Esther Chilton

I’d known my friend, Jackie, since I was four years old; we met on our first day at primary school. I’d been all tearful, and scared to leave my mum, when she took my hand and off we ran in to school. Fast forward forty years and here Jackie was, asking if I’d like to go to Florida for her wedding. Would I? Too right I would!

Now, Florida is well-known for its theme parks – Universal Studios, SeaWorld and Disney, being the most popular. And we did spend some time doing the usual touristy trips, but those aren’t the highlights from my stay. Of course, the wedding was special – seeing my oldest (don’t tell Jackie) friend, walk down the aisle, in a glorious setting, looking utterly stunning, was wonderful, but it has to be the pie that stands out the most.

We stayed at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel, which was fantastic, but the breakfast was a little pricey and wasn’t a patch on the mountain of delectable delights offered first thing in the morning across the road at the Village Inn: pancakes; waffles, burritos; omelettes; French toast…the list was endless. We usually skipped lunch after that titanic feast.

One Wednesday evening we decided to try dinner there. And that’s when we fell in love with the pies. We had to walk past where they were displayed to get to our table. Our eyes were out on stalks; they had the usual cherry and lemon meringue pies, bursting with fruit and cream, in the most luscious looking pastry cases, but it was the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough pie, crammed with chocolate creations and other tantalising treats that had me drooling. And, on a Wednesday, the pie was free! As long as you purchased dinner there. The only problem was, the dinners were so filling, it was impossible to squeeze even a flake of pastry in. But they did let us take a slice of pie out to eat later.

The verdict? Heaven!      

–

     Photo Credit: Used with permission – © American Blue Ribbon Holdings, LLC