We called her Aunt Ni because everybody did. Mary Harwood Caldwell was married to Millard Fillmore Caldwell (Big Mill). He was the governor of Florida from 1945-1949 but more importantly they were our neighbors on Bellac Road, where I grew up.
Big Mill owned nearly 1000 acres of property obtained by buying tax deeds on the Harwood Plantation and portions of the defunct Tallahassee Pecan Company plantation (“Talpeco”). [He] sold several parcels in this narrow piece of land to select purchasers and created a private neighborhood with a single private road, which my mother named “Bellac,” a French contraction for beautiful lake (belle lac). –from The Story of Me, by Rick Parker
As a kid I used to love playing on Big Mill’s property… they had all the outbuildings of a real plantation, there were all sorts of things to explore inside the house, and they had a kumquat tree, and the kumquats were easily picked when one was riding on one’s horse. In the later days when my mother was really pursuing watercolor painting she made a number of lovely paintings of the barns that remained on the property even after the house was moved to the FSU law school.
As was the custom of the time, the various wives of the neighborhood would deliver cakes and pies to each other for any number of occasions… a birthday, a holiday, an excuse to share a cup of tea… and Aunt Ni would always bring lemon pie. My mother got the recipe from her and would always make it for Thanksgiving. My sister in particular loved it. “The tartness, the way it gets a crunchy crust on top of the custardy layer, the thinness.” Recently I learned of the passing of Big Mill’s daughter Susan and decided I should pull out this recipe and make a pie in her honor.
1 partly baked pie crust, cooled
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon milk
5 tablespoons lemon juice (the real deal, from your lemon tree in your yard is preferable. ha!)
2 eggs, separated (preferably from the coop in your back yard. ha ha!)
Combine lemon juice, egg yolks, sugar, and milk.
In a separate bowl (*grease free and not plastic… which is to say metal or ceramic is best…) beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into other mixture, pour into pie shell and bake in 350 degree oven about 30 minutes until set and lightly brown.
*
“Egg whites will not set properly when beaten if there is the slightest bit of yolk in them or if the bowl or beaters are slightly greasy or if a plastic bowl is used. For greatest volume bring egg whites to room temperature (get them out of the fridge one hour ahead of time.) -TM