Fat Girl's Guide to Triathalons

Janie's Pie Factory - A Review

Janie's a little salty, but the pie is sweeeeet!

I have a 7 year old foodie in my house and so he decided instead of getting a hammer for his father this weekend he would purchase a pie from Janie's Pie Factory.  A recent article in the San Antonio Express News led us to Janie's place by announcing, "Pie is back."  As far as this family is concerned pie, never left.  

We went to the tiny little factory and right away I noticed fresh apple peels in a garbage, which indicated that the ingredients were fresh.  I can't order an apple pie because nothing lives up to my mom's, so I prayed that she had some ready to walk out the door.  It was clear that the two person operation was swamped with Father's Day orders and Janie responded a little aggressively to her sous chef by declaring, "I'm not making another strawberry and rhubarb pie, but I will make a cobbler."  Her salty tone made me decide to approach asking for a pie with caution and put my youngest child in front of me - kill her with cuteness!

She was very sweet with me, but my selection was limited to a peach cobbler, mixed berry cobbler, or apple pie.  As my afore mentioned loyalty to my mom's apple pie left us to choose the peach cobbler.  I know that her peaches are locally grown in Fredricksburg and are fresh from her cousin's farm, that made the choice easy for us.  The thing is I hate cooked or processed peaches.

I thought I would just try the crust, turns out I like Janie's peach cobbler.  I should say that her cobbler is just a juicy pie, not the traditional biscuit cobbler, but it was awesome.  Rick's eyes widened when he bit into the still warm cobbler and he declared it the best pie ever.  

The crust is perfect, light, flaky, and cooked on the top and bottom.  The peaches tasted like they were sweetened right off the tree - true ecstasy if you like pie!

It is not the greatest environment to get a piece of pie and cup of coffee casually; just buy the whole thing and enjoy it at home instead!

Delivery Market - Restaurant Review

I DID TAKE PHOTOS OF THE FOOD!!!  Yea for me and I can stop kicking myself.

Recently I was at the ABYDOS conference in downtown San Antonio and took some time at lunch to wander around and explore.  There is nothing better than being in your own city and finding undiscovered nooks or better yet, a new deli style restaurant.  Growing up I had a favorite deli, Redding French Bakery, and I have been looking for its equal ever since.  I can't say that Delivery Market was the deli mecca of my childhood, but it was worth a visit if you are already downtown.

It was Friday, so I ordered the California Turkey BLT sandwich on wheat bread.  This California girl has a little love affair with avocados and when I saw a large cold case with fresh produce, I had a sliver of hope for the Texas produce.  

The service was friendly, yet efficient.  I prefer a deli to be a little more friendly, but that is a matter of personal taste.  I also like small restaurant orders to sell me a little more on whatever they think is special about their food, but it was very matter of fact.

I get slightly annoyed at a $7.50 sandwich that boasts a side, just to get a skimpy shot glass size of pedestrian potato salad.  I ordered a chocolate chip cookie, because it said to me as I passed by, "Jessi, my chocolate chips are still gooey from being baked and you need to add some inches to your ass."

The sandwich itself was above average.  I don't know where the bread came from because of the afore mentioned non-bragging attitude of the joint, but it was either day old bakery bread or high-end grocery bread.  The turkey was fresh deli turkey and it was stuffed full.  The kind of sandwich that is hard to take a bite of because it is so thick.  The bacon was crispy and freshly cooked, and the produce was indeed fresh.

The cookie was delicious.  I do not have a chef's palette and I like things gooey, sweet, and homey.  This chocolate chip cookie was still warm and too big to finish by yourself.  I did make a good go at it though.  My only complaint was that the ration between the size of cookie vs. the size of the chocolate chunks was unbalanced.  I think the bigger the cookie, the bigger the chunks should be.

A parting glance at the cutest little delivery truck!