Pi Day (Pineapple mango macadamia nut pie)

March 14, or 3.14, is now celebrated by nerds like Aaron and myself as Pi Day, in recognition of the mathematical constant pi (π). Without pi, we wouldn't be able to formulate geometry or trigonometry. Without pie, I would be sad. At Aaron's office, there's even a pi bake-off, and professional pride dictated that we simply had to enter. As we brain-stormed, Aaron rattled off ideas, including pineapple and mango. I scoffed at both as preposterous, only to eat humble pie as Google Image Search returned a gorgeous photo of this State Fair winner: pineapple and mango with a macadamia nut-studded lattice crust.

Boom.

Le Poisson, Le Poisson (Hibiscus Halibut, Mango Kiwi Salsa)

This post in also available as an article in the 7/25/2012 Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

As a gift from their honeymoon, our friends Laura and Geoff gave us a delightful box of unusual spices from Ambrosia, a spice and chocolate shop on Nantucket. As Laura rightly knows, owning a spice and chocolate shop ranks even higher on my wish list than opening my own artisanal radicchio farm, so this was an excellent choice. Laura has set forth the challenge that I should devise a recipe featuring each spice, and this month's feature is hibiscus.

Kapow!