"Give a Piece a Chance." — Books. Blog. Pie Classes. And a Pinch of Activism.

Return to Portland: Taking a Step Forward

Seeing as I’ve been paying rent for the last two months on my apartment sitting empty in Portland, I finally extracted myself from Southern California and the fame-and-fortune-seeking life as an aspiring TV star of a pie series to return to my own reality show. Rain. Taxes. Unpacking. Unemployment. PHOTO: Shoes of Swan Island. Random … Read more

TV Pilot: What’s Next?

What happens when you spend 12 days shooting footage of other people baking pie? If you’re Janice, you fly back to your home in New Jersey, bake five pies (having never previously baked a pie in your entire life), and invite your whole family over to test your new culinary skills. (Janice’s friend Marguerite pictured … Read more

Mission Pie, PART II — Five Easy Pieces

And now for the best part of every pie interview…THE PIE! It’s the reward for taking our time to learn about every aspect of a pie baker’s business. But a business is often only as successful as the products it sells. So here we go, doing “Quality Control” at Mission Pie.Five easy pieces….starring, from left … Read more

Day 7: TV Pilot — Hello Hollywood

Today was a day of meeting old friends and making new ones. We started off in Malibu at the beach house of Kathy Eldon. Kathy and I met in Nairobi, Kenya 23 years ago where we discovered in the first five minutes of talking that we were both from Iowa. Our friendship has spanned the … Read more

Day 6: TV Pilot — FREE PIE FOR LA!

What a day. This may have been one of the best, most memorable days of my entire life. I believe it’s a day many people whose lives we touched on Saturday will also remember for a long time to come. Why? Because of PIE! Free pie! How often do you walk down a city sidewalk … Read more