otherwise.

On our very first trip to Martha's Vineyard in 2003, we discovered one thing about the island: Pie is as much a part of Vineyard life as field-cut flowers. Drive anywhere on the island, and you're sure to find a sign advertising home-baked pie with local fruit just as sure as you'll find a little roadside stand with charming bouquets of flowers for sale.

On our first visit, we stumbled across Pies and Otherwise, a little gazebo in front of a house where the husband was out front selling blueberry, peach, apple and mixed-fruit pies that his wife had baked. On subsequent trips, we've always been sure to have a pie on hand for dessert. This year, we ran across Pies and Otherwise rather late in our visit (after we'd, ahem, purchased a pie elsewhere). Nonetheless, we stopped, and I bought a couple of raspberry squares -- sort of a pie in brownie form. Delish!

Only the next day did we read in the Vineyard Gazette that the baker, Eileen Blake, had recently passed.

When we returned home, I determined to try to replicate the raspberry squares. I managed a decent attempt just today. I used 2.5 pounds of mixed red raspberries and blackberries, and doubled up on the amount of cornstarch called for in the recipe, in hopes of duplicating the deeply intense, thick fruit filling we'd enjoyed from the Pies and Otherwise fruit squares (I suppose these qualify as 'otherwise').

Here's the thing: After a tremendous (but simple) dinner of burgers and corn risotto and excellent wine -- and a lovely August evening where we've got the house wide open due to the cool weather -- I feel just as blissed out here as I did on vacation.