Memorial Day

Memorial Day

My parents lived on an Iowa farm during World War II.  The farm produced almost everything we ate: beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, and milk from our 6 cows.  I remember that sugar was very limited.  Many neighbors had stars in their windows which signified they had a military familly member serving our country.

My uncle served in the Sea Bees in the Phillipine Islands.  My aunt werved in Europe rising to the

                         

rank of Lt Col.  The highest rank a woman could achive was Colonel and this was limited to one woman.  Aunt Alice served in Berlin during the air lift.  After the war she served in the Pentagon, then the Presidio in San Francisco (when I was in school at CAL,

I also remember when I was growing up that Memorial Day was called Decoration Day.  It was a day people gathered flowers to decorate the graves of familly members who had passed.





Many years later, my brother returned to the family farm to spend his retirement years.  One of his projects there was to restore the old cemetary and have a memorial bell installed at the edge of the road and around the headstones.
He and his wife are now also buried here with many other family members. 

 This year my son, Keith and his family will come for Memorial Day;.  We will barbeque kebobs from our local TipTop Meats in Carlsbad.  My dessert will be Apple Pie.  I am seasoning the apples with the usual cinnamon and nutmeg but also adding finely grated Gouda cheese, sage from my patio garden and a touch of Original Calvados Pays D 'Osage (a product of France).  I had gone to a local liquor store in Carlsbad to find it since my local grocery store did not carry it.  It was well worth my time hunting it out.  The pie was especially good with Vanilla Ice Cream and warm caramel sauce with a touch of the Calvados.

Lemon Tree- Very Pretty...

Lemon Tree- Very Pretty...

Remember the song?   My lemon tree is the prettiest of all!  

It seems to love its Carlsbad home.  My only problem with it is that it is so tall (it reaches the rooftop) I can't reach the lemons at the top.  Last Fall I had visitors for a few days:  Pat Derieg from Albuquerque and Jim and Sarah Derieg from the Cotswalls in England.  Pat is very tall and wanted to help in some way so it occured to me that Pat could pick lemons from the top of the tree.  

This last weekend I had a family dinner.  Granddaughter, Savannah loves Lemon Meringue Pie so I tried the recipe from my new Sister Pie cookbook by Lisa Ludwinski.  It was a gift from neice, Cindy.  

Honey Lemon Meringue Pie is 

made from lemon juice and honey, is thickened with cornmeal and enhanced with heavy cream- whipped.  

The meringue is colored with a honey brown color with a kitchen torch. 

In previous recipes for meringue I had always done the browning by  putting the pie in the oven.  This was so much more fun to do.  I could control the browning so much better!  

Thank you Lemon tree and thank you Cindy for introducing me to  Sister Pie, the pie cookbook.  It has so many unique recipes that are inovative and tasty!