Sweet Obsession: One Woman's Quest for August Pie!

I am an ice cream lover from way back when. To be honest, I was born into it, for my family members are all serious ice cream lovers. What did my mother want most when she was pregnant with me? Ice cream and milk shakes! Ice cream is my birth right. So here is a tale of sweet obsession. Here is the story of my quest for August pie!

This tale begins two years ago. It was early August in 2019. I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, when I saw a picture posted by Penn State's Berkey Creamery (here is the Facebook link). It was of an over-sized cone, just dripping with good stuff. The model's fingernail polish almost matched the ice cream. The flavor? August pie! Vanilla ice cream, with peaches, nectarines, and red raspberry sauce. NOM!

I reshared the photo to my own Facebook feed, and I asked everyone: should I take one for the team, and go check out what looked like an awesome new flavor? There was agreement all around. I needed to go and get me some August pie!

And so I did. On August 13, 2019, I went in and had myself a dish of August pie! It was about two scoops' worth, and it was delicious. But somehow my picture didn't make it to Blip that day, I don't remember why. I did take some photos of it but they didn't stack up to the one I'd seen online. And I didn't have nail polish to match!

I wanted more August pie. I wanted another chance at a gorgeous dripping ice cream photo! So I went back to the Creamery twice that month, trying to get more. On my first trip back, there was a long line out the door. I had a bus to catch and I just couldn't wait. So no August pie for me!

I went to the Grange Fair with a girlfriend that year. I bought several bottles of nail polish. One of them had colors to match the August pie ice cream. (Yes, I had big plans!) Near the end of the month, I went back to the Creamery again. There was no line. I marched right in. "August pie!" I said. But there was NONE. It was SOLD OUT!!!! Gah!!!!!!

In case you're wondering, this is a flavor sold only in August. Last August, we were in the midst of the pandemic, and I was working from home. I only made it onto campus twice to visit the Arboretum. I never made it to the Creamery. Who knows the tale of 2020's August pie? Not me!

Then, on December 31, 2020, I retired. I got a lovely cake, which my husband and I ate by ourselves (this is how it goes when you retire mid-Covid). My retirement gift was a $99 gift card to the Berkey Creamery. I figured it would get me about one box of ice cream a month. I was already plotting and scheming. Somewhere down the road, there would be August pie!

Fast forward to: my latest dentist appointment, this past spring. For some reason, we were talking about ice cream. By the time we were done, my hygienist was searching the Berkey Creamery's website for August pie. She actually took my email address and typed it in, and set it up so I'd receive an ALERT when August pie was back in stock. Well, how very modern!

You should have seen my face the day I received an email, in late July, that August pie was back in stock, and I should go online and order some. What did I do? I made plans to go in to the Creamery and pick it up! It was a few days before the start of August. My husband asked, Now, was I SURE they had it?

But I looked at him like he was a silly child. Of COURSE they'd have it. They had sent me an email, remember!??? So I went to the Creamery, and I asked, Did they have August pie? Well, the girl replied carefully, they weren't ALLOWED to sell it yet. It wasn't August! (I had the sneaking suspicion they HAD some tucked away in the back.) But I'd received an email. . . .

So when I went home that day, I reviewed the email. And guess what: there was itty bitty fine print saying that this email telling me to go online and order some August pie . . . didn't necessarily guarantee that it was available for sale yet in their retail store. Access . . . DENIED!!!

Oh, but I wasn't done! Not by a long shot! On August 12 of this year (almost two years to the day since my first and only dish of August pie), I visited the Arboretum's new bird and pollinator garden. I also went across the street to the Berkey Creamery . . . and picked up a box of (holy cow, I finally was holding it in my hands!) August pie! I also bought a box of peanut butter cup ice cream for my husband.

Well, you can only imagine how it's been since then. Every night, I had a dish of August pie, until it was gone! I finished that box in something less than a week. Mmmm. So good. August pie! (Meanwhile, my husband sort of trudged through the box of peanut butter cup ice cream I'd gotten him. Hmm. And he calls himself an ice cream lover?)

And now it comes around to . . . this day, August 30. My husband wanted to go into town for some groceries and errands. I stuck a freezer pack in a small cooler. If there was time, maybe we could stop for August pie. Before we left, I phoned the Creamery. Did they have it in stock? Yes! It's here today! Would it still be in stock tomorrow? Who knew? It depended: would there be a run on August pie? Nobody could guarantee it past today!

So I went in to the Creamery and within five minutes, I left with yet a SECOND BOX OF AUGUST PIE in my hot little hands. I had completed my quest! As my husband drove around the block, so he wouldn't get nabbed by the parking police (no, there is no more free parking at the nearby parking garage anymore for Creamery visitors), I fairly danced out the door with my prize. The target has been secured. REPEAT: THE TARGET HAS BEEN SECURED!!!!

So . . . that's a very long tale of obsession and one woman's quest, finally completed. Here, for your enjoyment, is a photo of my very first dish out of this second box of August pie! This box will have to be enough to get me through another whole year, but I think I'm up to it! Thank you for reading!

Oh, and if you followed this story with interest, stop by the Berkey Creamery sometime. The August pie is just delectable! But . . . um . . . if that's your target, you just might want to CALL before you go! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!

Since I'm an 80s gal, my soundtrack song is this one: Animotion, with Obsession.