monday memories - the four and twenty blackbirds pie book

Emma of Miss Print and Nicole at The Book Bandit have started a new weekly feature called Monday Memories.  To participate, all you have to do is take a photo of one of your books (or a library book that means a lot to you) and talk a bit about why it made an impression.  Today I'm going to talk about The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book: Uncommon Recipes from the Celebrated Brooklyn Pie Shop by Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen.


On Saturday I went to the Baltimore Book Festival for the first time.  It was a gorgeous, sunny day on the Inner Harbor, with dozens of tents set up all around the waterfront to host author talks, panel discussions, signings and book sales.  I took the train up with Sajda and Ashley from my DC Forever Young Adult book club, and we went to several panels together.  I was most excited for the 4pm feature at the 'Food for Thought' stage.


The Elsen sisters founded a pie shop in Brooklyn (I've never been there, but I follow on Instagram), and a cookbook soon followed.  I first heard about their cookbook through... blogging!  In the past few years I've become the pie master (not an official title) at Thanksgiving, and I tend to perk up whenever I see a pie recipe or crust variation.  Every year I live in genuine fear that my crust will turn out wrong, so anything that could help the cause is always of interest.


So, I was excited to see the Elsens in person.  AND IT WAS AWESOME!  They held a pie crust clinic right in front of us, took questions from the audience, and had a lovely volunteer named Laura (she's on the left side in that photo above) join them on the stage.  I drank in the whole experience.  During the presentation they served samples of their Bourbon Pear Crumble, and it was kind of unbelievably delicious.


Afterwards I had to have my newly-purchased copy of their cookbook signed (obviously!).  Emily and Melissa are/were super sweet, and talked a bit with me about pie (again, obviously).  I'm really looking forward to reading this cookbook cover-to-cover and trying out the recipes for myself.  The day was a huge success, and this book signing and cooking demo were a huge part of it.

If you'd like to see more Monday Memories posts, head over to this week's link list.

9 comments:

Kristen M. said...

I am terrified of pies (seriously, I've only ever made one or two that didn't have a graham cracker crust). But Z and I just ordered some pie pumpkins from our CSA so I guess next weekend I'll be making some pie from scratch. Wish me luck! :)

Sajda said...

these pictures are making me so hungry! I'm so glad we went together =)

Tales of Whimsy said...

What fun! I love it.

Miss Print said...

This is officially my favorite MM. The library branch I work in has a cafe which is run by Four and Twenty Blackbirds! Their pies are very delicious and when I want to go crazy and get something sweet I order their Chocolate Chess.

kayerj said...

that was a fun memory for you to share, I'll bet the recipes are very yummy.

The Relentless Reader said...

I could certainly use a pie crust clinic in my life. I'm too chicken to even try! ;)

Beth F said...

I'm not a very good pie crust baker either, but I recently used vodka from the freezer instead of ice water and the crust was much improved.

jama said...

Oh, I've seen this book and have been curious about it! Lucky you to get a signed book and hear the Elsens in person. :) Pie crust is definitely tricky and takes a lot of practice.

Carole said...

Luckily for my waistline, I'm not a pie eater. Cheers from CArole's chatter

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