Strawberry 'pi' and bbq's

I know guys. Once again, long time no see. I don't know who told me that summer was a more relaxed time for grad students. But whoever it was. Lied!

After 3 intense weeks of teaching 3 days a week while trying to keep my research up, I've been focusing on getting as much done in the lab as possible. I'm going to a conference in November and I desperately need good data for a poster!

But! I've had some time to relax. And when the weather is nice in Portland, which I can guarantee you, isn't always (even in summer), I've been going to bbq's quite often. Whether it's at my friend's Katie's house or it's an invite from lab neighbors, I always bring something with me. To my labmate's barbecue, I brought strawberry pie. In nerdy form, with a big PI symbol on the crust.

Making pie crust tends to be a pain in the ass, but it's well worth it. For those of you who have never made it, I took step by step pictures of the process. Here it goes...

PIE CRUST
(makes 2, 9 inch crusts, top and bottom)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 sticks of butter, cold
4 tablespoons very cold water
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons sugar

STRAWBERRY FILLING
1.5 lbs strawberries
1/2 cup sugar


First cut your cold butter, and it's very important that you keep it cold, in about half an inch cubes.

Then add the flour, salt and sugar...

With a pastry cutter, a fork or your hands (making sure you do it fast to not warm up the butter), combine them together until you get small pebbles and the mixture looks similar to this...

Now split the dough in half, make two balls with it and cover them with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for at least 1hr in the fridge. In the meantime, wash, hull and slice 1.5 lbs of strawberries and toss them together with 1/2 cup of sugar. 

Now you can roll the dough. I do it between two pieces of plastic wrap because I hate having dough stick to my table. But you can sprinkle your working surface with flour and give it a go. Now you can cover the bottom of your pie dish with half of the crust. 

Now add the strawberries...

And the other half of the crust... (mine looks stiff because I let it rest in the fridge for a while)...

And finally, bake at 450 F for 1 hr... 

Enjoy!