Saturday was Pi Day. Even though I've never been a strong math student we celebrate Pi Day by making pie (because I am a dessert enthusiast and all I need is the flimsiest reason to justify dessert). This year I decided to make my aunt's Graham Cracker Pie recipe. I gathered all the ingredients, made the crust, cooked up the pudding from scratch and was all set to begin whipping the egg whites into meringue. Lo and behold my mixer was no longer working. The thing is 20 years old and has been used hard so I didn't feel as if I had been somehow cheated. However, it meant I would now have to whip up the 4 eggs whites into meringue...with a whisk...BY HAND. I was less than thrilled.
Could I have just left the pudding in the pie shell and had meringue-less pie? Yes, but I had already gotten my taste buds primed for a proper graham cracker pie and I had already used the yolks to make the pudding and had the 4 eggs whites sitting expectantly in the bowl. To have a meringue-less pie would have been sadly incomplete and disappointing and it would have wasted the egg whites. Yes, I know that amounts to perhaps 10 cents worth of food and no I really don't need you to point out that I shamelessly tossed 10 cents of graham cracker crumbs into the trash. This was now a challenge from the universe that I was compelled to rise to. Besides, I figured the caloric expenditure of whipping that dang meringue by hand would easily justify a second piece of pie for me.
So, if you don't mind please take a minute and marvel over the gorgeousity that is my meringue (with graham cracker crumbs sprinkled on top as per the recipe). So light and fluffy. Look I even made sure it had pretty little peaks to get all toasty brown in the oven.
Could I have just left the pudding in the pie shell and had meringue-less pie? Yes, but I had already gotten my taste buds primed for a proper graham cracker pie and I had already used the yolks to make the pudding and had the 4 eggs whites sitting expectantly in the bowl. To have a meringue-less pie would have been sadly incomplete and disappointing and it would have wasted the egg whites. Yes, I know that amounts to perhaps 10 cents worth of food and no I really don't need you to point out that I shamelessly tossed 10 cents of graham cracker crumbs into the trash. This was now a challenge from the universe that I was compelled to rise to. Besides, I figured the caloric expenditure of whipping that dang meringue by hand would easily justify a second piece of pie for me.
So, if you don't mind please take a minute and marvel over the gorgeousity that is my meringue (with graham cracker crumbs sprinkled on top as per the recipe). So light and fluffy. Look I even made sure it had pretty little peaks to get all toasty brown in the oven.
Mmmm....doesn't that look yummy?
Better get some while the gettin's good.
If celebrating Pi Day isn't geeky enough for you, I took my mixer apart to get at the cord which snapped where it exits the body of the appliance.
I'm geeky enough to know how to fix it but I think, given the life span of the old hand mixer and the amount of baking I do, one of these is called for as a replacement.
24 comments:
I have rewired things, but I think I'd go with a new one, too. My neice's life motto is "There's always room for pie!"
Looks bloody gorgeous!!
You are soooo mean.
YUMMO!!!!!!!
I still use the hand mixer I received as a wedding gift 32 years ago! But I also have one of those big beauties from the link.. you will not be sorry!
Now please hand me a fork....that pie is in trouble now!
Pi Day. . . You'd have to know I'd love that, right? So wonderfully, awesomely geeky. . .
Do you time things out so you're eating the pi at 1:59? ('Cuz, you know. . . 3.14159. . . if you wanted to be just over-the-top geeky, I s'pose you'd wait for 1:59 and 26.5 seconds. . .) (and yes - sad to say, I really do have eight decimal places of pi memorized. . .)
A story. . . Years ago, for my birthday, Molly made a pumpkin cheesecake (to die for, btw). When it cooled, as is typical of cheesecakes, the top surface cracked. Now, usually, a single crack is all that occurs, but this one developed two parallel cracks, and a third one, perpendicular to the other two, across the end of both of them - a perfect letter 'pi'. OK, it was a cheeseCAKE, but it was in a pie pan, y'know? So we took a photo of it, and gave a copy to our kids' math teacher - the Pi pie - which she still has on her wall, as far as I know. . .
And - hand-whipped meringue. . . (*bowing, with arms outstretched*) . . . I am not worthy. . .
That pie looks so tasty, I don't think I'd want to stop after one or two slices. May I have 3? Or rather, 3.14159...
Tipping the hat to Desmond, I only have five places memorized.
That pie looks so good that I'm going to tag you for a meme! ha ha ha. I know...I NEVER tag...too bad!
that cake looks AWESOME. next party, thought I want to see you and Mr. Lime here! (and bring a pie if you'd like)
Amen Sister... I LOVE my Kitchen-Aide!
:-)
email me a bit ot pie will yer?!?
Yep, you definitely need one of those as a replacement. Besides, you no doubt hurt your wrist whipping up that meringue so it's totally justified.
I... want... that... pie! My stomach is now rumbling, damn you.
Nice workout from the hand-whisking, though, isn't it? I've done it, and it's not easy. Good for you.
Better if you can fix old appliances than replace. I had a grungy old blender from my wedding present stash...so just 20 years old but steel, and strong and very trustworthy could even tackle ice cubes...
But NOOOO I had to get a brand new bright and shiny blender that works like crap. But by then, it was too late to dumpster dive to get it back....sigh.
Somewhere, a trash digger has a great blender!
That pie looks delish, I dont care for meringue but I love everything under it. I have a feeling that your meringue rocks though!
My daughter's algebra class celebrated Pi day last Friday. The teacher brought in peach pie, which I thought was a weird pie to bring in for high schoolers. Maybe that's just me?
Wow... hand whipped merange?? Impressive! And yes, I agree with you that you need one of those awesomely industrial mixers for your kitchen! :D
you inspire me with your fix-it-ness. you can fix up a pie and you can fix an appliance. can you fix our economy???
Hot damn do I love pie, any kind of pie!
That one sure is mouth watering- YUM.
When I found out what "pie" meant in J-land, I knew this was the place for me!
You are an awesome kitchen goddess.
A math teacher that I used to work with told me that when she was in high school one of her teachers offered one point of extra credit on a test for every decimal point of Pi they could remember. She memorized one hundred decimal places, wrote them on the test and didn't answer a single question. She got her 100 points!
My wife has one of those fancy and "glamorous" KitchenAid mixers, its even the stainless steel model. She thinks so much of it I figure I would have to go rescue it in the event of a house fire.
As for Pi day, math sucks.
I just know you saved me a slice!! Yummmm!!
OK, now I really have to come up there and give you a HAND Massage!
Damn,that pie looks awesome...but since I was never good at math, forget the pi for me! :D Have fun with your new, well needed kitchen gadget! You deserve it. :)
PIE day, I'd be up for any time but Pi day, might be more important in the general scheme of things but to me, the former is the better. Your pie looks scrumbdelicious!
Caution though on the mixers -if you are getting a portable one anyway! They don't make 'em like they used to as in the past 3-4 years, I have gone through five -yes, five -hand-mixers! They may come with dough hooks but don't like to deal with dough very well! They don't like thick cookie dough either. PUddings, cake mixes, stuff like that -fluffy stuff -ok, but the touch stuff tends to burn the motors out rapidly!
A slice of Lime, and a slice of Pi(e).
What a perfect combination!
Listen, you. I. am. VERY. hungry. right. now.
So stop it.
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