Image: www.cakespy.comThanks the P.I.’s Leslie Kelly (and in turn, Cakespy, whose work is pictured above) for the tip about National Pie Day: it’s January 23. Does one need an excuse to eat more pie? I think not. Jonathan Kauffman agrees. See his hopes for this year’s food trends, here: Pie is on his list. Bring a pie, any pie, to Ballard’s Pie Day Celebration (held at The Eagles Club) and admission is free. I am charmed by the idea of baking up your favorite lattice-top apple, or trying an after holiday mincemeat, or perhaps a savory venison pie, in order to get your fill of someone else’s proudest, home-made, butter-crusted creation. If a pie is beyond your talents, and store-bought seems cheating (except say, if you go to West Seattle’s ShooFly Pie Company), purchase a $5 raffle ticket to get yourself in the door, with chances to win cookbooks, oven mitts, and other baking tools. The main attraction is, of course, a roomful of pie. National Pie Day CelebrationFriday, January 23, 2009, 6 p.m. Salmon Bay Eagles Club 5216 20th Ave. N.W., BALLARD(206) 783-7794Admission: pie or a $5 raffle ticket purchase.All funds go to the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research.