Boston dream pie.

Sorry to be MIA for a while! I was in Boston seeing former roommates, professors, and attending the annual formal event Nick's graduate program throws. This will be another short post before a whirlwind weekend, but I just wanted to share with you the amazing dessert served at the Gala: (appropriately) Boston cream pie. Place settings alternated between the cream pie and a New York-style cheesecake; the cream pie was definitely the winner, and I definitely stole a few over-sized nibbles from my date.

Traditionally a yellow sponge cake filled with vanilla custard and glazed with chocolate, Boston cream pie is Massachusetts's state dessert. The rich, fluffy confection was created in 1856 at the Parker House Hotel, the home of another one of my very favorite baked goods, the Parker House Roll (the product of sinful amounts of butter at every step: there's butter in the dough itself, more added when kneading/shaping/proofing, and then some more brushed on before baking...all before it lands on your bread plate with more butter still).

The Gala was my favorite in three years -- excellent swing band for the first half, followed by an obliging DJ and lively company. More on the Boston trip to come!