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I am fortunate enough to teach at a school where pi is not merely celebrated for a day (3/14) but an entire week…and pi’s homonym pie gets a fair share of the party as well. Pi day? Are we still talking about that? Wasn’t that a month ago? Ah yes…what an astute observer you are! Well done. This post, like the one before it, is a relic from the past.
A wall of pi puns (although, let’s be honest, some of the youngest ones didn’t really get the concept and made “Camouflage Pi” and “Rainbow Pi” instead of, say, “Cutie Pi.” Ah well.)
On Thursday of Pi Week, families, students, and teachers bring in pie of all different types. We eat pie at recess and lunch and then the teachers have stomachaches AND classes of hyped-up children to teach for the afternoon. But we wouldn’t have it any other way.
For this particular occasion, my own contribution was a Butterscotch Banana Cream Pie. The butterscotch flavor simply comes from using dark brown sugar instead of white when making the cream filling. Speaking of cream fillings, I have made quite a few creamy fillings over the stovetop at this point (whisk, whisk, whisk) and I still get a massive feeling of glee every time the consistency magically transforms, within seconds, from liquid to custard.
Here is the pie in a stage of assembly (and yes, that is a banana peel pi sign behind it, never fear.) Ken likes to put the bananas on top of the filling instead of inside the filling, as he says, “the bananas start to weep under the hot filling, leaving you with a weepy pie.” Who wants a weepy pie?
This pie has a vanilla wafer crumb crust. Since I practically have an anxiety attack every time I have to enter a store that isn’t called Trader Joe’s (jokes) I used the TJ’s Ultimate Vanilla Wafers. It’s not the cheapest way to make this crust, but I would definitely recommend…and then you get to sprinkle some more cookies on top once the whipped cream goes on there…oh yeah. It’s what you want.
One of my teacher-friends (who had probably already sampled about six other pies) deemed this pie “refreshing,” a term that I must say I have never before heard applied to a banana cream pie. I think that she was on to something though. The pies in Ken’s cookbook generally run low on the sugar…he doesn’t oversweeten. I appreciate that. A little less sugar sometimes means a lot more enjoyable.
(decorative funnels used to let steam out of pies) are shaped like pies because bakers used to set full-on BIRDS on top of their pies to identify the contents? That song about four and twenty blackbirds wasn’t a joke. Ugh. Give me almonds and coconuts inside my pie any day over peacocks.
ones. You may be familiar with them. In case you aren’t, the premise is that individuals communicate their love for others/want to be communicated to in a certain way…for example, physical touch. (From my experience, people either really like this concept, are really annoyed by it, or just really don’t care. My apologies if you belong to one of the second two groups, I promise this won’t be a lengthy dissertation.) My point is that when I read the original book (as you do when you’re dating and you’re curious if you speak the same love languages as your significant other) I was of the opinion that if your love language was “Gifts” instead of “Quality Time” or “Words of Affirmation,” you were probably pretty shallow. So naturally, when I took the little quiz the book gives you, I scorned any answers that made it sound like I would prefer gifts to any other type of lovin’. I guess I cheated a little, because years later I have come to the conclusion that–alas–I am, in reality, a GIFTS PERSON…a hoarder of wrapping paper, a maker of handmade cards, and a pie-baking fool. Don’t judge me! I like hugs too. And I’ll love you if you mop my floors. I just generally find that I show love by giving physical things to my friends. And since I like to bake and cook, if I love you, chances are high that I’ll try to feed you.
The Peace of Pie 