March 14 - otherwise known as 3.14 - Pi Day

What do spheres, Archimedes, calculus, The Simpsons, physics, Star Trek, pyramids and Carl Sagan’s novel Contact all have in common? 

Pi otherwise known as 3.14...

Pi is the exact ratio representing that the circumference of a circle is slightly more than three times as long as its diameter.  One of the oldest and most important mathematical constants, Pi is an irrational number, meaning the decimal representation never ends and never repeats, with the current record as of 2011 standing at 5 trillion decimal digits, which seems irrational indeed to me!

Although Pi day was created in 1988 by Larry Shaw, a physicist working at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, it wasn’t until 2009 that the US House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing March 14 (3/14 or 3.14) as National Pi Day.  And if you want to plan ahead, at 9:26:53 on Pi Day 2015, the date will be 3/14/15 at 9:26:53, corresponding to 3.141592653.

While I honor mathematicians everywhere, especially my favorite Uncle John who was a college mathematics professor, I acknowledge that the best thing I can add to the mathematical dialog continuing throughout the ages is to share one of my favorite ‘pi’ recipe...

Menu

Chicken Pot Pi

Green Salad 

w/ round sliced...

-Tomatoes

-Carrots

-Cucumbers

Buttermilk Pi w/ Berries & Whipped Cream

          or if you don’t have time to bake a pie - you could eat Choco-Pies :)

Buttermilk Pie

Makes 1, 9 inch pie - May be doubled but not tripled.

Mix & set aside

1 1/4 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 + 1/8 tsp. Baking Soda

In a separate bowl whisk slightly

2 eggs

Add & whisk slightly:

1 cup buttermilk

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (I use the juice of 2 lemons for extra lemon flavor:)

1 tsp. vanilla

Add dry ingredients to wet.  

Whisk until smooth.  

Be careful not to over mix.

1/4 cup butter

Melt

Add & stir in.

Pour into unbaked pie crusts & bake on middle rack at: 

400’ for 10 minutes

350’ for 10 minutes

325’ for 45 minutes or until done.

The pies should be springy and spongy in the middle.  It should feel ‘well done’.

Serve warm and topped with...

Berries - 

Macerate fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries etc.) by sprinkling with sugar and allowing the juices to blend.

or try...

@ 2-3 cups frozen blackberry, boysenberry & raspberry mix 

Measure out berries into a bowl, set aside.

Combine in pot on stove

1 cup water  

1 cup sugar  

Boil for about 2 minutes

Add:

1 drop of red food coloring (optional)

1+ tsp. corn starch (optional).  

Pour over frozen berries & let sit until berries are thawed.

Whipped Cream

Beat until fluffy and holds a peak. 

2 cups Whipping Cream

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Groundhog Day - February 2

How did an early Christian, blessing and distributing of candles day, known as Candlemas, switch to a day for a groundhog to predict the weather?  

Apparently February 2 is considered the middle of winter.  Since people were hoping that the last half of winter would be short, they received candles blessed by priests and looked to the animals in nature to give them an indication of how soon spring would arrive.  

Tradition says that the groundhog comes out of his hole to check for his shadow on February 2 and if he sees it, he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and returns to his hole.

If the day is cloudy and, hence, shadowless, he takes it as a sign of spring and stays above ground.

Somehow this seems backwards to me, but apparently the Romans brought the tradition to the Germans who watched hedgehogs for the telltale length of winter prediction.  When Germans settled in Pennsylvania they decided that groundhogs had a  close resemblance to hedgehogs (same -hog ending in their name and all, I guess) and was an intelligent and sensible enough animal to take over the job.

Punxsutawney Phil, residing in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania, is now the official groundhog that the country looks to for the famous weather prediction, and one of my favorite movies is appropriately named Groundhog Day with Bill Murray where you can see the celebrity himself (meaning Phil, not Bill).  

Since my grandparents lived in Pennsylvania I’m thinking that we need to do some family history searching to find that German/Roman connection, and I’m happy to share my Grandmother’s recipe straight from Pennsylvania for Cherries in the Snow.  Here's to an early spring!

Menu

Hamburgers 

(Get it? - ground hog - Why do we call them hamburgers anyway? It’s beef!)

Carrot and Raisin Salad

Homemade Potato Wedges

Grandma Violet Caldwell’s Cherries in the Snow

Cherries in the Snow

9x13 pan or 2 8x8 pans

1 8oz package softened Cream Cheese   

Beat cream cheese until smooth

1 cup sifted Powdered Sugar   

1 container of Cool Whip 

Mix with cream cheese

Spread a thin layer of cream cheese mixture on bottom of pan(s)

Angel Food Loaf   

Cut into three long horizontal layers and cover bottom of pan(s)

Top with remaining cream cheese mixture, covering completely

1 can prepared cherry pie filling  

Carefully spoon over mixture.

  Chill at least 8 hours.