Rein On All Fronts
By Charles Rein

When I was a child, I remember watching TV shows. One in particular was a friendly monster on the PBS show Sesame Street. I especially liked one of the characters named Cookie Monster. He had shiny blue fur and googly eyes and always seemed to be having a grand old time devouring cookies. I only got one cookie for dessert, "Thanks, Mom." Cookie Monster was my hero. He ate as many as his monster stomach would allow! As a child, I loved eating desserts, but I never thought of making them myself. Heck, that's what moms are for!

As an adult, I discovered that today, Friday March 14th, is National Pi Day. My stomach was all excited imagining apple, cherry, and lemon meringue pie, until my brain discovered it was Pi Day as in the Greek letter π. This strange looking mathematical symbol π is pronounced pie. The value of this strange looking character is approximately 3.14 but in actuality it goes on forever. As a student, I memorized it as 3.141592653589 but then my memorizing portion of my brain got stuck. When I tried to introduce Pi to my sister, I had to explain, "It's Pi that you'll someday use in math class and not pie as in 'straight out of the oven pie'. " She looked disappointed.

Say you wanted to figure out the area of a circle. To find the AREA remember:
AREA=π × radius squared
A = π r²
If you're thinking, "Geez! It would be easier to find the Loch Ness monster than the area of a circle," then it's highly likely you didn't pay attention in math class either. Sorry Mr. Paula-my Algebra teacher.

If you want to make your stomach happy, then grab a fork to enjoy a pie! Want to make your heart happy? Read on to discover this true story of a preteen talking about baking pies. Nate may remind you of one of your young grandchildren.

I had the opportunity to speak with a nephew, who is 12 years old and "almost 13." He earns excellent grades in school, excels in sports, and is in the 7th grade. Nate is a happy-go-lucky kid who also loves to bake. Apple pies are his favorite.

Over the phone interview, I asked him a series of questions which he didn't shy away from answering. Nate spoke of his own personal experiences in creating desserts. He gave advice for other kids his age who would like to learn how to bake.

Nate, thanks for your time.

How did you get interested in baking and do you have a favorite type of dessert you've created?

Nate: "When I was about five or six, I watched cooking shows and my grandma (my mom's mom) would bring over baked goods, mostly in the form of cookies... I've made pies. I've made cookies and brownies, lemon loaf and banana bread and macarons." (Macarons are meringue-based sandwich cookie made with almond flour, egg whites, confectioners' sugar, and food coloring.)

When I asked him if his baking was for friends, family or for school, he admitted that to make extra money, he'd sometimes hold a bake sale on the corner of his street.

What advice would you give to kids?

"I would recommend taking baking classes and don't give up! Keep trying new recipes until you find one that works (because) they won't work out every time."

He admitted he really liked to make apple pies and suggested using Granny Smith apples. "Apple pies are really good with vanilla ice cream," he told me over the phone. He went on to quicky list some ingredients to create a pie from scratch: apples, sugar, cinnamon, a bit of salt, flour and water. Nate recommends kids try a recipe at least twice, because it "may come out differently depending on how you mix it."

Nate how often do you bake?

Nate: "I try for once a week. I can bake on my own, but sometimes I'll go to my grandma's house to bake on special occasions."

Nate, have you ever thought of being a chef one day or working in a restaurant or bakery?

I could image him thinking, "Well, I'm just a kid." Instead he answered, "The high school I'll be going to offers culinary courses off campus and I've often thought about (attending) when the time comes."

Any last advice?

"Try new recipes; try new things. You never know; you might find something that you like."

Nate reminds us that whether it's PI in the classroom or PIE in the kitchen, both can improve our lives... but only one goes well with vanilla ice cream!