Where I Am Going

I work at D.I. In their Development Office. You know those associates that manage to talk to themselves, twitch uncontrollably, hock loogies, and load that 70s green velvet couch into the back of your truck all at the same time? I am not that kind of D.I. employee. I actually help those people to stop twitching and hocking, and make it so they don't have to spend the rest of their lives loading furniture into poor young married couples' cars. The talking to themselves will probably never go away. We pick our battles.

Everyone else in D.I.'s administration is married, it seems. Okay, so our intern and one of our accountants is also not married. But for some reason everyone seems concerned with setting me up. Maybe it's because I'm new and they figure I still have a chance. My first day at work, a co-worker asked if I had a special friend. Nope, I don't. Well her daughter has a boyfriend who has...friends. You know. If I'm interested. I'm not.

A guy in my ward likes to talk about how I will be married in a year. I don't want to get married within the year. I would rather stay single and go on lots of dates and take riding lessons and go to U-pick farms and read in peace and quiet all by myself.

I guess I'm not supposed to feel that way. I'm supposed to want to get married and secure my exaltation. You'd think I would considering that two years ago I had a goal to get married by the following summer. That worked out well, don't you think?

I suppose what I've done with that situation is make lemonade out of lemons. I hit a bump in my perfectly planned out blueprint for life. I overcame it and am now enjoying the undisturbed scenery. I don't have any idea what's coming next. But I want it to taste like pie.

From my mother:

Bake a 9" pie crust and set aside to completely cool.
Separate three eggs; put the whites into a non-plastic bowl with 1/2 tsp of vanilla and set aside. Next to the bowl place 6 Tbls. of sugar and also 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar. Set up the electric mixer to beat the meringue.
Wash three good sized lemons. Zest the lemons & place in a bowl with 2 Tbls. softened butter.
Cut the lemons in half and juice them, removing any seeds, until you have 1/2 cup of juice. Use the pulp.

Lemon filling ~
1-1/2 cups white sugar
3 Tbls. flour
3 Tbls. cornstarch
Mix this together in an 8 qt. sauce pan; gradually stir in 1-1/3 cup hot water with a wooden spoon. Cook and stir over medium/high heat until bubbly and thickened. Reduce heat and cook for two more minutes.
Remove from heat.

Place the three egg yolks into a bowl; beat them lightly with a fork. Gradually stir in about 1 cup of hot filling into the yolks. Stir well and quickly so the eggs don't cook. Pour this mixture into the sauce pan and stir, bringing the mixture to a slow boil again. Cook and stir 2 more minutes.

Stir butter and lemon zest into the hot mixture.
Gradually stir in the 1/2 cup lemon juice, beating well to combine.
Cover the mixture with saran wrap or wax paper to keep piping hot. (Or you can reheat in the pan, stirring, for a minute before adding the meringue.)
Set aside.

Quickly make the meringue.
Add the cream of tartar to the meringue and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. The tips will curl over when the beaters are removed.
Gradually add sugar, beating on high speed for a few minutes, or until the meringue is glossy with stiff peaks, and the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the hot filling into the pie crust, and quickly add the meringue. Seal the meringue to the pie crust, making a design on the pie.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes or until the meringue is golden.
Let cool for about three hours before cutting.

*The trick to this pie is keeping the filling very hot; when the meringue touches the filling, the egg whites will cook from the heat. Otherwise the whites will be runny until the meringue topping*