Happy Pi Day!

I'm not quite sure how it started - probably something to do with the husband and father being being a scientist who loves math - but we are a family that celebrates the nerd holidays. The two biggies are Pi Day, March 14 (3.14), and Mole Day, October 23 (10²³). There exists a myriad of others – Stars Wars Day (May 4, as in “May the 4^th be with you”), Tolkien Reading Day (March 25, commemorating the downfall of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings) – I could go on and on - but March 14 and October 23 have always been the big ones in our household, probably because there are traditional foods associated with those days.

Pi, or ϖ, is that mathematical constant, 22/7, often expressed as the decimal, 3.14159..., the number that represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. An irrational number, calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point, never ending and never settling into a permanent repeating pattern, it is affectionately “nicknamed” 3.14, hence its association with March 14. And on March 14 we celebrate pi with pi(e). Yes, I was that mom who baked pies for high school math classes...at my kids' request. Well, the kids are on their own now (maybe at Baker's Squares somewhere today?), but I couldn't let the day go by without acknowledging it in some way. Below is one of my favorite pie recipes, and if the market has good pears today, one that I will be baking for tonight...

Pear Crumble Pie

6 medium Barlett pears

3 tablespoons lemon juice

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel (optional)

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

Crumble Topping

Cut and peel 5 pears. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix sugar, flour, and lemon peel; stir in pear slices. Put into pastry shell. Cut remaining pear into 6 – 8 neat slices. Arrange on top of pie in a pinwheel pattern. Sprinkle with Crumble Topping. Bake at 400º for 45 minutes or till pears are tender. Serve warm.

Crumble Topping: Mix ½ up flour, ½ cup sugar ½ teaspoon ginger and ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon mace or cloves. Cut in 4 tablespoons butter or margarine until crumbly.

 

Enjoy! And if I remember, come October 23, Mole Day (commemorating that great basic measuring unit of chemistry, Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10²³), I'll share my recipe for mol(e)asses cookies...

...yep, nerds...

      A happy memory never wears out.  - Amish proverb