dessert reception, the effect of the pies is diluted to the point where it's not worth the extra effort to source out the tower and set it all up, etc.

I'm leaning more towards that the variety of desserts will be more visually impressive with the varied colors/shapes and more appealing to guests since they have greater choice. I don't think a dessert reception would detract from a pie tower, and certainly not so much that the effort of setting up the pie tower won't be worth it.

Dan's ok with the varied dessert reception if it's at a comparable cost and we don't put especial effort into the pie tower thing. I figure I'll discuss the proposal a bit more with Emily's Cafe and see what it looks like when it's under $3000 and make the call from there.

Food display

I generally prefer blog posts with photos but for the stuff on food I've collected, I figured it'd make more sense to separate the information/advice-heavy stuff from the visual display ideas. But here are your pretty photos now:

chic on the cheap

sandwich display from jenloveskev

champagne/dessert spread from project wedding

We covered a buffet table with a simple white tablecloth and stocked it with champagne and sweet treats.  To keep the look cohesive, we chose food with a similar color palette (pink, gold, and green).  Goodies like chocolate, shortbread cookies, fruit, tarts, and small pastries are easy for guests to eat using only a cocktail napkin, so silverware and plates are optional. 

We're meeting with a potential caterer on Saturday who I think will help us do a rough estimate on rentals, but if that doesn't work out, I do like the patterned Ikea paper napkins and disposable bamboo plates/silverware that Shannon posted.

Nara napkins, $1.99/50pk

Bambu veneerware 9in plates $73/100pk

I also had an idea of making up fabric napkins from thrifted fabrics for everyone monogrammed with their initials, used to signify seating arrangements (before the more mingling, cocktail style) that they'd use and then take home as favors. However, for people who aren't into it already, the idea of reusable hankies or napkins for every day (not just as restaurants, I mean) probably is too much of a stretch and so it'd be a lot of work for not too much payoff. I can't figure out darning on my sewing machine yet, so embroidery/monogramming is still farther off.

I also seem to remember reading somewhere (I think on 2000 Dollar Wedding?) that in certain cases it's cheaper to just buy tableware and linens, either through thrifting or at restaurant stores instead of renting them. The problem of course is then the clean up. I think linens might not be too bad, and from the above I think I shall definitely keep an eye out for interesting plates (superglue a support to the bottom and you've got a stand!), cake platters and dessert stands. My thrifting afficionado friends, you are hereby on notice to keep an eye out for me as well (this means you, Emily of Florida with the amazing thrift stores).

Links about food

General descriptions of non-full meal reception types (link). Ours is somewhere between dessert, tea (I actually have been corresponding with a very sweet woman at Ana Beall's Tea Room about catering), and hors d'oeuvres, I suppose, but no hot food or food that requires a lot of preparation.

Info on self-catering full meals: SFGate article titled "Do-It-Yourself Feast: How to cater your own wedding without losing your peace of mind" and this thread at indiebride, titled "Get The Smelling Salts, They're Doing Their Own Reception Food!" Seems like it's just about prepping as much as possible beforehand. My main question on this is, where do you keep at the food refrigerated beforehand?

Dessert menu suggestions: link, link, link, link.

Advice and posts from bloggers about their own experiences: chic on the cheap, Adventures Along the Way, and Apartment Therapy editor Faith Durand, with hopefully more to come! Basically I left comments on every blog I could find that mentioned doing a dessert reception and all of the women have been really nice and willing to share their wisdom on the subject. Lessons gleaned from the above posts:

• Don't plan on a very long reception (2-3 hours): I'm estimating maybe 3-5 or 3-6.
• Make sure the invitations make clear what type of food will be served: we'll need to ponder this for a bit, with the sandwiches being thrown in there
• Figure out the appropriate timeline for stuff like cake-cutting: we'll have a really little cake, but I hadn't yet thought about when we'd be doing that bit.
• Multiple stations for people to mingle and not have to wait in line and easy access to drinks
• Small servings, so people can taste many items
• Variety of textures and flavors, including sugar-free options: I do need to remember this, one of my uncles is diabetic
• Set up tables, tableclothes, serving trays, etc. the day before if possible: the site coordinator said if there's no event booked on Friday, we could come in early that day to set up then
• Hire people for set up and clean up if not getting a caterer (trouble is, where does one find trustworthy folks with experience to hire? Yes, craigslist ads, but references would be better)

Cupcake pies

Via Amy, more adorable mini-food!

