Day Sixty-Four: A Care Package
The best part of today was receiving a care package from my amazing mother. It contained many odds and ends, as her packages always do: edamame snacks, markers and chalk for the kids, chocolate, a necklace, a lump of clay, drawings, a butter dish (I had asked if she had any spares, as I didn't have one), and most importantly: my annual rhubarb delivery. I mentioned weeks ago that I had planted rhubarb but have struggled to grow it for years here in the hot south. I know it's possible, but I've never managed it myself. There's one farmer at the Fayetteville Farmer's Market that sells it, so, I know it's possible. I just haven't found the right combination of conditions to pull it off myself, yet. I'm still trying.
In any case, to tide me over until that time, my amazing mother has taken to mailing me a big bundle of rhubarb through the blessed United States Postal Service each year. She has also brought rhubarb with her in her luggage on spring visits, much to the puzzlement of TSA. Between these two rhubarb delivery systems, my dear mother makes it possible for me to have, once a year, a juicy, sweet, tangy strawberry rhubarb cobbler.
This year was extra special, because for the first time, we grew enough of our own strawberries to use those in the cobbler! It was perfect timing. I hesitated to use them, because we have regular grocery store frozen strawberries on hand and the fresh ones would be so yummy just fresh, but somehow I thought this cobbler would have some kind of extra special kitchen magic if I used the best of the best.
The kids and I had assembled cheese pupusas for dinner, along with roasted cabbage and red onion (roasted onions are so good I don't know why I make them more often), and some ground beef (from our farm) seasoned with cumin and smoked paprika. I had Jeremy fry up the pupusas so I could whip together the cobbler and have it ready in time for dessert. I chopped the rhubarb, the kids cut up the strawberries, and I tossed it together with a sinful amount of sugar, a splash of flour to thicken the juices, and dobs of butter. Then I threw together the cobbler topping, a simple drop-biscuit batter. I poured the fruit into a glass baking dish, then plopped the batter on top, then popped it in the oven. Soon the house was filling with the smell, the glorious, pungent smell of rhubarb. I love baking it in a glass dish so I can see the fruit bubbling away under the topping.
It was glorious. The sinful amount of sugar I used turned out to be exactly the right amount. The fruit melded together in perfect balance. The cobbler topping was light, moist, and buttery. I ate it slowly so I could soak in every particle of rhubarb flavor. Taiya loves rhubarb cobbler as much as I do. William said after one bite, "Actually, Mama, could I just have ice cream?" Jeremy polished off William's rejected bowl. William and I decided we would make a blueberry strawberry cobbler next, and that he would like that much better. I'm happy to experiment with cobbler recipes all day long. But rhubarb will never be topped, in my book. Here's hoping the two rhubarb plants I have growing in my garden now (and haven't killed yet) survive long enough to allow me to enjoy maybe two cobblers a year.
Below are photos of the beauty of the cobbler process. Enjoy. And then go make a cobbler.
In any case, to tide me over until that time, my amazing mother has taken to mailing me a big bundle of rhubarb through the blessed United States Postal Service each year. She has also brought rhubarb with her in her luggage on spring visits, much to the puzzlement of TSA. Between these two rhubarb delivery systems, my dear mother makes it possible for me to have, once a year, a juicy, sweet, tangy strawberry rhubarb cobbler.
This year was extra special, because for the first time, we grew enough of our own strawberries to use those in the cobbler! It was perfect timing. I hesitated to use them, because we have regular grocery store frozen strawberries on hand and the fresh ones would be so yummy just fresh, but somehow I thought this cobbler would have some kind of extra special kitchen magic if I used the best of the best.
The kids and I had assembled cheese pupusas for dinner, along with roasted cabbage and red onion (roasted onions are so good I don't know why I make them more often), and some ground beef (from our farm) seasoned with cumin and smoked paprika. I had Jeremy fry up the pupusas so I could whip together the cobbler and have it ready in time for dessert. I chopped the rhubarb, the kids cut up the strawberries, and I tossed it together with a sinful amount of sugar, a splash of flour to thicken the juices, and dobs of butter. Then I threw together the cobbler topping, a simple drop-biscuit batter. I poured the fruit into a glass baking dish, then plopped the batter on top, then popped it in the oven. Soon the house was filling with the smell, the glorious, pungent smell of rhubarb. I love baking it in a glass dish so I can see the fruit bubbling away under the topping.
It was glorious. The sinful amount of sugar I used turned out to be exactly the right amount. The fruit melded together in perfect balance. The cobbler topping was light, moist, and buttery. I ate it slowly so I could soak in every particle of rhubarb flavor. Taiya loves rhubarb cobbler as much as I do. William said after one bite, "Actually, Mama, could I just have ice cream?" Jeremy polished off William's rejected bowl. William and I decided we would make a blueberry strawberry cobbler next, and that he would like that much better. I'm happy to experiment with cobbler recipes all day long. But rhubarb will never be topped, in my book. Here's hoping the two rhubarb plants I have growing in my garden now (and haven't killed yet) survive long enough to allow me to enjoy maybe two cobblers a year.
Below are photos of the beauty of the cobbler process. Enjoy. And then go make a cobbler.
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