Having Some Fun for Pi Day with Recipes, Jokes and Pie Stuff

by Dorothy Reinhold on March 13, 2018


Print This Post Print This Post Having some fun on Pi Day, with recipes, jokes and pie stuff for the math geek and pie lover in all of us |ShockinglyDelicious.com

March 14 is Pi Day, the day we celebrate numbers and make merry about pi and pie.

Pi Day is a yearly celebration of pie and math geekdom, in which the mathematical constant pi (3.14159) is observed on March 14 (3/14…get it?). Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter — 3.14159265359, or 3.14 for short.

Let’s start with the obvious…pie for pi!

Modern Farmer Pie Chart

Modern Farmer helps us out, with a seasonal “pie chart” showing what pies go in what seasons.

Pie Chart from Modern Farmer

Check their Pie Chart out on their site…they even tell you what crusts pair with what pies.

2017 Pi Day

Kate McDermott's Irish Cream Pie for Pie Day and a Pi Pie plateOne of the most delicious pies I saw was an Irish Cream Pie by pie master Kate McDermott.  She changed up her classic chess pie recipe by adding Irish Cream Liqueur. Genius!

2016 Pi Day

In 2016, smarty-pants pi and pie lovers called 3.14.16 “Rounded Pie Day, rounding up those 4 digits.

Pi Day 2016 on Shockingly Delicious.com

2015 Pie Day

2015, you’ll recall, was the the most epic Pi Day of the century. Since it was 2015, we had 3/14/15, or 3.1415. AND, if that wasn’t enough, we had a harmonic convergence at the hour 9:26:53. So 3.141592653 went kablooey at 3/14/15, at 9:26 and 53 seconds. We all set an alarm so we could whoop at the exact right time!

Pi Day 2015 once in a lifetime

If your brain is drained by all those numbers, let’s just make some pie. And eat it, of course.

Here are a few pies and pie slices of life for Pi Day

1. Blue Ribbon Coffee-Toffee Pecan Pie

Blue Ribbon Coffee-Toffee Pecan Pie on ShockinglyDelicious.com

This pie won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons in pie contests. You have to make it.

2. Meyer Lemon Chess Pie

Meyer Lemon Chess Pie on ShockinglyDelicious.com

Sweet and tart, this one has it all.

3. Sweet Bean Pie

Sweet Bean Pie | Bean Pipe Dessert Recipe | ShockinglyDelicious.com

Yeah, there are BEANS in this pie, and a great story about how bean pies came to be.

4. Bob Andy Pie

Bob Andy Pie on ShockinglyDelicious.com

Funny name, wonderful cinnamon-y pie!

5. Pieku and my Genius Blueberry Pie

Dorothy's Fresh Blueberry Pie | ShockinglyDelicious.com

According to the Urban Dictionary, Pieku is a poem about pie written in 5-7-5 syllable format, with the 17 syllables including a “kigo” or reference to a season.

Here’s my go at it:

Blueberry stained teeth,
Eyes rolling back in my head,
Late summer goodness
(Go here to see Dorothy’s “Genius” Fresh Blueberry Pie!)

Then there’s Pie Day

National Pie Day (with an “e” in Pie) is Jan. 23, sponsored by the American Pie Council. The holiday was started in the mid-1970s by Boulder, Colorado teacher Charlie Papazian after he declared his birthday to be National Pie Day. In 2009, the U.S. congress supported the designation of Pi Day as March 14. Which one sounds more official to you? Just saying.

Pi Day Google Doodle 20102010 Google Doodle

For Pi Day 2010, Google presented a Google Doodle celebrating the holiday, with the word Google laid over images of circles and pi symbols.

Albert Einstein’s birthday

Albert Einstein's birthday is on Pi DayAlbert Einstein was born on March 14. Coincidence? We think not.

Nerdiest sports cheer

Speaking of geniuses, MIT, which, as you know, is primarily a tech-related school, has the best, nerdiest cheer of all time. “Cosine, secant, tangent, sine, 3.14159.” My dad, who went to Lehigh to become an engineer, used to chant that to us as children, while trying to teach us how to use his slide rules. This was in the days before electronic calculators, people.  

A few awesome cartoons!

the Pi PiperPi Day cartoon The Argyle Sweater by Scott Hilburn for Oct 31, 2011

Wife of Pi cartoon by Scott Hilburn The Argyle Sweater 2-8-2013

Mathematician food fights cartoon by Reynolds

Lisa and Homer Simpson and Pi

Your chicken joke

Pi cartoon by Doug Savage for Savage Chickens

Your second chicken joke

Chicken Pot Pi, I think!

(Get it?)

What happens if you hold pi up to a mirror?

Pi held up to a mirror

There’s an e-card for everything!

Pi Day ecard math circle of friends

circle-math-smart-pi-day-ecards-someecards

Pi Day ecard lunch billYou need to read this book!

Making Piece by Beth HowardMaking Piece: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Pie,” by Beth Howard, occupyied my mind ever since I won the book in a contest. Once I began reading it, every spare moment I had I rushed back to it, eager to see how pie helped heal her grief from her husband’s unexpected and early death. You might be surprised at the restorative power of pie. In 2001, at the height of the dot-com boom, Howard quit a lucrative web job to bake pies for minimum wage at a gourmet deli in my home town, Malibu, Calif. She went on to travel across the country in an RV, move into the famous American Gothic House in Iowa, and run a pie stand from that perch. After you read the book, you can check in on her more recent progress on her blog, and even find a link to her famous apple pie recipe from her Malibu baking days. I wish I had met her while she was here. I’ll settle for knowing her now through her book, and hope to meet her some day in the foodie world.