Venue chosen! Tentative date(s) picked!

Mama G was in town this past weekend, and as a result I now have two new Gmail Tasks lists: 'blog post ideas' and 'wedding to do.' I'm sure the to do list will morph into something much bigger  very soon, Google products I love you but some things just aren't fully up to snuff in their functionality.

I will slowly try to work through the 'blog post ideas' to clear it out at least a little bit (possibly tomorrow evening during my JS class...though that will be harder to get away with what with the all the pictures that will be included, heh), because ever since our 2 hour planning session at Meghan's fueled by pear cider and apple cider doughnuts from Greenmarket, I have been Googling like mad and finding lots of great stuff.

Anyway, venue! Chosen! Mama G threw her full support behind Mountain Lakes House which was just what I needed. Also I agonized over it for a whole week and that was enough time to let it fade and get sensible if it were possible. In her words:

You and your guests will not remember what you had to eat at the reception but you will remember the setting and charm of the location. Feed them peanut butter and crackers, if you have to, but have your wedding there!!! Lovely house and setting - I can picture it now.

Which was just the thing in the end, really, I could just picture what we'd all look like hanging around on on the lawn by the pond and on the patios. All classy and grown up.

Of course, peanut butter is a no no for He Who Is Allergic To Life (if Dan does stuff worth memoirizing about, the title of the first volume will be Allergic to Life) but we decided on the following:

• Saturday date, so people don't necessarily have to take off from work to get here (I wanted Memorial Day weekend originally but Princeton has their graduation weekend then)
• afternoon (1-6ish or maybe 2-7ish) so that we don't have to deal with arranging artificial lighting and we take full advantage of the scenic venue. It's also early enough that people won't expect a full-blown dinner and the older folk don't have to leave early, while the younger folk can continue socializing in bar-hopping or some such later that evening if so desired, but also not too early such that we're up at Jesus o'clock setting up.
• champagne* and dessert** reception (*with nice beer and tea, maybe wine, and partial potluck on the desserts with pies from the good bakers we know, cupcake stand, Mama G's chocolate fountain, and **sandwich platters as well because Dan insists that no matter what people expect to be fed more than just dessert at a social event) I just like calling it a champagne and dessert reception for now because it's more elegant than all the rest together. Also I have no objections to also have OJ and milk available still, brunch or no brunch.
• Mama G to be my long-distance planner and possibly day-of coordinator as well (Meg's younger sister's graduation is early June)
• potential red (my dress)/orange/yellow color theme, I'd like to make an inspiration board

And many, many more other ideas that are now floating around. Right now I'm focused on trying to see if it's at all possible to get just one caterer who will do this kind of food at a good price plus help us figure out the rentals and provide a few people on the day-of to do setup and cleanup. It's probably unlikely, so I've been reading about self-catering as well, which is daunting, but so it goes. 

I suspect it'll be hard to find a caterer who will do all the services stuff but then be ok with us asking them to just get sandwich platters from Costco or something like that. I did find that apparently there are people who are just 'catering managers' which is a cross between a full-blown planner/coordinator and catering company. I haven't Googled that just yet but we're so near NYC, there should be enough aspiring chefs and restauranteurs that I'd be able to find with postings at a local culinary or school something, I suspect.

The current tentative dates are 6/11/11, 6/18/11, and 6/25/11. My preference is the 18th but Dan needs to check with his mom about a competition she takes a school team to that happens every year right after school ends. Anyone else have any preferences one way or another?

I'm really happy and excited about the venue and food style choice, it feels right and doable, especially with Mama G's help. Hooray!

