resting on my reputation...

 According to my west coast brother today is "National Relaxation Day" and "Lemon Meringue Pie Day."  These days, being happily retired and somewhat weight conscious, I do more relaxing than baking.  Even today I enjoyed a little couch time with a good book.  There was a time however when I did bake, especially for special occasions.  One memory, that seems appropriate to share today, has to do with lemon meringue pie.  It was my father's very favorite pie so one year I made one for him for his birthday.  No short cuts, I made it from scratch.  I squeezed the lemons and grated the rind for a little zest for the meringue.  I mixed the flour and butter and water to make the crust, stirred the lemon juice with the other liquid ingredients 'til they formed a smooth custard, beat the egg whites and sugar into a perfect meringue, put it all together, baked it until the meringue had golden toasted tips, chilled it until suppertime and served it with pride.  I bet you're thinking at this point something must have gone wrong, but no.  It was a perfectly delicious pie, my dad thoroughly enjoyed it, as did the rest of the family.  I never baked another lemon meringue pie.  It was a lot of work.  I worked all day on that pie and it vanished in about ten minutes, maybe less.  I'm glad I did it once but once was enough.  Over the years, I've had some excellent lemon meringue pie in various restaurants, even taken my father out for some, and I really do appreciate the work that went into each one.  I think the key to appreciating lots of things in this life is to have tried to do them yourself.