Drinks

Nice to meet you again

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It’s time friends. It took 9 months of coordination, planning, excessive emailing and general indecisiveness to get to this point, but I’m happy to unveil an updated blog design.

Two years ago I began this blog as a means to share my love of food with a broader audience. Though I put many hours of work into the concept behind the site, selecting the original design took several minutes.

I’d hired a freelancer to help me through some nagging technical and design issues, and he offered a quick solution: buy a pre-made theme. Genius.

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But I had one other suggestion for my friend the programmer: find a theme that hides the photography.

Hide it ….Bury it….Make it invisible.

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Drinks

The weird and wonderful world of strawberry rhubarb

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Rhubarb has been taking center stage in the house this week. First we attempted to eat it as part of our mystery food challenge. Which led to mixed results and a potential case of food poisoning. Fortunately no kids were harmed, but they did learn some important lessons, namely that rhubarb 1) isn’t to be eaten raw, and 2) is effective as a sword when battling with your siblings post-breakfast.

After a few too many instances of needing to wrestle warped rhubarb out of small, maple syrup-sticky hands, I decided that a better fate than bruising and the eventual trash bin, would be to roast it with a sprinkling of vanilla sugar alongside some fresh organic strawberries.

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There is no better pairing, in my mind, than strawberries and rhubarb. The only combination that comes close is Roquefort + baguette + a sip of red wine all sloshed together in one decadent bite. I have my Stepdad and the country of France to thank for that one. I’m not sure to whom I owe my thanks for strawberry rhubarb, but I’m sure that he or she would be pleased at passionate response it’s gotten over the years.

My favorite use is strawberry rhubarb pie, but I generally leave all pie making to the pie experts. I made it once for a dinner party, and it wasn’t a hit. My crust was lackluster, and Rodney was convinced that in general, rhubarb is a weird fruit to make into dessert. “Vegetable”, I corrected him. “Exactly”, he said, reaffirming his point that dessert and vegetables shouldn’t co-exist.

I disagreed, but regardless, soggy crusts don’t have a place at my table. So I make jam.

I’ve admitted to the fact that I’m scared of making jams and other foods that are have long shelf lives, but throwing some fruit into an oven with some sugar, letting it roast in its own juices and calling it jam? That I can handle. The maximum time it spends in the fridge is a week because we eat it as soon as we make it. No pectin, no boiling of sealed jars. It’s a win win for everyone.

Roasted strawberry rhubarb has so many applications. Don’t get me started with Greek yogurt. I’ll stir it into the yogurt as is… 

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100 new foods

Rhubarb

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We generally like to try things raw around here, but once in a while we encounter something that’s actually poisonous to eat in its raw state. I’ve since learned that only a rhubarb’s leaves are poisonous, not the stalk. But any talk of poison, leaves or otherwise, is bound to send kids running in the other direction. My solution was to make the rhubarb into jam, which didn’t fix the underlying issue: rhubarb, sadly, wasn’t a hit.

ME: Ok guys.  What is this mystery food?

SAM: Jelly.

ME: Well it kind of looks like jelly.  You know what?  The reason why we’re eating jam as mystery food today is because in its raw form, rhubarb is is actually poisonous. Sam, You can pass that around (I pass him the rhubarb stalk).

SAM: No, I’m not touching it, it’s poisonous.

ME: No, no.  It’s fine just don’t eat it.  What color is it?

LAUREN: Um, pink.

ME: What does it remind you of, Sam?

LAUREN: I’m scared to touch it.

ME: You don’t have to be scared to touch it.

(Emma takes a huge bite out of the raw stalk.)

ALL OF US TOGETHER: Oh my God Emma, don’t eat it!

(Emma runs from the room crying.)

ME: Oh we scared her, we scared her.  [going after Emma] It’s ok.  Remember you can’t eat it sweetie? Remember that you have to eat the jelly rhubarb, not the raw rhubarb? Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.

LAUREN: That is poisonous.

ME: Yes. Ok, Sam, get your finger out of the jelly.

ME: Oh, poor sweetie.  Remember, it’s poisonous if you eat it raw.  That will make you sick if you eat it raw, it has to be cooked.  Want to come back?  Come on, we want you here with us.

LAUREN:  [whispering to Sam] Ok it’s fine, just eat it.

ME: Ok.  So who’s going to try the jelly?

SAM:  Me, me I want to.

LAUREN: I don’t like it.

ME: Huh?

LAUREN: Don’t like it.

ME: Here, you try it, SAM.  There you go.

SAM: I want jelly.

ME: This is it.

SAM: That’s jelly?
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