It's already noon PST, and no one has yet diaried the most important event of the day...National Pie Day! Yes, not to be confused with National Pi Day (March 14, duh), today, January 23, 2009 is National Pie Day!
Suggestions for celebrating below....
To celebrate National Pie Day, you can celebrate national acts of pieness:
Register for the 2009 APC Crisco National Pie Championships being held on April 24-26 at the Orlando Sun Resort, Kissimmee, FL. Entry forms are available at The American Pie Council site.
Eat pie. Whether you make it yourself, buy it at a supermarket or bakery or order it at a restaurant, eat some pie on National Pie Day. Pie is great with lunch or dinner or as a late-night snack.
Make pie. Bake your favorite homemade pie on National Pie Day.
Share pie. If you make or buy a pie, share it. By its very nature, pie is meant to be eaten with others. Have a pie potluck get-together.
Teach pie making. Stage classes and demonstrations and samplings at stores and schools. Invite seniors who KNOW pie to teach a class. If you don't know how to make pie, ask a pie maker to show you or attend a pie-making class.
Hold a pie night. Gather family and friends for a pie celebration. Everyone must bring one homemade pie for the pie buffet. We have heard of events where more than 100 folks come with 100 pies.
Hold a pie-making contest. Invite the best pie-makers in town to compete for prizes in various categories. Be sure to include the kids. Ask cooking teachers, pastry chefs and pie lovers to be judges. (Contact the American Pie Council and they will send you a sample APC pie judging sheet.)
Hold a charity pie-throwing or pie-eating contest or a pie auction. We suggest you donate the proceeds to your local community food bank.
Hold a pie sale and sampling. This is an excellent opportunity for pie retailers and commercial bakers to introduce consumers to pie through special National Pie Day sales and promotions. Bakeries can also donate pies to a pie raffle or pie auction. Restaurants should offer a pie sampler plate or free pie with dinner on January 23.
Stage kid's pie activities. Have kids compete in pie-making, pie poetry and pie art contests. Show kids how to make pie and then serve it at lunch, preferably a la mode. Teach American and world history, math and science through pie.
Pass along pie memories. Our pie heritage is slowly fading away. Call older members of the family and ask them for pie recipes. Ask them to teach you how to make them. Talk about your favorite pies and the family history behind them. Publish pie memories and recipes. Make pie often and serve them to the next generation.
Eat more pie. You can always have another slice, preferably warm and a la mode.
Do pie stuff. Sing pie songs, read pie books, quote pie poems, make pie charts. Join the American Pie Council. Contact the American Pie Council, the only national organization devoted to eating, making, selling, promoting and enjoying pie!
And if you're not sure how to make pie, you can refer back to last week's Pie Diary, which contained Truths that are Self-Evident: Democrats are Better than Republicans, and Pie is Better than Cake.