By Lori Perkins
It’s Pi-Day in a pandemic again!
Last year I was unable to even acknowledge this entertaining made-up holiday (one of my favs), but this year I was prepared. As we repeat the annual events of an entire year in isolation, I have learned to aggressively find my own joy in these repetitive times, and pie-making on Pi-Day has been one since my son was little and we would make them together.
What is Pi-Day? Pi Day falls every year on March 14th celebrates that mathematical constant and its endless string of decimals that represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi — or π as it’s written in Greek — begins 3.141592653... and carries on forever. I was a nerdy girl who went to a science high school, so this is my jam. And my son went to the same high school almost 30 years later, so this is a family holiday.
My mother was not a pie-lady, so I learned to make pies on my own, and was so surprised to find that the phrase “easy as pie” was true if you used a store-bought crust. My recommendation is not the Pillsbury roll out, but the one from Aldi (cheaper and better) or a graham cracker or Oreo crust for a pudding filled pie.
Since Pi-Day falls in March, there are not a lot of summer fruits available, but you can always make a strawberry pie from fruit trucked in from Mexico, or buy a canned pie filler like cherry or pumpkin. Apples are great too. The one pie my mom did make was chocolate pudding in a graham cracker crust with whipped cream on top. Since now you don’t even have to heat the instant chocolate pudding, this could not be easier. She also made a banana cream pie with vanilla pudding and banana slices.
But you don’t even have to make your own pie. Today only, Pizza Uno is offering a Thin Crust Cheese pizza for $3.14 when you ask for the “Pi Day Pizza” and 7-Eleven offers any large pizza for just $3.14 through 7Rewards in the 7-Eleven app. Other food-related chains throughout the country are offering deals too.