Happy Pie Day! And I do mean PIE. I was recently in the company of two of Carson City's best known food mavens — Linda Marrone and Karen Abowd — at a food event, and I humbly expressed my passion for baking, cooking and eating good food (I'm nowhere near their levels!).
While we visited, I mentioned my time as a local journalist and columnist, and Linda immediately lit up, asking me if I'd ever done any food writing.
“No,” I said, “but my weekly bird/wildlife column, View from Jacks Valley, in The Record-Courier was Nevada's Class III Local Column of the Year in 2000!” Hardly the same.
But then she said, “Would you like to write a food column?” She wanted to retire her column and needed someone to take her place. I told her I had NO credibility as a food writer, though I love making food, talking about food and eating it. She mentioned that this would be for a publish day around Pi Day, March 14, to which I quickly said, “I'M IN!”
March 14 happens to be my birthday — a date that has been co-opted by a mathematical constant called Pi — and I’ve been wanting to reclaim it, so bear with me as I try to fill Linda’s shoes at least one time.
For Pie Day 2025, here is a simple chocolate pie that has been on every celebration table in my family's history. It came from Aunt Hazel on her South Dakota farm probably 100 years ago. It is real food … rich and easy, and we fight over it.
MOM’S CHOCOLATE PIE
Graham cracker crust or baked pastry pie shell, normal size, 9-inch
3 squares (ounces) unsweetened chocolate
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons flour
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter
Melt the unsweetened chocolate and milk in a double boiler and whisk to melt the chocolate (if you use a saucepan, be careful not to scald the milk, but a double boiler is best).
Mix the 3 dry ingredients together (if you don’t, it will be lumpy … I tried that as an impatient teenager!) then slowly add it to the milk mixture and continue to heat on medium heat (always careful not to burn), beating with an electric mixer or wire whisk for 8-10 minutes until it thickens a bit. Turn up the heat if it hasn’t thickened.
Separate the egg yolks into a small bowl, then add a spoonful of the hot mixture into the yolks while stirring (to temper the yolk so it doesn't curdle). Add the stirred yolk into to the pot, stir well, and cook 2 more minutes.
Add the butter and vanilla and mix well. Pour into the prepared pie shell and cool a bit before putting in the fridge. We love real whipped cream on it and berries, too!
TIP: If you’re whipping your own cream, add a spoonful of sour cream to it as you whip, and it lasts longer in the fridge! Also, to “gild the lily,” make a raspberry sauce from frozen raspberries, heat with a splash of water, sugar to taste, and a spoonful of cornstarch mixed with a small amount of water at the end to thicken the sauce. Yum!
So Happy “Pie” Birthday to me and Happy Pi Day to the math lovers out there. Now that I am a “food writer,” don't forget that I can still help you identify all your yard birds too!
Linda Hiller was a staff reporter starting in 1994 for The Record-Courier while also writing View from Jacks Valley, a weekly neighborhood humor column specializing in critters, especially feathered ones.