Pi Day

I must congratulate myself, this is the first year ever (I'm pretty sure) that I remembered Pi Day ahead of time, instead of midway through it. I guess I'm not senile yet. Is it possible for your memory to improve as you get older? I mean, usually it seems to go the other way. Well, I better not get carried away, this is only one thing I've remembered, no doubt I've forgotten at least 5 crucial things...(obviously rambling is still a problem I have!)


I had conducted a quick poll on Facebook for suggestions of pie, but in the end, took the lazy way out of making do with what I had on hand. (Hey, I was busy cleaning! I didn't feel like putting on actual pants and going to the store!) I had just bought a couple of mangoes the day before, and thought they would go nicely with some candied ginger (which I have a HUGE stash of). So I chopped up a mango, tossed it with chopped candied ginger, cinnamon, and a bit of cornstarch, and then realized that I only had enough for two tiny pies (well, one tiny pie and one tiny tart). Whoops! I could have frozen the rest of the pie crust (I'm still working on my pie crust recipe, but this one was flaky enough--and the real secret to pie crust is laziness. Yes, be lazy, leave chunks of butter in!) but, well, there's no room left in my freezer...


So I made a simple jam tart, just filled with storebought strawberry preserves, and topped with a disc of pie crust. And why a bunny cutout? Well, why not! It's cute, it lets you see the filling...and well, I had to justify the fact that I bought about 100 cutters at Daiso when I was in Vancouver. The remaining pie dough and scraps got rolled out into a circle and filled with plum slices for a free form, very simple galette (top photo).


A closer look at the lattice top; lattice is really easy when you are only using 4 strips of dough. :) Actually, I suppose technically I only made one pie for Pi Day...and 3 tarts. Is a tart a type of pie, or does it belong in its own family? Well, whatever--pies and tarts are both happy things. And I hope that you are going to have some pie on Pi Day too...and when you're done, test yourself and see how many places you can recite pi to. I won't tell you my number, it's too embarrassing....


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I'm sure everyone has been watching the coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The images are unbelievable, like something out of a movie, except this is actually happening. I'm thankful that everyone I know in Japan is safe, but there are still thousands missing, the risk of nuclear meltdowns, severe damage to the infrastructure...it's going to be a long road. The New York Times has put together a list of ways to help; if you can, please consider donating.