We did! We did!

Who could resist a pie, from a company with such a delightful quirky name? Who could pass up the clever package?  Certainly not me. The hard part was choosing;  there were so many tempting pies on offer. Nosh was the last stop on our insider’s tour of Tauranga, with the Smillies. It’s a small speciality market, guaranteed to please any Foodie. It was the perfect place to pick up something special for Sunday tea. After lengthy discussions, we settled on the steak, mushroom and red wine pie. It didn’t disappoint! It definitely was the next best thing to homemade.

Kiwis are passionate about their pies. They are savory not sweet and are consumed for the main meal, not dessert. Pies are everywhere! You can buy a hot, take away* pie, for your tucker*, at gas stations, grocery stores, bakeries, cafes, your local butcher or from the corner Dairy*.

I love making pies from scratch. I’ve gone native and am now baking chicken pot pies, for our winter meals. Lucky Mr. Bill. It was his birthday last week and the menu was pie and cake. In America, that would be a two course sugary feast but happily it was a balanced meal. Still, to my ears it sounded funny, when Mr. Bill asked what was for dinner and I replied, “pie and cake”. For me, baking is seasonal, following the harvest. For years (too many to announce) July meant mulberry and blueberry pies. Peach pies were made in August and apples pies in September. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, pumpkin and pecan pies would grace the table. Now my pie rotation is off kilter, because the seasons in New Zealand are opposite to the Northern Hemisphere. As long as there is pie, I don’t mind.

When Mr. Bill cut into his birthday pie, I do believe I heard the birds begin to sing,” Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the King?”

* take away-take out

*Tucker- meal

*dairy–convience store