What's in a name?

The maiden post. This blog is not entirely about pie, nor does my way, or tao, focus merely on baked goods. Nor do I think I even have a tao, for that matter.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

But for what little insight I have into tao, I do know it is a great homophone for the word (letter?) "tau." Tau is the Greek letter for 2π, or a way to provide mathematical simplification of those equations, and there are many, that use pi. Tau is the angle for the beginning and the end, where pi is just somewhere in the middle.  (For those  that are mathematically inclined, pi is not the easiest way to define a circle, and by simply substituting tau, or 2π, things become surprising simple, and you can read all about it here.)

Salted Carmel and Midnigth Ganache Four Layer Cake

Beyond any mystical mathematical leanings the name of this blog holds, there is the fact that I like pie. If fact, every year I hold a pie party on March 14th, or 3.14. Then, when looking for another excuse to eat pie, I thought why not hold other pie parties on integer multiples of pie, the next logical one being 2π, or June 28th, or 6.28. It also just happens that my birthday falls directly on June 28th, or 2π day, or tau day if you please. It was made to be. I'm so glad my mother didn't listen to my father when he asked her to, "just hold on..." during her labor, so that my birthday could coincide with his, on June 29th. I was born at 10:33 am. I never really liked cake anyways.

Chocolate and Coconut Layer Cake with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

So far we have mathematical obsessive compulsive disorder, a love for pie, and a well timed birth. What else could there be? I need a distraction. Just over three years into a PhD, and the end still a year away. When all you've done is be in school for your entire life, you need something else. This is my something else. Baking is stress relief, a form of instant gratification, where things can be accomplished and finished, in a reasonable amount of time. And if it can be used to butter up a few committee members while I'm at it, I'm ok with that too.


Oh hey, a pie.

I meant to spell it that way.