Pi Alert - Do Not Panic!

Today's Sacramento Bee claims that this Sunday (March 14) is Pi Day - not to be confused with January 23, which you all know now to be bona fide Pie Day. Here we at Sac Pie are just getting rolling, so to speak, with Pie Day, and the media are already trying to dilute our sacred holiday. Of course, if you feel you need another day with the "pi" syllable in it in order to have an excuse to bake, maybe that's all for the good.

The Bee, having missed the boat in January, tried to recover today with a full-page spread (page D4) touting 'easy' pie recipes with 'shortcut' and 'cheater' ingredients for the weekend Pi festivities. Hmmmmm. Beware of no-bakes with cream cheese and peanut butter! There must be a pie analogue to "either fish or cut bait," I just haven't figured it out yet. I mean, if you're going to make pie, i.e., expend effort to create something fresh and good, don't make pi. Pie is worth your effort.

To be fair, on the Mailbox page (D7), the Bee has published a clip and save recipe for "high top apple pie." No shortcuts or cheating with this recipe. It has a very different pastry that includes eggs, butter, and superfine sugar, and calls for kneading and chilling the pastry before rolling it out. Sounds like it might be fun to try - who will be first to report back to us on results? But does it really have 102 milligrams of cholesterol per serving as published, and 36 percent of its 496 calories from fat? Wow! Might want to take tiny forkfuls and go slowly with this one.

Wouldn't it have been great if someone could have concocted a recipe for Pi Day that has 3.14159265 fat grams or weighs 3.14 pounds (give or take) when it's done?

Or is that just the nerd in me talking?

You can email Teri Watson at twatson@sacbee.com, and visit www. sacbee.com for the full "high top" apple pie recipe, and others if you feel a craving for Covert Cookie Pi. Me, I've got the real thing going in the oven today. Stay tuned.