If you’re baking, you have to attempt these incredible crusts!

Pie crust decorated for Pi Day

Pi-day-pie crust from King Arthur Flour with 314159 numbers all over the top

The pie crust above is from King Arthur Flour.

Knitted Pie CrustKnitted Pie Crust, using Trader Joe’s pie crust, and ingenuity! If you’re baking for Pi Day, go big or go home.

Coda: What is pi?

What is pi? The ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, commonly approximated as 3.14159. Its decimal representation never ends and never has a permanent repeating pattern. And please note the circular nature of pie. That’s just funny!

Credits: Lead photo of a pie with the pi symbol by Catherine Cronin via Flickr Creative Commons.

 

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{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }

nancy@skinnykitchen.com March 14, 2015 at 8:21 am

I love this post Dorothy!

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold March 14, 2015 at 4:25 pm

Nancy,
Thank you!

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Wendy, A Day in the Life on the Farm March 14, 2015 at 8:04 am

Fun post, thanks for sharing Dorothy.

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Dorothy Reinhold March 14, 2015 at 4:26 pm

Wendy,
Always my pleasure to amuse.

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Nibbles By Nic March 14, 2015 at 7:59 am

Wow! Love those fun facts…making me crave pie!

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Dorothy Reinhold March 14, 2015 at 4:26 pm

Nic,
Pie should be on the menu weekly!

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Ashley (QLCC) March 13, 2015 at 8:42 pm

I wish I’d thought ahead and made some pies! Great roundup!

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Cathleen @ A Taste Of Madness March 13, 2015 at 6:29 pm

I think I like Tau Day. Because then I can have two pies :p.

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 8:21 pm

Cathleen,
🙂 🙂 🙂

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Heather | girlichef.com March 13, 2015 at 5:47 pm

This is such a fun post Dorothy – I love stuff like this!

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Deb@ Cooking on the Front Burner March 13, 2015 at 2:48 pm

Cute post! The Meyer Lemon pie looks amazing!

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 8:22 pm

Deb,
Thanks Deb! Make that lemon pie this weekend. Don’t delay.

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Sharon | Cheesy Pennies March 13, 2015 at 2:16 pm

You are my hero. Great post!

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 8:23 pm

Sharon,
Good to be SOMEONE’S hero! I have 2 teenagers. I know you know how that goes.

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valentina March 13, 2015 at 1:45 pm

Love this post! Mason is super excited about Pi day because he looooves math. How he’s my kid is beyond me — I just want to eat real pie!

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 8:23 pm

Valentina,
Surrender to the math of it all. Wallow in it, and then eat her pie!

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Judy at Two Broads Travel March 13, 2015 at 11:59 am

What a great post! It sings to the geek in me. Thanks so much.

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 12:31 pm

Judy,
Happy to oblige!

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Amy @ A Healthy Life For Me March 13, 2015 at 10:32 am

My good friend always makes a Pi for her son who is a math nut.

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 12:31 pm

Amy,
Highly approve!

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fabiola@notjustbaked March 13, 2015 at 10:23 am

I LOVE this SO MUCH. I know Pi Day, but I never thought about the 15 part, which makes this so much cooler. I will be setting my alarm and eating pie. 🙂

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 12:32 pm

Fabiola,
Oh yeah, set that alarm! I will be jumping up and down at that time!

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Jeanne @JollyTomato March 13, 2015 at 9:54 am

This is my favorite post of the year. Off to go sing the MIT chant now!

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 10:00 am

Jeanne,
I have it ringing in my head, too!

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Shannon @ Dinner from the Heart March 13, 2015 at 8:50 am

We celebrate Pi Day every year since our oldest son was in middle school and they could bring pie to school to share. What better way to celebrate than with a couple of your favorite pies! Love the post. 🙂

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 10:01 am

Shannon,
I never heard of Pi Day until my oldest was in middle school. LOVED it immediately!

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Nutmeg Nanny March 13, 2015 at 6:26 am

That is the most epic pi day ever! LOVING all these recipe. I want some pie now….yum!

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 10:01 am

Nutmeg,
I want pie now, too!

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Melanie March 13, 2015 at 5:39 am

I love that pie day is a thing. Any excuse to eat pie is a good one!

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 10:02 am

Melanie,
Totally agree!

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Faith (An Edible Mosaic) March 13, 2015 at 5:27 am

That is pretty cool about the date match 3.1415. My niece’s math teacher has been talking about Pi Day and she’s been wanting to make a pie…I’m going to suggest that gorgeous toffee coffee pecan pie up top!

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 10:02 am

Faith,
Oh yes, that pecan pie is such a winner!

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Spring cleaning March 13, 2015 at 12:20 am

Very interesting post! I love it. I wasn’t notice that. And the recipes look delicious.

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Dorothy Reinhold March 13, 2015 at 10:02 am

Spring cleaning,
Thank you!

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Leslie March 12, 2015 at 8:00 am

Pi day is also my husband’s day as he is known to my kids (his step-kids) as Pai. Pronounced just like Pi and pie. It’s Portuguese for Dad 🙂

Reply

Dorothy Reinhold March 12, 2015 at 8:00 am

Leslie,
LOVE that!

Reply

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