I gave it my best shot. It took a full year to psych myself up for this moment, but I did it. I cracked the code and broke the spell: I baked Lara's Lemon Meringue.
I invited two new friends around for lunch to catch up and to give our boys a chance to play. They are sisters who each have boys who are friends with Adam and Hugo. The "pie" was baked last night and came out the oven looking just beautiful. All the memories of cakes with my friend flooded back as I looked at this near masterpiece. It took some texting to and from Lara to assure me that the wobbliness was okay and I bunged it into the fridge for the night.
This morning amidst the chaos of seven boys' wild play I sliced into my unsuspecting victim and was transported right back to the deck on Cook street. And then the moment seeped away, literally. The innards of my pie slid off the plate in a big yellow puddle. I could have wept. Adam looked on unimpressed and said quite matter of factly in his rather understated way: "It was easier to just pay Lara for those, hey?".
Well, it was my first attempt and there will be more following a private master class via Skype. I have to say the flavours were all there and the girls were impressed. Some of the yellow goo clung to the meringue and biscuit, making the served portion look pretty good. Rob took the remains to his men's group tonight so it couldn't have looked that bad. It didn't have the poise and style of my favorite sweet chef's pie but I will get there. We simply can't live out our lives without them.
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