Last Saturday night, my husband, Clif, and I went to an All Pie Public Supper at the Readfield United Methodist Church in Kents Hill.  With its apple orchards, horses, and view of the western Maine mountains, Kents Hill is surely one of the loveliest towns in central Maine. Like the fish chowder luncheon Clif and I went to on Friday, the pie supper was held in a white wooden church, New England style. Long tables were set up in the basement, and there were numbers on each table, indicating serving order. Our table was next to last—I can’t remember if it was number 7 or 8—and we got there slightly before 5:00, when the supper started. We had been told to come early to the pie supper, but apparently it would have been better to come even earlier, say, 4:30 or so, because by the time we got there, all but the two last tables were full. 

No matter. We got our pie—Shepherds’, chicken potpie, and quiche—along with a roll. Salad was gone by the time our table was called. Luckily, there were plenty of desserts, and both Clif and I picked a whoopie pie. He hit the jackpot and got an especially tasty one with peanut butter filling. The main-meal pies were good enough, but not exceptional, the way the fish chowder was at the luncheon we went to the day before at the Congregational Church in Winthrop. (It seems that those men at the Congregational Church really know how to make chowder.) 

What was most interesting about the pie supper was something we learned from a couple sitting across from us. They are from Hamilton, Massachusetts and have a cottage in Mt. Vernon, the town next to Kents Hill. He is a retired math teacher, and she a substitute teacher. We talked about food as we ate, and they told us that at the high school in Hamilton, which has about 700 students, there is an Advanced Chef’s Course for students to take. Apparently, at the end of the school year, the students prepare food for the faculty at the high school, and one year the students focused on appetizers, which were “out of this world.” 

An Advanced Chef Course at a high school. Now, how terrific is that? I wonder if any Maine high schools offer such a course?  I’ve never heard of Advanced Chef Courses in Maine high schools, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I’ll be on the lookout for them and will certainly report back if I hear of any.