Portage Pies

When you veer off schedule and off road you never know what you'll discover. I was traveling from Chautauqua to the Finger Lakes this week and remembered that Westfield NY is the home of the Grape Discovery Center and is where the Welch's company was founded. You can see the original Welch's factory from the road and I wanted to get photos so I parked by the town square and walked down to where it was. On the way I took photos of some of the beautiful historic buildings in the area and one of them had a sign that said Portage Pies -  pies for sale. A perfect pie is my favorite dessert so I couldn't resist, and I'm so glad that I didn't. When I inquired about what pies they had available the gentleman behind the counter thought they were sold out, but lucky for me, one cherry pie was in hiding.

My life has changed from that pie - there are no words, only gasps when I bit into the perfect, flaky crust and the cherries that hit the right tartness to them with a kiss of vanilla to keep you coming back for more. I was hooked.

Simple can be so much better - and this simple bite of perfection is something I'm going to remember for a long, long time.