Will Cook for Foo: Week 12–Heartbreak and Lemon Chess Pie

 

Progress update: So it’s been three months now, and still no word from the Foo Fighters. I guess it is as expected, but I still have one more month left! Not giving up the hope yet folks! To see why I began this journey, click here to see the first “Will Cook for Foo” post.

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A few things I’ve learned about recipes…

1. It’s fun to save them up and find them.

2. They are great gifts to receive as hand-me-downs.

3. All involve a dream of a dish that has been perfected to be recipe card worthy.

4. You don’t have to abide by all the rules of a recipe. Seriously, you don’t. *smiles*

5. Bonding is given a whole new meaning when a recipe is involved.

6. Recipes bring back memories…both happy and sad.

Today, I’m concentrating on number six. You’ve seen me write many many times about memories of my family, and of loved ones gone. This time’s a little different. This past weekend, and every time I make this one particular dish, it’s kind of difficult. (I’m pulling out my open book for you guys here by the way.) I don’t have many dishes that make me have emotions other than happy, but this one has given me all sorts of emotions over the past 13 years.

I’m not going to name the dish, it’s not important. What is important is the feeling that a recipe can invoke in someone. Recipes and memories attached to them can be very powerful. For instance, I didn’t make this dish for a loooooooong time. It just hurt too much to think about it. Over the years, the feelings progressed as follows (and most likely altered a bit after meeting my husband)…sad, furious, mad, irritated, sad, frustrated, indifferent, pouty, meh, sigh, whatever, content, pleased, and happy. I still have a rush of feelings and emotions every time I prepare it (and no amount of love in the world can completely cure heartbreak), but it doesn’t hurt anymore like it did.

Along these lines…This week’s “Will Cook for Foo” comes from Foo Fighters’ song “Arlandria”.

The selected lyric was “So I’ve been saving it up, I started saving it up. And when you said I couldn’t give you enough, I started giving you up, I started giving you up.”

My Twitter update “@foofighters …I started savin’ it up. And when you feel I couldn’t feed you enough, I’ll start feedin’ you more.”

Next step for you, take a second and enjoy the song…Click here for the song “Arlandria”.

Find the previous “Will Cook for Foo” posts by clicking here.

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The recipe today is for Lemon Chess Pie. When I called Maw-Maw, I asked her which Lemon Chess Pie recipe to use…she said the one with a name beside it. It didn’t matter whose name it was, it just mattered that there was a name there. That was my new golden rule…If it had a name, or in her handwriting, use it! I wonder what memories people have when flipping through the names of people in their cookbooks?

Lemon Chess Pie by Mrs. Beauchesne

• 2 cups sugar
  

  

• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 1 tablespoon plain corn meal (I know! Right?)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 4 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix sugar, flour and corn meal in a bowl.
3. Add eggs, butter, milk, and lemon juice, and beat until smooth and thoroughly blended.
4. Pour into a 9” pastry lined pan
5. Bake for 35 to 4 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
6. Serve warm.

The notes state it makes a thick 9” pie, shimmery and golden inside. Now if that doesn’t say lovin’ from the oven, I don’t exactly know what does. Enjoy!

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