making a pie together

Turn the oven to bake at 325 degrees.

Clean the lemons with four good water rinses, a vinegar rinse, and one last water rinse.

Zest. Take the microplane and with just the right amount of pressure to only take the skin, push the lemon away from you one time all around it. Just mark it up, but to a duller color. Put that fruit in your strainer and microplane the next one. Smell. Do all 8.

Crumble your 14 graham crackers made by the maid of honey, blend with a quarter cup of sugar, a quarter teaspoon salt, and half a stick of unsalted melted butter. Pack that into the only springform pan you own. Maybe it's a 9 inch. It's supposed to be.

Whisk two cans of sweetened, condensed milk with the juice of those 8 lemons from earlier. Best in an old silver colored metal mixing bowl. It has it's own music.

But we can always turn some on.

You left those eggs out earlier. They are room temperature. Separate them. Take your time. You're going to waste those whites, but don't tell anyone. The yolks if gotten locally will be a deep gold, full of flavor, protein that is the key to your favorite icebox pie.

Do a heavy whisk on those yolks with the zest. Combine that mixture with the condensed milk/lemon juice combination, pour that into the already crusted springform pan, and bake for 25 minutes.

Put it in the refrigerator for a night or a day.


Cut that pie into 8 pieces.
Spoon the cream on top.
Give 6 of those away.



Today I am grateful for groceries.