Happy Pi Day

I baked my first pie on December 29th, 2010, in the middle of binge-watching Pushing Daisies.  I used no recipe, an 8-inch cake pan, and the Anjou pears that had come in a fruit basket for Christmas and were about to go bad.

A lot has changed since then.

In 2011, I started a blog that can be found at http://justinpieman.blogspot.com .  It is a collection of recipes that I used that spring and summer.  (I have no idea which e-mail address I used or what the password was for this account, so here I am starting over.)  I started in a kitchen that had two 18” sections of countertop.  I now have about 10’ of counter top and a 3’x5’ table; so, not only do I have enough room to make a pie without putting a cutting board over the sink, but I also have a place to put the pie after I make it.

Since the first pie, I have bought or acquired actual pie dishes, tart pans, a rolling pin, pie weights, a lattice cutter, and pie cutters.   I now own more than 10 pie cookbooks and have over 200 more recipes pinned on Pinterest.

I have now made over 75 pies:  from American staples, like apple or strawberry-rhubarb, to the unique, like avocado, and from family recipes, like pumpkin chiffon, to ethnic fares, like tarte au riz or today’s μελόπιτα.  And, as of today, I am an Amateur Lifetime Member of the American Pie Council.

To celebrate Pi Day, I give you two different pies:

Pecan π

Lemon Meringue πr2

And later today, I will serve you up a π-sized piece of μελόπιτα, which is a Greek honey pie.  The choice of μελόπιτα is to honor Archimedes, the Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer from Syracuse, Sicily, with a traditional cheese-based pie from that part of the world.

Piece out!
Justin