My favorite dessert pie is apple pie (preferably with Granny Smith apples), and with a big slice of SHARP cheddar cheese served with it.

Second favorite, banana cream pie. BUT, none of this instant pudding stuff, and not topped with whipped cream. It's got to be the real cooked sauce, and a meringue topping, about 1-1/2 inches thick. More's the pity, my Beautiful Wife doesn't have the knack for doing a real stand-up meringue, and it ends up thin to begin with and collapses from there.

We have a running joke in our family: When there's a difference of factual understanding or memory, I'll challenge her: "I'll bet you a chocolate souffle against a banana cream pie!" Over the years, she owes me a large number of banana cream pies, because she really drags her feet on making one (because of the unfortunate circumstance cited in the previous paragraph.) I've had to deliver twice, I think, on a chocolate souffle bet.

As to pumpkin pie, I loathe the frothy stuff they make with beaten gelatin. Heresy!

An unusual pie, which I've had only twice in my life, I think, is green-tomato pie. You make it just about like a green-apple pie, with nutmeg and cinnamon in it. It's really good.

Dave Oesterreich