Thoughts of blueberry pie naturally lead to Elburn Days
It doesn't qualify as one of my favorite days, mainly because I just learned it existed. But tomorrow is National Blueberry Pie Day, and I am quite fond of eating that popular dessert.
My mission for the week was to find the best blueberry pie in the area, but no one was able to point to a specific restaurant and say it had the best.
With Baker's Square in St. Charles recently closing, I checked in on Harner's Bakery Restaurant in North Aurora. But the workers there said all of the pies seem to have equal fanfare.
Unable to really pinpoint a restaurant, it was time to instead turn to a virtual pie factory by jogging my memory about a delicious blueberry pie I once ate at the Elburn Days summer festival.
The Community Congregational Church of Elburn prepares and bakes up to 300 pies for Elburn Days -- and a terrific blueberry pie is just part of the package that Stevie Bateman and about eight other ladies at the church come up with for the festival.
"We have a horseshoe counter in the kitchen at the church, and we just get around that horseshoe in an assembly line and get to work," Bateman said of her crew.
Bateman said work will start next month even though Elburn Days doesn't unfold until August.
"Strawberries and rhubarb are good in May, so we have to start with those," said Bateman, who estimated the ladies will actually make about 65 strawberry and rhubarb pies, and 35 to 50 each of the other favorites -- blueberry, peach, cherry and apple.
More than 100 pounds of flower and 50 pounds of sugar will be put to use during the project, with the main goal being the creation of a variety of pies that "can be enjoyed by all," said Bateman, who is in her third year of orchestrating the pie baking.
Bateman said much of the pie filling is of the canned variety, but the crusts are made by scratch and there is "lots of handiwork" involved in the process.
So, eat a blueberry pie tomorrow, but be prepared for even bigger and better things at Elburn Days this summer.
Tasty message: Speaking of Harner's Bakery Restaurant, don't call there in the morning if you are hungry -- unless you intend to make a beeline right to this North Aurora eatery.
The on-hold message describes the breakfast offerings in such a way that you are ready to dive right through the telephone lines to load your plate up with French toast or pancakes.
Purple is right color: "I'll definitely keep it purple," says Pat Hill of her Hill Country Store in Kaneville, known for years as "The Purple Store" because that color adorns the place.
I wrote about Pat and husband Cliff taking ownership of the store last year, and Hill completes her first year as owner of this village icon today. But she staged an anniversary celebration last Friday to say thanks to her patrons by supplying free food and prizes.
You can tell Hill has a real sense for the history of this store as she's been working on getting past photos to create a display.
"I'm getting old pictures of the store, going back to 1892, to enlarge and put them on all of the walls," Hill said.
The lovely vinyl: There were more record albums on display than I have seen in 20 years. It was a beautiful sight -- hundreds of them in all of their vinyl glory, at the Kiss the Sky music store in Geneva last weekend.
Music lovers in the know (and those like me who saw a story in the Daily Herald about it that morning) realized a week ago Saturday was national Record Store Day and there was more emphasis on old vinyl albums this year. So the albums were being looked over very closely. One fellow had Deep Purple, Credence Clearwater Revival, and Ike and Tina Turner albums in his hands as he went to the cash register. That fellow was not I, but it provided a good trip down memory lane.
dheun@sbcglobal.net