Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Powerful Magicians Eat Pi, I mean Pie

 Every child is a powerful magician.  They can imagine new worlds with the snap of a finger. SNAP! Whoah!  Suddenly I'm a talking rabbit. Fine, I can deal with that. Munch, munch, chew, chew. Why am I chewing my fingernails? Now I'm gnawing on my desk.


As a wee rabbit, I liked to draw magical things. Like clowns. Notice the black hat. It's a magic hat.  Clowns must have incredible self esteems because, I mean,  look at the pants they wear. They don't care if you stare. Clowns pull flower bouquets out of the ears of people who stare.


Speaking of magicians, a friend of mine baked me a pi, I mean pie. Actually two. I met her at the Central Valley Animal Rescue (see my July 13, post).  Her name is Candy Garrison, a powerful pie magician.  Her pies are so good that people lose track of time and space.   Candy is in fact famous around here for her pies. 


A perfect pie crust is no mean trick. Hard to do. But I am convinced that great and small alike are swayed by the perfect crust, be you king or carpet layer, alchemist or mesmerist.  Pies are powerful,  magical.  Archemides knew this in 202 B.C.  He was no clown, but he was a bad speller. He spelled pie, "pi". At any rate, those remarkable ancients came up with their brilliant math insights because they ate pies. It's so obvious.

I'm pretty sure his motto was, *Will work for pie* Of course with his little spelling problem his sign read, *Will work for pi*

People like Archemides worked up an appetite dealing with irrational numbers.  For instance, the first 1000 decimals of Pi are:

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679821480865132823066
470938446095505822317253594081284811174502841027019385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831
652712019091456485669234603486104543266482133936072602491412737245870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903
600113305305488204665213841469519415116094330572703657595919530921861173819326117931051185480744623799627495673518857527
248912279381830119491298336733624406566430860213949463952247371907021798609437027705392171762931767523846748184676694051
320005681271452635608277857713427577896091736371787214684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290219
608640344181598136297747713099605187072113499999983729780499510597317328160963185950244594553469083026425223082533446850
352619311881710100031378387528865875332083814206171776691473035982534904287554687311595628638823537875937519577818577805
321712268066130019278766111959092164201989

And this goes on infinitely with no repeating pattern. I ask you...
Well, pies are infinite. They are round. And once you have eaten a pie with perfect crust, it lives on in the FAV section of your memory.
Do you love pie? What is your favorite? Please tell me. π

20 comments:

Faith Pray said...

I am no alchemist, having surrendered the Utopian pie quest after my first, very soupy, sour berry catastrophe in the first newlywed days of marriage. Not helped by the fact that the pie flop was served to my very unimpressed in-laws.
Two year-old Crosby's favorite fruit: Pie-happy.
Which is what we would all be if we could eat pie in infinitely repeating patterns.
The rabbit pie is pretty amazing, by the way.

Julia Kelly said...

I can't make a pie ( actually a pie crust worthy of my farm family heritage-) so am dependent on my mom- who will probably never make me another pecan pie- my favorite- after my dog last Thanksgiving- put his paws up on the counter and ate the pecan pie that was cooling there.

Reeceloui said...

Here give a big hat. I like to wearing at this types of black hat.

Mens Hat

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Faith, Pie-happy says it all. Please, could I have another slice of pie-happy! Don't give up on the quest. Remember, "only the penitent man will pass." Also, "A pie a day keeps the doctor away."

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Julia, that is the sadest story. Your dog is a villain. A smart villain to be sure. I mean, if I was a dog, and there was a pie sitting there on a table, I would eat it no questions asked. Beg your mother to give you a second chance.

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Reeceloui, thanks for visiting. Nice hats!

Kat_RN said...

My favorite is pumpkin pie. So much so that my husband makes me one for my birthday instead of cake. My birthday is in the summer.
The crust really is what makes the pie. Such a simple thing and yet so easy to get it wrong.
So you like pie, how about cookies?
Kat

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Hey Kat. Yeah, pumpkin pie is kind of a test. A not very good one is a sad situation. But a good one (and yes, based on the crust) can be sublime. Although I knew a man from England who said that pumpkin pies were of the Devil. He needed one with a good crust, that's all.

