Water tastes better in a pretty glass...
This year, at the ripe old age of 48, we bought my very first home. It has been quite exciting. I am still getting used to a lot of things and am constantly surprised at the new adventures. One in particular has been discovering the joy of cooking in a well equipped kitchen. I love to cook and bake and especially when others enjoy me enjoying it. Cooking for a crowd is great fun when you have the space and tools to make the job successful.
I know some folks prefer to buy their pies and cakes and cookies and meals pre-cooked but the best part of the holidays for me is the preparations. I like making my own pies, even though pie crust is not my forte'. I love baking cookies, even though by the time they make it into the oven, I've eaten so much cookie dough that I don't want any baked ones. And what could be more fun that frosting cakes and decorating sugar cookies? And doing all this in an oven that browns the front of a pizza as well as it does the back, or bakes cookies so they are done in the middle without burning the outside, well, I think I just might be in heaven. Everyone knows water tastes better in a pretty glass and so it goes with cooking. Food just tastes better served on a pretty plate, by a person who made it just for you. It just does.
So, this year, I made apple, cherry and lemon meringue pies. I made cinnamon and sugar dusted lattice tops for the apple and cherry with twisted rope edges. I don't really like cherry pie but the girls at work all said it was the best cherry pie they ever ate. (including the crust) And the lemon meringues were perfect. Perfectly shaped, lightly browned peaks adorned the top of my pies that were so pretty I didn't want to cut into them. They looked like Martha herself had popped in for an afternoon. I was taking photos everything looked so good.
Well, I had my 2 lemon meringue pies sitting on the counter when the cherry pie came out. I reached into the cabinet to get some cinnamon sugar for a final sprinkle and it happened. I discovered, much to my dismay, that meringue looks a lot better without sage and all spice bottles adorning the top. When I pulled the soice bottles off the top of my perfectly peaked pie, it looked like someone had cut out a slice of meringue leaving slightly mushed hole. And since I had already baked them, I couldn't just spread it around again. I considered removing the meringue and making it again, but I had added a special, secret ingredient to make it taste good and had used the last of it on that pie.
As it turns out, we had plenty of pie without the second, defaced lemon meringue so it remained tucked neatly in the corner of the fridge behind the milk and cheese to be enjoyed privately. Later, when I was enjoying a bit of leftovers, I had a bit of the unsightly sweetness. And while the softly browned peaks had given way, and the photo perfect shape was a bit off, it tasted just as good and my thoughts wandered. With each bite, I reflected on the the most wonderful Thanksgiving, complete with delightful friends and family, my lovely new home, and my dream kitchen. I don't think I ever ate a more wonderful piece of pie.
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