Rhubarb!



 A very good thing happened to me today. I went to a friend's house, and when I got there I noticed a large and abundant rhubarb patch near the driveway. I complimented my friend on her rhubarb and she said, "take what you want!". Wow!

In Port Robinson we had a fantastic across-the-road neighbour who had a very large rhubarb patch. Every year he would coax us to come and pick rhubarb. But we didn't need much coaxing! We got spoiled with his rhubarb and had many tasty desserts with it in the spring, and then in the winter we enjoyed pulling it out of the freezer. In fact, last year, as a parting gift he brought a box of rhubarb over as we were loading the moving van. I froze it (because in the chaos of the move I had no time to deal with it!) and we enjoyed Mr. Ryan's Rhubarb through the winter, always with nostalgic feelings.

This spring I was resigned - no rhubarb. I did see some in Sobeys, and had some sticker-shock. No way was I paying that for rhubarb! Grandma has planted some at their new house, but it's the first year so you can't harvest it yet.

So what a joy to find another source! My friend's daughter even picked it for me and loaded it into the car. I came home and told Tim I had a surprise in the trunk. He was delighted to see the stalks and immediately asked, "rhubarb crisp?". While I made the supper, he made a rhubarb crisp - and let me tell you, it was pretty tasty!

It's a taste that says spring - whether you're eating it in the midst of verdant green or just remembering. It's little things like finding a rhubarb patch to raid that let me know we're really settling in here!