Happy Pi(e) Day 2016!

Photo by Chris Chen from Pi(e) Day 2013 at The Dunes, Washington, D.C.

Happy Pi(e) Day! I hope you are enjoying the mathematical excuse of the day to gather with friends around the 2piR circular revolution that is PIE. I plan to celebrate this evening via a pie potluck with a few neighborhood pals here in Charleston's East End.

Here's a look at some past Pi(e) Day celebrations in D.C., North Carolina, and Texas and if you're looking for that special 3.14 recipe, you just may find it in the Nothing in the House recipe archive.

Molly Reeder's Kitchen Drawings

A couple of years ago, my friend Mack shot an interview with me as I prepared for our annual Pi(e) Day celebration at my home in D.C. In the interview, I talk about how I learned to bake from my mom and grandmother, so ask Mack was putting together the footage, she asked if I had any photos of them working in the kitchen that she could use as B-roll. I asked my mom, and she scoured albums and photo boxes, and found none. There were pictures of desserts she had made, of my brother and I blowing out candles on homemade birthday cakes, and of the family sitting around the table at Thanksgiving, but there were no images of her doing the actual labor of home cooking. 

That struck me as odd and unbalanced. It may be my folkloric tendencies speaking here, but for me the images of daily work-- in messy kitchens, basement workshops, or leaf-strewn yards-- carry more emotional and narrative weight than the posed and stifled family photos taken during vacations or at graduations and family reunions. They capture us in situ, and convey a story about who we are and what we do and make and value.

So I was particularly excited when artist Molly Reeder contacted me about her kitchen drawing project, in which she illustrating a series of images of cooks and bakers working in their home kitchens. She highlights this labor so beautifully, in grayscale pencil drawings that accentuate the gestures and stances of her subjects as they sprinkle sugar, wash dishes, or consult a cookbook recipe. Molly illustrated a photo of me taken by Mack during those Pi(e) Day preparations of 2014, and is working on an entire series, including the one below of Yossy Arefi of Apt 2B Baking Co. 

I'm honored to be a part of this project which so elegantly illuminates the daily activity of kitchens, and I can't wait to see the final exhibit. You can find more of Molly's work and more about the series via her website and on Instagram.

Pi(e) Days Past

This is the first time in 5 years that I'm not putting on a big Pi(e) Day party, and though I've always had fun, I have to say it's a relief to not have to do all that planning, hosting, and baking! I'll likely still make a pie though, and in lieu of a major 2015 event here's a look at some Pi(e) Days past, with favorite recipes from each.

Pi(e) Day 2014 - The Dollhouse, Washington, D.C.

Apple Pie with Salted Caramel Glaze
Tarheel Pie (pictured)

Pi(e) Day 2013 - The Dunes, Washington, D.C.

Bourbon Bacon Pecan Pie (pictured)
Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie

Pi(e) Day 2012 - St. Stephen's Church, Washington, D.C.

Banana Cream Pie with Pecan Crust and Salty Bourbon Caramel
Gorgonzola, Pear, and Balsamic Honey Galette

Pi(e) Day 2011 - Johnny's, Carrboro, NC

Date-Butter Pie
Avocado Pie (pictured)

Pi(e) Day 2010 - Celebrity Dairy, Siler City, NC

Lemon Goat Cheese Tart with Blackberry Preserves (pictured)
Pimento Cheese & Tomato Pie

You can see more Pi(e) Day documentation and ephemera here, and as always, find many more recipes via the Recipe Index. Have a happy Pi(e) Day-- and a very special one at that!

Pi(e) Day 2014!

In the field of folklore, one way in which we define the traditional arts is as a community-based expression. We're interested in those cultural materials and happenings that arise out of a group of people and are upheld by a community. That could be anything from fiddle and banjo tunes to the labor lore of food service workers to the specific style of a group of graffiti artists. 

I think of pie too as a community-based expression, and like most (but not all) traditional art forms, they are best shared face-to-face, among people gathering together in community. You can lean almost everything there is to know about baking from a book or the internet, but the times when you're sharing it, talking about it, experiencing it with others is when the real learning happens. When you can taste the difference between a lard and butter crust, see how someone else cuts their lemons for their Shaker Lemon Pie, or hear their expression when they tell the story of how they invented a new recipe when they forgot to add a main ingredient--that's where it's at.

This is why I like celebrating Pi(e) Day. For me it's an event where this type of sharing can happen informally, even if it's just in the form of some friends sitting down eating together. And of course an excuse to party with pie ain't so bad either.

This year was the 3rd straight year of a DC Pi(e) Day and the 6th annual for me (find posts from past Pi(e) Days here). On Friday, my friend Mackenzie Smith (who made the sweet Buffalo Chicken Fried Pies video!) came down from Brooklyn and hung out in the kitchen, taking these beautiful photos and some video (more on the video soon) while I baked (she also made an amazing caramel for the Apple Pie). In the early evening my friends Roy and Aviva of The Keezletown Strutters showed up with their instruments and a Shaker Lemon Pie in hand, and serenaded Mack and I while we put the finishing touches on the desserts and set up for the party.

Friends arrived continuously throughout the evening, bringing pies and drinks and more instruments. I lost count of the pie count, but the table was overflowing with Tamale Pie and Onion Pie and Quiche, Blueberry and Coconut and Chess. I made eight pies and some tartlets--Pimento Cheese Tomato Pie (a Pi(e) Day favorite), Coconut Custard Pie + Tartlets, a Lazy Lemon Tart, Tarheel Pie, S'more Pie, Grapefruit Pie (a version of this Atlantic Beach Pie), Buttermilk Chamomile Pie, and an Apple Pie with Salted Caramel Glaze in birthday boy Lars' Prillaman's name.

The Keezletown Strutters played their heartening & spirited breed of Missouri and Arkansas fiddle tunes, songs, and blues in wonderful two-part harmony (which inspired some waltzing), and we wrapped up the evening with a few living room square dances.

Thanks so much to all the bakers and guests for baking and sharing and dancing, and big thanks to Mackenzie Smith for her beautiful documentation of the evening, and The Keezletown Strutters for their wonderful music. Pi(e) Day 2015 (3.1415...!) may be a year away, but more pie parties are just around the corner.

Photos by Mackenzie Smith