Pippin and family were in town for a day. In the evening I went to a birth
day party for The Professor that featured a wild cake. Scout decorated it in a fashion that made lighting the candles a little challenging.
But before that, in the afternoon Pippin and I took the kids to the beach for the kind of bread-cheese-grapes picnic that can be thrown into a shopping bag at the market and taken as-is to dig into on the beach blanket.
This is what a June afternoon often looks like on our North Coast beaches. At least the wind wasn’t blowing, until later when it was time to leave anyway, so as we ate we didn’t consume too much sand. Pippin had to reassure Ivy several times, “At the beach, sand is o.k. on your bread.”
Though it wasn’t ideal picnic weather, it reminded me that I’ve been wanting to 
post this recipe that is one of my favorite things to take on a summer outing, though maybe not to the beach, where the fruits of my labors always risk spoiling by incoming grit.
The source of this recipe is unusual: a newsletter that our power company used to send with the bill, and which always included a recipe or two. They stopped this practice 20 years ago, but these pies became a tradition for me. They keep well and I think they taste best at room (or picnic cloth) temperature.
Changes I made to the recipe below: Use butter, of course, never margarine, and add some salt to the pastry dough. Or just use your own recipe for pie dough. I like to make the filling the day before assembling the pies. I thought of trying to use fresh spinach next time, but I don’t know how I would figure out the conversion ratio.
Also, I would never say “pah-stees,” because my husband’s Cornish ancestors made pasties nearly every day for the men to take into the mines for their midday meal, and they pronounced the word “past-ease.” Are we to think that Florentines would say anything different?
I love the cake. What sweet memories that little one will have of birthday cakes at grandma’s house.
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To clarify, the party was at the “other” grandma’s house, and the cake was for the dad. But maybe you knew that!
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Oh, I love those pasties. Thanks for the recipe–maybe I will manage to make them for a picnic this year!
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looks like a lovely meal and what a nice time!
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Yummy! So pretty, those pasties! I made a successful pastry for a quiche recently so now I want to try my hand at another pastry-based dish. I’m bookmarking this! Thank you for taking us along to the sea. I always feel blessed by ocean photos!
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I think those pasties-hand pies look wonderful. I have always wanted to make them so I am going to keep that recipe. I love your trip to the beach. Wow, no people!!! Blows my mind.
That is a happy birthday cake. Lovely pictures.
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At that point, Kim, we were up on a dune between the beach and a lagoon. Down on the beach where we eventually settled there were lots of people.
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My mother learned to cook from my aunt, her older sister, who learned how to make pasties from the Cornish who came to work in the mines in Butte, MT. She always made them with only meat, potatoes, onion, salt and pepper for the filling. The Florentines sound good, and a good way to get some extra veg…
Love,
D.
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Those look very delicious, GJ. I can’t imagine taking a trip to the beach this time of year .. and wearing long pants! So glad it’s not as hot there as it is here. Looks like a great outing!
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That recipe looks delish. I think I am going to try these with a paleo pastry…I will probably look for one that uses almond flour, although if anyone knows of a particular paleo pastry recipe, it would be interesting to know about it.
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Oh , I do miss the beach! We’re having El Nino type rain here and our lake is finally full. I took the neighbor children there today. The water washes my mind clear.
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