RTT: Rhubarb, Taxi Driver and Crone

Oh helloooo! Is it Tuesday already? Really? This three day weekend thing always confuses me.

I hope everybody had a lovely and relaxing Memorial Day. We had originally planned on going to some friends' annual beach party, but their daughter's softball team made it to the finals, so the whole thing was cancelled (go Marley!). I really thought that we'd end up just hanging out at home watching tv, but luckily, our friends Brian and Laura and their kids came over and we ended up having a really fun, impromptu burger and beer fest.

In fact, I made the first Mojitos of the season, and I may have had one or two. Or three. So if this is slightly rambling and incomprehensible, please blame them. But I will persevere.

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I also made this really excellent Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp, which was so summery good that I will share it with you. Well, I will at least share the recipe with you. I would share the actual crisp with you if you were here, but you're not, so...sorry. Mojitos.

Anyway, I never ate rhubarb growing up, maybe it's not a Texan food or something. But I got some of it in my organic produce box last week, and figured I should do something with it, and damn if it didn't turn out great.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

• 4 cups diced rhubarb
• 4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled, and halved, if large
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 cup orange liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier or Cointreau, I must admit that I was out of them, so used Triple Sec)
• 10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• Pinch salt

In a large bowl, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, 3/4 cup of the granulated sugar, orange zest, cornstarch and orange liqueur, and toss to thoroughly combine. Grease a 9 by 13-inch casserole or baking dish with 1 tablespoon of the butter and transfer the fruit mixture to the prepared casserole.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining 9 tablespoons of butter, flour, remaining 1/4 cup of granulated sugar, the brown sugar and salt and cut together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit and bake until the topping is golden brown and crispy and fruit is bubbly in places, about 45 minutes.

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Y'all have to check out this Volkswagen spot that Jimmy did last month. He's been "doing" De Niro for years, he finally got somebody to pay him for it! I think it's kind of brilliant...

 

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I had a tragic moment today. I went to the Home Depot to get a new propane refill for the grill. I had just taken a shower and washed my hair, and hadn't bothered to put on makeup or anything. As I was walking around the Home Depot, a couple of men kind of...looked at me. And I, naturally, assumed that they were checking me out. So I was walking around thinking I was looking pretty cute. But when I got in the car I caught sight of myself in the rearview and gasped in horror. My just washed hair was sticking up every whichaway. And in all seriousness, the word "crone" popped into my head. I guess they were looking at me because I was really rather frightening. Sigh...

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Sad, but true.

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Have y'all ever heard of a woman named Violet Jessop? Jude and I were poking around the internet looking at stuff about the Titanic (one of Jude's obsessions) and came across her name. What an amazing story! This woman was a ships stewardess and nurse who survived the sinking of the Titanic AND the sinking of the Britannic AND the collision of their sister ship the Olympic! I can't decide if this was just the luckiest woman in the world or the unluckiest woman in the world! I can't believe that nobody's ever made a movie about her. Especially because...

...she was gorgeous, right? Jude took one look at her and declared her "hot".

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And speaking of strange and vaguely inappropriate things my child has said...

The other day Jude and I were driving in the car and he suddenly told me "AJ said that Battleship is a really good movie.  He said that almost every scene is about blowing something up. And just so you know for the future, that's a subject which I'm extremely interested in."

I couldn't decide whether to be horrified that my son is extremely interested in blowing up things or gratified by the terribly mature way in which he said it.

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Alright. That's all for now. Go visit Stacy. I'm thinking that one more Mojito wouldn't do me any harm. What do y'all think?

Comments

[Michele]

Jimmy does a pretty good De Niro. Jude sounds just like my oldest did at his age. It made me smile.

[claire]

I saw that teacher/student/parent cartoon circulating last week and it is SO true. I get calls form parents about 18 year old college kids who have the same issue, which is insane!

[Stacy Uncorked]

Have they aired that commercial? I swear I've seen it! He does a great De Niro. :)

And now I'm going to be spending my day clicking on the story of Violet - Princess Nagger's been obsessed with anything Titanic lately, too.

She and Jude would get along famously - the convo with Jude you had? I had a very similar one with PN. ;)

Stifling Heat, Laundry Flood and Twitter Fun

[Arnebya]

One more mojito never hurts. The difference between schools of '69 and today is aggravating to say the least.

[Jan's Sushi Bar]

OMG, look at Jimmy! I just loved it!

Um, that nurse? I would NOT have gotten on a ship with her. Nope.

Oh, and great minds and all that - I have a rhubarb recipe today, too.

[VandyJ]

That commercial is really good. Jimmy's got a great De Niro.
I had heard of Violet Jessup before, but thanks for the reminder.
As to thing coming form small mouths I'm not ready to hear yet, Turbo comes up with those all the stinking time.

[Sprite's Keeper]

I showed the commercial clip to my dad this weekend and he was impressed. (he knows his De Niro...)
:-)
I'm looking the other way on the mojito. Go now.

[Alaina]

I'd LOVE to have some of that rhubarb dessert! I got some a few weeks ago, and I made one awesome pie with it. When researching for recipes, I found out rhubarb is actually a vegetable...craziness, right?

I could go for some mojitos! That sounds like my Sunday except insert glasses of wine instead :-)

[Ginny Marie]

What a great commercial! And he's getting paid...yay!

Jude has just been cracking me up lately! Which is great, because I'm stuck with two girls who will probably NOT like explosions.

Here's my spin for this week!
http://www.lemondroppie.com/2012/05/what-i-love/

[Kendra]

Jude is so funny. He sounds like such a boy!