A Wisco girl, some things I grew up with seem so alien to California. Like lilacs, pussy willows, maple syrup and rhubarb. I grew up noshing on long lengths of the ruby stalks each early summer. Out back behind the pool, after raiding all the sweet peas in the garden we'd strip the stalks of their poisonous leaves and dip them into the red-stained sticky sugar bowl.

Needing a seasonal touchstone from my past, I reveled in finding rhubarb here in the market and cooked a passle up with a pound of frozen strawberries we'd picked last summer.

A scraping of tangerine peel, a dash of rose and voila...the most delectable adult baby food ever.

Imagine such fantastic tartly sweetness magnified times ten rendered into an utterly beguiling compote.


Add vanilla ice cream and you've found my sweet dessert spot.