Food ideas

I've been a bit distressed about the cost of feeding so many people, but just wanted to dump some of the ideas floating around in my head right now:

• Have a morning/early afternoon wedding and serve brunch + mimosas (A Practical Wedding on her morning wedding)
• Have it be a potluck: we make a bulk main course, like lasagna, locals bring appetizers/pies, out-of-towners bring drinks (2000 Dollar Wedding on potlucks)
• Jersey shore diner theme (more breakfast for dinner)
• Make your own pizzas/rent a pizza truck--The Google smiled upon me today and I found two pizzerias that cater with trucks!
• Nomad Pizza (local, organic, seasonal ingredients--hooray!)
• Jiannetto's Pizza (catering info not directly on website but I found this Time Out article on alternative catering for weddings, which also lists a beef burger truck, a waffle truck, and an ice cream truck!)
• Shake Shack (I actually emailed them on Friday...and I bet I'm not the first)

Rutgers Gardens

And we're back in the game! (name that movie reference)

Dan and I spent our day off today doing our very first venue visit! Rutgers Gardens has been the only one on my list to visit so far for reasons that are threefold (I just like the word constructions of '# + -fold,' even if I may not be using it correctly):

1. They had the rental prices posted on their website a few months ago and it was under $2000 to have a ceremony and reception area for 10 hours
2. Beautiful gardens backdrops for photos (see here, here, here, here, here and here--these are all the photos I could find in the first few pages of results for a Google search on 'rutgers gardens wedding')
3. They'd have the combo of experience and casualness that would fit. Pretentious this place is most certainly not.

January is a dismal time to visit an outdoors place, but luckily it was a pretty nice day today, warm and sunny. I could definitely see us getting married there. It is quite rustic but it would set the tone for the event overall in a good way, I think. I think the gardens would be really pretty and I also like the pond/lake views at the back of the log cabin.

Dan is concerned about logistics like parking and chairs and all that, so I'll call up their office this week and scope out what their responses are. Internet research thus far suggests that it's pretty no-frills, advised to get there early in the day for cleaning and setup, though it also looks like they've inserted a required caterer now (testimonials here), so maybe they've got a tighter grip on running things. It's one of the questions to ask.

It's probably a good idea to do a little bit more research (leads to be collected from here and here), so we'll visit a few more next weekend once I do some initial contacting this week. Dan wants to get some quotes on more conventional hotel venues. I'm leaving him to do the work on those since my preliminary research was that the cheap end of those sorts of places ran $85-$130/person, which means $10,000 easily hit with our guest list coming to around 90 people.

I'm leaning towards late May/early June for a date right now, though Dan is concerned about bees (allergic). The problem is that times of the year when you are guaranteed not to have bees about is also when everything is dormant or dead so...that's a difficulty.

We expect that most of our fights in this wedding planning process will revolve around some problem where Dan's lower threshold of hassle acceptance has been exceeded because I want something more interesting (sign #286 that we've been together a long time: we can predict where our conflicts will be and we know ourselves well enough that we know we can't really change to avoid it anyway).

The more cheerful part of our discussions today was that perhaps our theme should just be 'pie,' as I am attracted to the idea of make-your-own pizzas for food. We'd be able to accommodate both those who prefer more traditional pizza styles but also go more gourmet if you'd like. There could be a buffet of other sides and appetizers set up to tide you over while you wait for your pizza order. Anyway, with a pie theme, we could also have chicken pot pie (one of Dan's top 5 favorite foods of all time), shepherd's pie (eh), quiches (Dan's mom make good a mean quiche), and of course, wedding pies.

Wedding Pie

Of all the unconventional things we'll be doing, I wonder how high this'll be on people's list of things they're secretly appalled by. Although, most friends that we've told about this particular idea have at the very least been amused, so at least there's that.

I first saw this on The Seasonal Cook but I think Dan independently suggested it as well because he loves pie (what a wholesome All-American boy kind of thing, right?) and to save costs on crazy expensive wedding cake that doesn't taste that great anyway. We're thinking more of a pie tower, with just a small, one-level cake at the top to hold a pair of toppers and for the few people who do actually like wedding cake.

I would love for nearby friends and family to contribute homemade pies, or we can probably get a bunch from Costco or something like that pretty cheaply. Maybe I should create the label 'pleas for help' to help people help me.

[edit] Mama G had the following excellent idea: "little place cards with the type of pie and who baked it (Apple Pie – Old family recipe – baked with love by Grandma Mary)…recipe cards to add to your collection"