My Lutong local lime Pie

..........made in the spirit of key lime pie.

I have a sort-of love-hate relationship with sour desserts. Love them as I do, I can't eat as much of them as I would chocolate or peanut desserts, due to an on-off gastritis issue. Oh well, all things in moderation, and this is as good a way to learn as any, I guess.

Doesn't stop me from attempting to make them, though. This recipe gets most of its elements (as well as a resize) from the Florida Pie recipe in  Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. I did away with the coconut in the filling and topping, as I wanted to taste what a real lime tart, not mix it up with coconut (though that does sound absolutely delicious). The lime custard filling is super easy to whip up- just condensed milk, eggs and lime juice, baked in a graham cracker (digestive biscuits actually) crust. A meringue topping adds a touch of sweet to counter the filling, which I expected to taste lingeringly of condensed milk. The lime juice, though, did its job. No trace of that sickly sweetness I despise about condensed milk in desserts - just a really nice tang and a rich smoothness in the texture.

Local Lime Pie
Crust:
1 cup digestive biscuits, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
2 tbsp melted butter, cooled

Preheat the oven to 160 deg C. Butter a 9-inch springform fluted tart pan. Process the biscuits, sugar, butter and salt in a food processor. Press the mixture into the tart pan, covering the bottom of the pan and up the sides as evenly as you can muster. Bake for 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Leave the oven on.

For the filling:-
2 large eggs, separated
200 mls condensed milk
1/2 cup lime juice
1/8 cup fine sugar

For the lime custard, beat the egg yolks and condensed milk with a hand mixer in a large bowl until the mixture is smooth and silky. No lumps. Beat in the lime juice. Pour this mixture into the crust and bake at the same 160 deg C for 15 - 20 minutes.

For the meringue, put the egg whites and sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Take the saucepan off the heat, beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold stiff peaks.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and broil the pie until the top of the meringue is golden brown. Return the pie to the freezer for another 20 minutes or up to 3 hours before serving.

Ours, soon

We finally settled on a place. Now we're in the not-so-fun phase - going through the motions compulsory when buying property (lawyers, bankers, a lot of signing), forking out the initial outlay, squabbling about how we want to do up the place.

I have fallen in love with this place - I love the big open concept (the living, dining and open kitchen are all essentially one big open space - so good for airflow and the place looks huge and modern. It also comes with a little patch of green in front of the living room, and I am thankful for that (so many of the other houses we saw had the green tiled up to make way for additional parking).

Dining and dry kitchen, as seen from the living room

The front door, little foyer and staircase

Living spaces as seem from the dry kitchen

Wet kitchen

Living room

Peanut biscotti

Bet you thought I was done with peanuts by now. Not so.

I have been skimping on breakfasts this past week - up to the point where gastritis would kick in neatly at around 11 am. So this week I adapted an almond version from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, and made these relatively low fat cookies - biscotti, subbing some peanut butter for the butter and peanuts for the almonds, for a nice (cheap) dose of protein and fibre. I plan to pack these to work, for dunking in my morning coffees to come.

Downtime

A weekend of catching up on sleep, housework and cooking. We haven't gone on a proper vacation this year, what with AK's new assignment, my impending move, buying a place of our own (and all the stress and expenses that come with it). I have been going over our old vacation photos, and realise how much I miss those relaxing days in Phuket, Chiangmai and Bali. Anyway, here are a few little things that helped me unwind:
1) Burning my British India citronella candle while reading under my night light, tucked into freshly laundered sheets
2) Tea for one - a slice of home made key lime pie (made with ordinary local limes, recipe soon), a piece of homemade peanut biscotti, coffee. Reading Harumi Murakami's Norwegian Wood, while the rain patters outside.
3) Cuddle time with Boo Boo (whether he likes it or not)

4) Trading design ideas with AK for our new place (rendering by him, I mostly send him photos of stuff I like)