The Meringue Menace

My mother has been sending us a bunch of recipes of late. We've tried a couple and they are good. Well, being the dessert lover that I am, I asked her to send the recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie. I love that stuff! So, we bought the ingredients needed to make it and I decide to make one this morning. I get all the stuff out and Sarah teaches me how to separate an egg. (I'm very teachable in the kitchen) I put together the pie innards and get it in the pie shell. Now, it's time to make the meringue. The instructions say to "beat egg whites and 6 tbs sugar until stiff peaks form." What it should have said was, "beat the livin' hell out of the egg whites and 6 tbs sugar until your arm falls off. Then, beat it some more and then maybe...if you're lucky...it will get stiff." If I knew making meringue was that hard, I would have made a chocolate cake. So, I finally get the meringue whipped into a frenzied stiffness. (I threatened to add Viagra to the recipe if it had taken longer) Now the instructions say, " Bake at 250 degrees until brown. It doesn't take long." Okay...oven at 250...pie goes in. Tick-tock...30 minutes go by and the stuff still ain't brown. All the heat did was make the meringue go flat. The pie tastes okay but there's definitely something wrong. I will be consulting with my mom on that next time we talk on the phone. Maybe it does need some Viagra.