Cookies? Yes indeed, but I really only like them fresh out of the oven. Ones in packages don't float my boat much. But out of the oven, then I am dialed in and my eyes are half closed. One of my favorite cookie scenes from a movie is in Stranger Than Fiction. Great scene!

Molly/Cece said...

I am a great fan of pi and pie...
I'm more moved by the ratio meaning of pie.

Pi is the a number, a transendental number, that is its the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. That's Diameter/Circumference -- every circle, every time = pi. There is no other mathematical equation in the universe that produces pi. No two numbers can be added together and equal pi, no number has a square root of pi, you can't multiply two number together and get pi.

On pie,I am big fan. I started out on mud pies and moved on to real one later. In college, when I was struggling with some particular difficult triple intergral in or trying to visualize the chemical structure of ethanol and dimethyl ether, I would bake pies. I tended to make peach, pecan and pear pies back then because thoese fillings could be picked up for free on the ground at a local park. Peaches, pears, and pecan grow like weeds around here. In Washington I perfected raspberry with orange zest and walnut crust and blueberry pie with lemon zest and macademia nut crust. I'm funny about crusts. I like to make a simple oil-based crust. You have to be so careful with oil-based crusts because the aren't as flaky as butter/shortening crust and they tend gum up with long baking periods. I found that adding ground nuts helps with that. I've made so many pies. Right now I'm gearing up for my tiny pumpkin tarts and a picture perfect lemon meringue. I debating whether to top it with toasted coconut or not. Will the coconut war with the lemon/vanilla flavor? Hmm. I'm not sure.

Anyway! Whoop! For pi and pie!

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Molly, could you open the door, it's me knocking. I've come over for pie. I think the toasted coconut would be fun to add as a touch of crunch, but too much and the jungle drums begin.

I love tiny tarts as they are like pies only you can eat twenty of them and still retain some semblance of a conscience. You rock Molly.

Molly/Cece said...

"Pi is a transendental number, that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter."

I can't write and think about math at the same time. It's a problem.


I bought the pie pumpkin! Got to stew it now. :)

Robin Weiss said...

Magic pie recipe; Two cups Apples, Two cups, awesome Huckleberries this year, Cup sugar, Three Tbls cornstarch,Walnuts to taste, little cinnamon,
This was a big hit at the studio! Jim wasn't happy with just his pie.....he wanted my piece too!

Oh, and Trader Joe's has a great pie crust!
Miss you Richard!

jerilanders said...

I will work for pie, indeed I will!
Birthday cake? Forget it! I like Birthday PIE.
But the miracle IS in the crust, and it does take a pastry genius to make a perfect pie. My father could do it. He even made an apple pie on TV, long before Cooking Shows existed, around 1960 or so.

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Robin,

Oh man, that sounds delicious. I love huckleberries. Will have to try that recipe.

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Jeri,

I am so with you on the birthday pie! And how cool that your dad made a pie on T.V. no less! Talk about pressure.

Molly/Cece said...

My pumpkin tarts gave me hives. :(

Cobalt Violet said...

I don't make pie but ... I love pumpkin pie in the fall and warm blackberry pie! And I love chocolate cream pie (anything with chocolate actually) but my favorite might be banana cream pi ... I mean pie. :)
OK ... can't wait for thursday (pecan and pumpkin!)

Cobalt Violet said...

p.s. love the hat painting!

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Molly, sorry to hear that. Good thing there are a lot of pies to choose from. What kind of pies do you have on Thanksgiving?

Richard Jesse Watson said...

Cobalt Violet, you have listed some awesome pies. It's hard to go wrong with pies, they are so round and tasty. And maybe they are so good because people have been baking them for so long that they have worked out all the problems, and ended up with perfection! Glad you like the hat. q:>)