Pie for Pi Day

Who was the genius who thought up Pi Day? Well, you know me: I had to Google that the instant I typed it. As it turns out it was William Jones way back in 1706. In other words, Bill Jones. That's obviously a pseudonym, don't you think? He was probably afraid of being stoned by the geometry haters among us. I've never forgiven my 10th grade geometry teacher, Mr. Murphy. Yes...curse you, Mr. Murphy! (I feel better now, don't you?)

So anyway...I doubt old Bill was thinking about pie at the time, but that's what I think about when Pi Day rolls around, and so I spent quite a bit of yesterday baking a lemon meringue pie. It's my favorite. I like it just for its luscious self, but somehow I developed a rep in my family for being a lemon meringue fan, and so my grandma and my aunt always made it when our family came for a visit. Thank you, Grandma and Aunt Joan! (Figured I'd balance things out after being so mean to Mr. Murphy.) Anyway...here's my second ever lemon meringue pie. Purty, huh?

The first time I tried baking a lemon meringue pie was last year when I made a lemon meringue pie for two. The one I made yesterday, however, was the full meal deal...none of this "for two" restraint. Just like last year, I wondered when we cut into it if the meringue would stick to the filling or whether it would just slide off and go its own way. And the verdict is....ta da!

Lovely. I'm using the recipe from Cook's Illustrated's Baking Illustrated cookbook. I'm not sure if you'll be able to see the link I've given you there since Cook's Illustrated is a membership website. Sometimes you can see the recipes without a membership; so, fingers crossed. Anyway...they suggest rolling the pie dough out in graham cracker crumbs to keep it crisp once the pie shell is filled. Last time I made it I wasn't successful in keeping the crust from getting soggy. This time, I made sure I gave it a good coating of graham cracker crumbs on both sides, and it was wonderful. Also, the dough was a dream to work with. Pie crusts are always kind of hit or miss with me, and this one was a big hit.

Hands on time for the pie wasn't a lot, but it still took many hours to make it. First I had to make the pie dough and then it had to chill. Then after I put it into the pie plate, it had to chill again. Then I had to bake it. Then it had to cool. Then I had to make the filling and the meringue. And then it had to bake again. It took most of the day, and it chopped my sewing time up into little portions. I decided it was a good day to do small projects, because I really hate being interrupted when I'm sewing.

So I finished patching the flannel utility quilt I was working on the other day. And then, I'm nearly finished with the Hocuspocusville block, and so I decided to make up my next embroidery block. This is one of the Live, Love, Teach blocks. Here's Connie's original submission:

 This one is all embroidery, and so I traced out the embroidery, and then used the triple stitch on my sewing machine to stitch around the circle. The rest will be done by hand.

And speaking of Hocuspocusville, this morning I took it very close to a finish before I had to stop.

Now the last bit of it is hooped up. It should be finished no later than tomorrow morning. I'm hoping I'll have some time to work on it this afternoon.

Today I'm heading off to our CSA farmer's farm to pick up some fresh eggs. Our CSA share probably won't start up until the end of April, but the Ladies of Chateau Poulet are laying again, and so egg shares have started up. Yay! I do love those farm fresh eggs. As long as I'm out, I'll make a quick trip to the grocery store. I think I have food to get us through the week, but there are always a few stragglers that I need to purchase. Also, for St. Patrick's Day, I'm planning a dinner of Mustard-Crusted Pork Loin with Apple-Cabbage Slaw. I haven't tried it yet, and so this doesn't count as an endorsement of the recipe, but the picture looks good.

(photo by Joanne Murphy)

It's kind of fun to go Irish on St. Paddy's Day. I found that recipe when I came across another recipe for Colcannon. It appears to simply be mashed potatoes with shredded savoy cabbage mixed in, but it looks pretty darned good in the picture. (Do you think it's that melting pat of butter on top?) Besides, I have some savoy cabbage left over from another dinner.

(image source)

So that's my day. But I can't go without sharing my submission for

Today's theme is cross-hatch quilting and I have the perfect quilt to show you just before St. Patrick's Day. It's a little doll quilt I made for my friend Lisa's granddaughter, whose name is Irish.

You can read the original post from when I finished the quilt right here.