Sometimes you're just too damn busy for it to be any other way. Let's face it, shopping for food -- or shopping for almost anything -- is easier done at an all-in-one big-box store, or supermarket, or in a mall. Heading down to Main Street, or one of Baltimore's old, sturdy retail strips, can be a pain in the neck -- finding a place to park, waiting in line for help, actually having to talk to someone. Who needs it anymore? And is the pie that much better?

Well, yeah. It is. And we all need to slow down just a bit and return to these places -- or try them for the first time. You need to buy a pie that a woman with a hairnet places in a white box and ties with red-and-white string.

I have avoided Fenwick Bakery, 7219 Harford Road, on Saturdays because the line for goodies is so long. I hit it yesterday, instead, and had no problem getting fast service from the friendly, chatty women behind the counter. I bought an apple pie -- light, flaky crust, delicious filling -- for $6.25, and something called crimp bread. This looks like it was baked in a 15-inch length of corrugated pipe. It's the way they have been baking white bread at Fenwick for years. (It was established in 1913.) The crimp bread turned out to be perfect for Monday night's supper -- as a round platform for leftover turkey and gravy.

You can still get birthday and wedding cakes made at Fenwick. And the pie is definitely worth the wait. (You might want to go on a Monday.) Each day features a special bread: Monday is crimp; Tuesday is cheese; Wednesday, raisin; Thursday, whole wheat; Friday, rye. The peach pie is gone for the year; it has been replaced by pumpkin.

You never know what you are going to find in these old, familiar places. (Though, in the age of Wal-Mart and the growth of the suburbs, they are not as familiar to as many people as they once were, which is my point.)

I went to Edelweiss Bakery on Harford Road, at the sharp corner of Harford Road and Old Harford Road. The lunch-size portion of sauerbraten, dumplings and red cabbage was delicious, and a crowd of pleasant men and women gathered, as they do each Thursday, to sing along with two accordion players. One of the accordion players wore eyeglasses with no lenses - I think to hold his hair in place. But I'm not sure. I didn't ask. It didn't seem like the time or place.

Today's Buzz:  WBAL-AM, 1090:  11:30 am -- 2:00 p.m.