Toby (left), with Aviva (right) and peach pie (front and center)
Toby Sonneman, author of Fruit Fields in My Blood: Okie Migrants in the West and Shared Sorrows: A Gypsy Family Remembers the Holocaust, loves to cook and bake. Her specialties are pizza, baked goods of any kind and fruit. She’s working on a book about lemons–which are fascinating in every sense. For more info, see Toby’s Web site.
Note: I dislike the word “blogger” but I learned that in Italian, the word is bloggista. Much better!
toby's kitchen notes 
Toby, I enjoy reading your blog very much, and recently thought of you. My friend, Deborah, recently invited us to spend her birthday weekend at their home on Camano Island. Of course I made her a birthday cake (lemon pound cake with lemon curd and fresh blackberries). Delicious and beautiful!
Congratulations on getting a publisher. Buon’estate! giovanna
Lemon pound cake with lemon curd and fresh blackberries sounds delicious. That’s something even I could make.
That does sound like a great birthday cake and the blackberries here are almost ripe (though there’s something about any recipe that calls for a pound of butter that just stops me short! Not to mention more butter and eggs in the lemon curd…).
Toby
Hi! I was searching for the recipe for lemon sour cream pie from B&O. It was my very favorite, back in the day. I saw that you mentioned that you had the secret recipe. Now that they are closed, do you think you could share it?? Thanks!
Hi Tiffany — here’s the story and the recipe. Hope it brings back the delicious memories! Toby (p.s. since it doesn’t specify size of lemons or amount of lemon juice, you may need to do some experimenting).
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From Peggy, who says she would come from Whidbey Island into Seattle once a week with her daughters so they could record a radio program, and then they would go get treats at the B & O Café. Their favorite was lemon sour cream pie. Later, at a friend’s house, they met Julie and learned she was a baker at the B & O, and then found out she had invented the recipe!! So she gave it to them if they promised not to tell the head chef at the B & O. Here it is:
Lemon Sour Cream Pie
Stir in a saucepan:
1 stick unsalted butter
5 T cornstarch
1-2 lemons, juice and zest
sugar, as you like
add:
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
½ cup lemon juice
mix, cook low while stirring.
When thick, cool.
Then add ½ cup sour cream. Pour into a pre-baked pie shell, chill, and top with whipped cream.
Thanks so much for sharing the Sour Cream Lemon Pie recipe. My mom used to work at the B&O Espresso back in the late 1970’s or maybe it was the early 80’s. Their Sour Cream Lemon pie was her favorite pie ever and long after she stopped working there we would come for their delicious pies and cakes. My mom never baked any of the pies because she was more of a barista and cashier but one of her common duties was making the whipped cream that would go on the deserts like the pie. It’s sad they aren’t around anymore but it’s nice to see this recipe, I’ll make it for her some time, maybe surprise her on her birthday.
Great to hear from you, Marisa, and I hope your mom loves the Sour Cream Lemon Pie! I’d guess you want at least 1/2 cup of lemon juice, and don’t forget to zest the lemons first. Let me know how it turns out!