Jac, you've touched on a subject near and dear to my heart. I have grown to love cooking, and I agree, using good ingredients to begin with makes a big difference. I find it very sad that so many people eat out of boxes and such. I used to, and still do sometimes, but for the most part it's just not necessary. For example, take pasta. I used to make those pasta dishes that you buy in a box with the seasoning package. Basically with those boxes you bring water to a boil, you throw the stuff in the box into the water, and it's done. That was never enough for me; I'd chop up some spinach, onions, and garlic, and add them to the pasta. Then I got to wondering, why am I doing this? I can get a package of pasta, boil it, do the same thing with the onions, garlic and spinach, add some olive oil, salt and pepper, grate some parmesan cheese, and wallah, a much better tasting meal in the same amount of time with the same amount of effort, and much healthier. So much of the packaged foods are not much easier to make and taste so much worse than real food. I have to admit that I've tried not to nag my dil and son about anything during their time together, but I did find myself doing just that about their nutrition and cooking. Since she's expecting now, I thought I'd point out that they really need to start cooking more and eating out less, both for their budget and for their nutrition. I've got a long way to go to convince them that cooking real food will make a big difference in their health and their budget, but I'm working on them. Did I say you hit one of my buttons, Jac? I'm going to copy that recipe, thanks for posting it. Sally

Another tradition says it is a corruption of the word "cheese" as in similar to lemon curd? And I'm in the camp that adds a tablespoon of cornmeal to my lemon chess pie filling. It adds a sort of grittiness to the texture which is a good thing in this case.

I use the frozen crusts because I am crust-challenged, and I just follow the instructions on the package. I guess that's unbaked.

Well, now, Miss G . . . the tables have turned: I've never tasted buttermilk pie! I'll be sure to try your mother's recipe; I'm sure it's delicious :) A few weeks ago, I made some fried green tomatoes and brought them up to a dear elderly lady, who I knew loved them. She raved on and on about them and asked about the cornmeal . . . and how I got them so crunchy. I told her it was an authentic Southern recipe/technique that I learned from YOU!