It's lemons. In a pie. And random notes about the whole adventure.

My adventure this weekend is making a lemon pie. A Shaker lemon pie from Smitten Kitchen. Now I’m a big fan of making pies, but I must confess that my repitoire is not terribly large. I’m very confident with apples and pumpkins, but haven’t much delved into any other sort of pie making. Not even blackberry or peach! Pathetic, I know. Therefore this weekend I’m taking a step into the complete unknown. I’ve never tasted, seen, or made a Shaker lemon pie. I suppose it’ll be like making plum cake, which means it’ll turn out perfect the first time because I'll have no standard for perfection.

It said to use a mandolin for slicing the lemons “paper thin”. Well, I don’t have a mandolin and I rather fancy fine slicing, so I set to it with a will. Let me tell you folks that slicing lemons as thin as paper is not for the faint hearted or for those who care to keep all the skin on their fingers. Ok, so I’m exaggerating a bit. Nothing but lemons were sliced. Sadly, my skill with a blade is not as fine as I would have liked it, but it wasn’t half bad. The slices were thin-ish and seemed to fit the bill well enough.

It said to use a mandolin for slicing the lemons “paper thin”. Well, I don’t have a mandolin and I rather fancy fine slicing, so I set to it with a will. Let me tell you folks that slicing lemons as thin as paper is not for the faint hearted or for those who care to keep all the skin on their fingers. Ok, so I’m exaggerating a bit. Nothing but lemons were sliced. Sadly, my skille with a blade is not as fine as I would have liked it, but it wasn’t half bad. The slices were thin-ish and seemed to fit the bill well enough.

Gosh, what does one eat with a lemon pie? Coffee doesn’t seem right and neither does tea. Apples and cheese maybe? Seems like you should have something to help tone down the overdose of bitter sweetness. Also seems as though coffee and lemon just doesn't have that...it doesn't have that match that, say, apple pie and coffee or cheesecake and coffee do.

Let it be noted that I have high hopes of using my new whisk to great advantage.

Let it also be noted that whenever I make a pie, I make the crust. One cannot consider a pie completely homemade if the crust is purchased. A store-bought crust. It seems so wrong in so many ways. Kind of like mashed potatoes from a box. *shutter*