Don't judge a book by its cover or a pie by its crust. On our recent visit to the Beekman Boys Farm in Sharon Springs, Josh harvested some rhubarb from their garden with the instructions for Polly to bake me a pie. While the end result wasn't much to look at, it was as good as it was fresh.

Polly is an excellent cook, usually. But with the pressure of using the rhubarb at it's freshest, and needing to "fill-in bartend" at Heron Creek Golf Course there were some shortcuts used. 1st, store-bought pie shells. They're never as good as a freshly made crust. 2nd, she forgot to factor in a covering crust, so a bottom became a top. Not a good start, and time for me to exit the kitchen before things got uglier.

The 3rd fatal error, and probably the one that most led to the pie's ugliness...the pie came out of the oven just before Polly had to leave. Because we have a cat that loves knocking anything it can't eat off counters, she put it in the microwave for safety. The pie was piping hot and being enclosed caused it to continue cooking. This all led to the top crust becoming more of a dome over pie.

The pie won't win any beauty contest, but will definitely hold its own in any taste test. That got us to thinking about other tasty treats that don't look so good. I voted for bacon wrapped scallops. Polly picks poutine.

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