Eddie's Apple Torte

My sister Allison and me on Mother's Day 1987

At the risk of getting a bit gushily sentimental, let me begin with a bemarveled expression of ongoing gratitude that life has dealt me a lot of pretty good cards. There is much that I find myself thankful for and grateful about. I suppose over the years I've well beaten the drum of delight at the happy home and life I've settled into here in Winston-Salem. Thanks to an errand on behalf of my sister, that involved a recent trip to the campus of the University of North Carolina on the penultimate day of April, a flood of glorious happy memories washed over me as I relished the joy and treat of being back in Chapel Hill, even briefly. I had such a terrific undergraduate experience.

 

2002 Project CRISS National Trainers Conference
San Antonio, TX
L-R: Sheryl Cohen, Me, Janelle Weathers, Evelyn Maycumber, Julie & Tom Estes

Finding myself at the University of Virginia in the Fall of 1996, at the front end of my PhD studies, proved another amazing and incredibly fulfilling journey in so very many ways. I was gifted a range of opportunities that to this day continue to influence my career directions but also provide phenomenal ongoing dividends. Charlottesville was an awesome place to live, and UVa was very good to me and for me. But I don't think I can convey well enough how much the relationships with many of my professors there has been among the greatest treasures of that time...and I delight that many of those bonds remain unbroken. I'll focus here on one of those: Tom Estes (at far right, above), who profoundly impacted my professional work and understanding of scholarship especially in content reading and literacy. He gets frequent mentions and tributes when I'm teaching or delivering professional development.

 

As an outgrowth of bringing me and a fellow doc student named Kathy onboard for training he was doing in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1997, our crew became a movie club, regularly gathering at Tom and Julie's house for a meal and film. This practice continued for a brief while even after I'd graduated and moved down here to Winston. At semester's end in the Fall of 1997, Tom shared with us a dessert he called Eddie's Apple Torte, a delicious treat but one that also brought back memories of a dear friend of Tom and Julie's. As best I can tell, I have made it exactly once, in the Fall of 2001, during my first semester on faculty at Wake Forest University. 

Nearly 20 years later, I have finally made it again. A simple crust gets a layer of sweetened filling reminiscent of a light cheesecake, and sugar-and-cinnamon-coated apple slices sit atop all that.

Once it's baked and cooled somewhat, one might argue that it is best served with homemade vanilla bean ice cream.

---

Recipe for Eddie's Apple Torte shared by Thomas H. Estes, Professor Emeritus of the University of Virginia, on 09 December 1997. His closing comment on that email is as follows: "Please think of Eddie and all other victims of the AIDS epidemic when you enjoy this recipe."

"Vanilla Ice Cream" (p. 35-36), from Bi-Rite Creamery's Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones, by Kris Hoogerhyde, Anne Walker, and Dabney Gough. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press (2012).