None of it Hubig's

The Mister and I prepared for our recent excursion to New Orleans by watching Anthony Bourdain talk about food in New Orleans which led to watching the HBO series Treme*.  From Treme I learned about Hubig's Pies, little fried hand pies available at convenience stores, which helped everyone feel back at home after Katrina, and immediately added them to my list.  Alas, the Hubig bakery burned down in 2012 and is not being rebuilt, so I did not have a Hubig pie.  But I did have some great ones.

Our first night we ate the best piece of pecan pie I have had (and I don't say that lightly) at Brigtsen's  (actual pecan pie recipe here).  Somehow placing the slice of pie in a pool of caramel sauce enhanced it and didn't make it too sweet.  It was the perfect conclusion to a near perfect meal including sweet breads, soft shell crab, rabbit, and oysters.

Our third night we had a disappointing chocolate pudding pie after an otherwise phenomenal meal that included head cheese, crawfish pie, boudin balls, and oysters at Cochon.

Somehow the day in between included neither oysters nor pie, although it did include two variations on sno-balls (not the same as a snow cone), one after kayaking on Cane Bayou and one as a bonus course in the homage-to-foods-New Orleans tasting menu at Coquette.

I did not see them until the airport (and after I had bought the boys over-priced pralines), but once I identified them, I knew I had to carry home the Haydel's New Orleans Hand Pie Hubig replacement (although Haydel's are baked and not fried).  We split the cherry and the coconut cream six ways when we returned, and they were tasty enough, although nothing for which I will return to New Orleans.

7, 45, 5  May 20, 2017

Also, upon our return, Aster and Dianthus presented me with a birthday chocolate tart with a pistachio crust baked by my mother and then my mother and I celebrated Mother's Day together a week late by baking a rhubarb pie (following the Magpie crust and the Art of Pie filling thickened with a little tapioca).

So I'm another year and seven pies wiser (and experienced in all kinds of things, from packing by candlelight under a tornado watch to kayaking to changing transportation plans because of the Lee statue coming down in Lee Circle) than I was last week, and my small basement tornado shelter has now been used (by my parents and my sons).

It's a good adventure.

Rhubarb from Colorado May 2017

I plan to use this photo of my lovely mother
for the People of Pie series, but just in case I never
post that series, you can see how great my mother is.

*I am aware of the irony/condescending privilege/silliness of learning about tragedy, resilience and  and soul from watching an HBO series before a three day trip with every meal planned out. None the less, I appreciated the town a great deal more from having watched and learned.