Pie update

Okay, so Mom’s birthday came and went. We had a nice lunch with her and my brothers, with the pie as dessert. The pie wasn’t hard, but it didn’t come out all that great. I don’t think I whipped the meringue enough, so it didn’t get high and peak-y. Also, I had trouble with the crust, so there wasn’t really enough to make those pretty edges…and the edges cracked. Enh.

Just out of the oven

And we didn’t put enough lemon juice (freshly squeezed, thankyouverymuch) in it, so the custard was too sweet, I’m told. And the pie crust seemed a bit heavy when they were cutting it. On top of that, I made it the night before and after it cooled we stuck it in the fridge (uncovered). The meringue pulled away from the edge of the pie crust and then wept into the custard. So there was moisture on top of the set custard, the meringue shrank in height and width, and the pie didn’t look so great anymore. I told you, either things go really really well, or they end up crappy. So my mom offered me the recipe for my grandmother’s pie crust, but I told her I’m done with pies. SHE can do the pies (which she is damn good at). I’ll find another specialty. 🙂

Now, this isn’t to say the pie didn’t get eaten. Because my mother, Hub, and one of my brothers all tried a piece. And although I was told it was sweeter than a lemon meringue should be, they all said it tasted good. So I guess that’s something.

I was glad to have tried this, and I kinda want to do it again to get it right, but I get seriously stressed over these things. This is why I’m not a big cook, because I get stressed out over whether the food is good enough and I make myself crazy. It’s not worth it most of the time. Sadly, I think I was waaaaay more relaxed about the souffle than I was the pie. I think it’s because my mom does pies really well, but had trouble with the souffle. I know I don’t need to compete with her, but those of you who have “super-moms” know sometimes it is difficult to get away from that feeling. Not that SHE does it to me, but I do it to myself. I think it comes from being the only girl and feeling like I need to live up to that girl-type pressure (especially since my Nana and my Mom were super-good at everything).

Next week, the cheesecake for the Hub. But I do cheesecakes almost every year (in some form or another), usually to take to Christmas at the in-laws. This year I’m taking something else they asked for, but Hub asked me to make him a cheesecake anyway. I don’t eat cheesecakes, but every time I’ve made it people rave over it, and it gets requested every year from his side of the family, so I guess it’s good enough. 🙂