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
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