Ernestine's Japanese Pie

Ernestine Childress (my grandmother) claims that this recipe isn't hers, but since it's her friend's Japanese friend's recipe, this is a close enough abbreviation. Even though I haven't highlighted one of Tene's recipes before, her influence is present in many, many dishes I've prepared. And, while on vacation home in the Carolinas, she gave me this recipe. I can't honestly tell you what makes this recipe Japanese, but a Google search for "japanese pie" reveals other recipes similar to this one. In any case, here we go with the preparation.
The ingredients list is shown below. Simply combine all ingredients together in a bowl. This makes, basically, a full pie. Feel free to add a little more of the quantity you desire the most, but don't be too concerned about the presence of vinegar in this recipe: it's easily overpowered by the sugar and butter (although it does give us this deep, rich color). The two ingredients you probably don't have handy are coconut and pecans. Both, however, can be picked up in your grocery's baking isle. Unsure what kind of vinegar to use, I just bought some balsamic. After baking, below is how it turned out (while still hot). Once cool, it's easier to cut into pieces, but is very delicious while hot (and can be eaten with a fork).
The ingredients to Ernestine's Japanese pie are as follows:

• 1 stick of margarine (8 tablespoons) or butter, melted
  
• 1/2 cup of coconut
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon of vinegar
• 1 egg, beaten
• an unbaked pie sheet

Mix the ingredients together and pour into the pie sheet. Bake for 40 minutes at 300 degrees. Eat!

Grasshopper Pie

This pie is made from 100% real grasshoppers. Optionally, replace "real" with "no". My last attempt at a dessert dish met with failure - the likes of which haven't been seen since the latest Bear Stearns board meeting. OK, I'll quit with the terrible jokes. I was fairly sure (and am not convinced otherwise yet) that my bottom oven burner wasn't working. But, as far as this pie is concerned, that wasn't an issue. Ian, my culinarily-inclined friend, shared this recipe with me and it looked so good I couldn't resist ruining it myself.

A grasshopper pie isn't a pie in the traditional sense: it uses crushed Oreos as the primary filler and then a melty, sweet concoction on top. Take 20 Oreos, halve them, and "get rid of" the creme filling. Then crush the Oreos into a particulate homogeneity. Pro tip courtesy of Kaitlyn and Drew: put the Oreos in a closed Ziploc bag and crush them there. Brilliant! Mix these crumbs with some melted butter and pat this down into a regular pie crust. I chose a graham cracker one, but any (even Oreo!) will do. Bake this until it's baked.

That was the tedious part; here's the fun part! Pour a little milk into a sauce pan and melt two dozen marshmallows. The recipe called to mix in creme de menthe and creme de cacao, but I don't speak Chef (and I couldn't find exactly what this referred to), so I substituted with mint chocolate Baileys. [If you're ever unsure what to do, liquor is usually the correct solution (no pun intended). -Ward] "Fold" in some whipped cream (what the hell does this mean?) and then pour the whole mess into the baked Oreo crumb pie.

Freeze this for a few hours and then serve cold! Neat!
Grasshopper Pie