The art of baking a pie

When I was a child, cooking dinner was one of my daily chores.  Dinner did not vary much, as our dad was a meat and potato kind of guy so we were not allowed to get creative at all.  Every now and then we could  make a dessert-- usually chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, but one thing he really liked was Lemon Meringue Pie.  I am sure my mom had cookbooks (but I don't remember them too much)  but not much was made from scratch in our home.  Our Lemon Meringue Pie was made with a box of jello pudding pie filling and then the meringue.
I did not grasp the intricacies of making meringue-- not until I was an adult and looking back on my first pie, I did not understand how to make a lemon pie either!  I followed the directions on the box and watched the pie bake, anticipating how good it was going to taste.  After dinner, I proudly served my fresh pie and although it was not  a thing of beauty, after all, the meringue did not set well but at least everyone was willing to eat it... that was until their first bite.
It had no flavor!  I did not know the little capsule inside the jello box was the lemon flavoring and had thrown it away thinking it was a preservative!  I was so embarrassed and I don't know how long it took me to attempt another dessert for the family.  But did I learn my lesson?  NO-- it took years for me to figure out that there were instructions for a reason.  That when the directions say beat for 2 minutes on medium and three minutes on high that it makes a difference! Or pre-heating the oven and setting the timer can make or break your dinner or dessert.
Lemon Meringue Pie is one of my very favorite desserts.  I have made low calorie, weight watcher ones (not very tasty) but it wasn't until yesterday I found a good recipe and attempted, once again, to make a perfect pie.  For me, it isn't effortless but it is enjoyable.  This time, I had problems with separating the egg whites from the yolks and then burned my first meringue.  I wasn't going to let this pie beat me, so I made another meringue and watched slowly brown and viola!  we had a beautiful, tart, lemon pie that I am quite proud of.
Here's to learning, even decades after a mistake and here's to being willing to try again!