Cutie Pies Makes the Election Edition of the Providence Journal

Well Hello again everybody, This is Shea with an update on the amazing week of change here in Cutie Pie Land.

A week ago everything seemed so different for all of us.

Iris and I had a wonderful election day. We got up early to vote and saw a huge amount of our neighbors there in line at our local poll. After that it was off to the dog park to convince a few people more to vote yes on 2 the farm bill in RI. Next we joined the huge crowd of people in the RI Obama offices. Everyone was sitting on the floor wherever they could find a spot and using cell phones to call out to voters in Virginia. We passed out tiny tasters of Sweet Potato Pie, Obama's favorite, to the callers and staff as our thank you for helping. I got to see both our Senators, Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed at HQ and at the ball at the Biltmore afterwards. We stayed long enough to See that Prop #2 passed and we headed home to watch the victory returns and speeches at home.

The Next Morning I Wake UP at 6am.

And I race out to get a Newspaper...

Because I have TWO reasons to buy a paper...

You see, a couple weeks ago the Providence Journal came by to do a story on us. They gave us a choice on whether We'd like it to run on the 5th or the 12th....

Thank god that Iris chose Nov. 5th.

The Projo Story on Cutie Pies Came out in the sold-out election edition of the Providence Journal. And ever since then the Phones Have Been Ringing Off the Hook. We have been inundated with orders for a darn week.

Here's a little sample and link to the story, (you might have to sign up to get to the content but I think you don't have to give them a real mail)

http://www.projo.com/food/content/fd-cutie_pies_11-05-08_UIC46TM_v22.1942305.html

Cutie Pies just right for home enjoyment

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, November 5, 2008

By Gail Ciampa

Journal Food Editor

Iris Monroe shows off a pecan pie at the Blue Elephant Restaurant on Wickenden Street in Providence. She is currently taking orders for holiday pies for home use that can be picked up at the restaurant.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

Iris Monroe considers that her Cutie Pies business got started in a Providence dog park earlier this year, but its roots go deeper.

A fourth-generation baker, Monroe learned to cook with her great-grandmother Grant in New Orleans, where Monroe was born. She moved to Providence in 2003, but it wasn’t until she returned home from visiting her mother in Florida last winter carrying a suitcase with 50 pounds of key limes that the pie baker in her was reborn.

She started zesting the limes to make a classic key lime pie when nature called to her dog. Off they went to the dog park where she ran into her friend and fellow dog owner, Jesse. He asked her what smelled so wonderful and she knew it was the aroma from the fresh limes. She told him what she was making and he offered her $20 to make him a pie, too. With all her Southern hospitality, she said she would happily just make him a pie. But he wouldn’t let her do that, what with the cost of ingredients, and she delivered him a pie.

The next time he saw Monroe, he gave her a list of 25 people who wanted to each buy a key lime pie. Thank goodness she brought back all those fresh limes, was her first thought. Her second was this: “That’s a pretty nice profit,” — and she made all the pies and delivered them.

“Then I sat down and started listing all the different pies I knew how to make and I stopped at 400,” she said.

And so her Pie of the Week campaign was born and her customer base became established as was her Web presence at www.cutiepiepies.blogspot.com

“I think if I have 1,000 patrons, I can make a living and hire others,” she said. “Because what is better than pie?”

Take a look at the link for the rest of the article. You'll see why we've been so busy. The Projo even listed all the types of holiday pies we are making for Thanksgiving this year.

We are going in for Bake night tonight.

Our Flavors available in Cutie Pie form at the Blue Elephant will be Apple Ribbon and Sweet Potato. We will be taking Thanksgiving orders through Nov. 17th. That's five days left for you to order a delicious pie for Thanksgiving.

Thank goodness we here at Cutie Pies have so much to be thankful for this year, we hope you do as well.