beef stew, egg custards, and the shawshank redemption

first: jessica gives me a meyer lemon. i have always coveted meyer lemons. i hear they are better than regular lemons - the pinnacle of lemon-ness. accordingly, i adore jessica (as i usually do, anyway). and now i am faced with a dilemma: what do i make with this meyer lemon? as it is a fairly busy week (made better by the knowledge that i have passed economics) i settle upon a lemon buttermilk pie, which is a recipe from some sample magazine i got in the mail. for the record, the sample magazine - whose name i forget - is pretty much a clone of Cook's Illustrated, which holds a special place in my nerdy heart (i subscribe to three food magazines: gourmet for general things food; cook's illustrated for the science-y stuff; and saveur for sexy pictures of ethnic foods). this particular magazine pales in the face of cook's illustrated, but that pie on the last page still looks pretty good, so i decide to try it.

of course, i make enough pie dough for two pies, so i need to make another pie. with no advance planning, it's clear that i have two options: a custard pie or a vanilla cream pie. i take a look in the fridge to confirm the availability of eggs, then spot a gallon of apple cider leftover from the cabin trip. i have this fabulous idea that i must make an cider custard pie. 45 minutes later i have half a cup of reduced apple cider, which i add to...of all things, cold milk. since i didn't really want a curdled cider-milk pie, i settle for a regular custard pie, which has an extra egg in it that i had added to account for the extra liquid (the reduced cider).

fortunately, both pies (a) fit in the oven) and (b) come out before allie needs the ovens for cooking. the custard pie turns out wonderfully - in fact it is a very good approximation of a chinese egg custard. that one's a keeper (add an egg to the filling for the custard pie in the joy of cooking). the lemon buttermilk pie tastes pretty much like lemon meringue pie, but it is wonderfully lemony. my not-supertaster taste buds can't really tell the difference between meyer lemons and regular lemons.

second: i want to cook dinner on saturday night and so i go to star to buy ingredients. i decide to make the braised balsamic chicken with swiss chard that i had made the previous week, with a few changes. i exchange chicken for beef (because since coming to school i have developed a real love for red meat. it's inexplicable.) and add mushrooms. lots of mushrooms, because i really love mushrooms, especially sauteed with brown sugar the way my mother does it. the whole shebang is really for next week's lunch because at the dance troupe afternoon performance i tell george that i'll order in with him (which reminds me, i owe him money). as such, i allow myself to let the whole thing simmer on low heat for about 4 hours. we start watching the shawshank redemption during this time, and it's when the movie is over that i turn off the stove, pack away the beef-thyme stew (because it's a stew now) and pack myself off to sleep.

third: the shawshank redemption remains one of my favorite movies.