Cream Pie

Every self-respecting city should have at least one place where you can buy haggis, the Scottish specialty made of, ahem, a sheep's pluck (also known as a stomach bag). Around here, that would be Shepherd's Pies of Scotland, a small Timonium carryout that does everything right and will even whip up a haggis - provided you give 48 hours' advance notice. Shepherd's Pies, which is named for one of the two owners, has a wide-ranging assortment of lovingly prepared meat and fish pies, quiches and pastries.

Everywhere I look, there are flashbacks to past decades. In fashion, clothing styles are drawing inspiration from the '50s through the '70s. Mid-20th-century modern furniture is having a revival, and the retro movement has touched the food world as well, especially when it comes to desserts. One current cookbook is dedicated entirely to old-fashioned desserts and even includes a recipe for Oreo cookies. In the Sunday magazine of a large urban paper, the perfect ice cream sandwich was the focus of a recent article.

When the dinner plates are cleared from the table this Sunday, look for the real Easter parade to begin. That's when spring's light and luscious cakes, tarts and puddings will make their annual promenade along the festive buffet, and our anticipation matches what we feel upon discovering the season's first robin. The Easter dinner is the traditional end to the Lenten season, during which many Christians fast from certain foods -- like sweets, particularly chocolate -- as penance and for spiritual discipline.

I like to think I'm as adventuresome about my food as the next person. But I draw the line at someone decorating a plate of oysters, crab, shrimp, spinach and bearnaise with chocolate syrup squiggles. The chef at the new Atlantis Seafood restaurant and grill in Columbia has no such qualms. Nor does he hesitate to overcook tuna and lobster. Or add so much thickening to cream of crab soup that it has the consistency of library paste. And yet, it's hard to get enraged at this pleasant little restaurant.

MONTREAL -- Quebec has had it with "pie terrorists" and is starting to hurl criminal charges at the political pastry throwers who in recent months have gotten in the faces of many prominent figures.The crackdown on the "Entartistes," as the cream pie anarchists call themselves, is winning praise from news columnists and others who usually delight in taking aim at the high and mighty -- but who say the pie throwers are far more pompous than the politicians they harass."They are nothing more than out-of-control aggressors who are to democracy what germs are to public health," said Pierre Bourgault, a political commentator for Journal de Montreal.

I thought I had seen, or tasted every possible recipe for sauerkraut.But the other day I came across a new use for sauerkraut: a cream pie. The idea came from Marcia Adams, who grew up in Fort Wayne, Ind., prime pie-making country. She has also written a number of cookbooks, and has a TV cooking show.Ms. Adams tracks down old ways to cook family favorites. She calls them "attic recipes," ones that are passed down from generation to generation. She found the recipe for sauerkraut pie at the Ohio Sauerkraut Festival in Waynesville, Ohio, and put it in her latest cookbook "Marcia Adam's Heirloom Recipes" (Potter, $22.50)

State Sen. Michael J. Wagner got his just desserts yesterday at the hands of a gleeful 8-year-old with a pie in his hand and payback on his mind.The Ferndale senator had made the ultimate mistake. The second-grade class at Overlook Elementary had spent months planning and planting a "forest" behind the Linthicum school.The culmination of their work -- part of a social studies lesson on the importance of community involvement -- was to be a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony with Mr. Wagner as the guest of honor.

Stephanie Pierson has the kind of life many people covet.She has a beautiful daughter, a wonderful husband and a view of the Hudson River from her Manhattan home. There's also a weekend house in Connecticut.Her Chrysler Building office is larger than many New York apartments."But I can't stop loving Baltimore," she says. "I miss Baltimore. You can leave it, but you can never get it out of you."In fact, this former Baltimorean comes back often to visit. She knows the difference between a crab cake bought at Lexington Market and one purchased at the Cross Street Market; and a New York crab cake and a Baltimore one."

Just mentioning peanut butter cream pie can conjure up a big fat guilt trip. To shorten the ride, think about a bowl of Ukrainian borscht.From Westminster, O. Hargraves asked for the pie recipe. And the borscht was the request of Charles E. Hopwood III of Baltimore, who wrote that he wanted a "Ukrainian borscht similar to the one I had in the Russian restaurant Moscow Night before it closed. It was a wonderful garnet-colored thin beet soup that was spiced and served with a big dollop of sour cream in the center.

Cooking light without giving up old favoritesThe doctor says cut out the fat in your diet; so you say goodbye to family favorites such as lasagna, pot roast and coconut cream pie . . . or maybe not. Cooking Light magazine, which specializes in low-fat, low-calorie healthy cooking has compiled a baker's dozen recipes for time-honored favorites "made over" from their old-fashioned high-fat ways. Besides the three mentioned above, there's mocha pudding cake, carrot cake, creamy potato salad and fudgy mint brownies.