The Best Boss in the World, being female and smart, and understanding that the day before a big food event (such as Thanksgiving dinner) is as busy - if not busier - than the day of the event, has given me the day off to cook.
My brother woke me up with a phone call about 7 a.m. We'd talked a few days earlier about visiting over the holiday. His daughter and her family have come from Texas in a rented camper/van, and I'd hoped to see them before they head home. This morning's call was to let me know that today would be the best day to visit. I'd planned to see them Friday, but since we'd need to do our visiting on the front porch (due to covid concerns) and it was supposed to be warm today, I changed my plan. The Niece was taking the kids to the zoo in the morning, but would be home around noon.
I'd promised to bring candied yams, a pecan cobbler, and a baked ham to Thanksgiving dinner. Before the visit with my brother's family, I had time to boil the yams and do some other prep work. A little before noon, I headed to my brother's house. His visitors weren't home yet, so he and I had some rare uninterrupted time to chat. After a while, The Niece and her family came back from the zoo. The kids were tired and hungry. She fed them and put them to bed, and then we had some time to visit.
I got home mid-afternoon and commenced the cooking. The cobbler and the yams went into the oven together. The ham a few hours before the Thanksgiving dinner, so I didn't do anything with it. And I had time to spare. I wanted slaw with dinner, so I made some.
My mother used to make lemon icebox pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas. All that was in it was lemon juice, egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk. We didn't even cook it, just mixed it all together and poured it in a pie shell. The Husband (and most menfolk, it seems) loves this lemon pie. I'd bought lemons and a graham cracker pie crust earlier in the week, contemplating the pie. There was supposed to be a can of sweetened condensed milk already in my pantry . . . .
And there was a can. It expired in 2020.
Now, I'm not much of a stickler for expiration dates. As long as the milk ain't clumpy - even if it reeks just a tad around the rim - I'm drinkin' it. So I opened the condensed milk. The color was a little more "golden" than I remembered. But it was "off-brand" milk; maybe it's normal for it to be that color. It tasted okay.
In gathering all the ingredients for the pie, I noticed that the pie shell said, "Two extra servings!" Upon closer inspection, the pie shell did, indeed, seem larger than normal. The problem was that the standard lemon ice box pie recipe doesn't make a very big pie. I needed to either double the recipe or use a smaller pie shell. There was not another can of condensed milk in the pantry, and if there had been, there's NO TELLING how old it would've been. So to the store I went.
Got a small pie shell (in case my lemons did not produce double the amount of juice) and two more cans of condensed milk. Dumped the old one down the sink and started fresh. Even micro-planed some lemon zest to sprinkle over the meringue.
Although my mother never baked her pie, I baked this one. I hope that didn't screw up the taste.
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