For the Lovers: Meyer Lemon & Lavender Polenta Cake

"Love is a fire.  But whether it is going to warm your hearth or burn down your house,

  you never can tell."  ~ Joan Crawford

 

Oh, that Joan.  But isn't it the truth?  When we fall in love we never know how it's going to turn out.  Perhaps it will only last 5 days, or if we're one of the lucky ones, 50 years.  All those butterflies and gushy smiles at the beginning often end with painful wails on the bathroom floor.  Not speaking from experience or anything.  But that's the chance you take when you enter into a new relationship - it can go either way - but the main thing is you want to take that chance.  You need to take that chance.  For a life without risk isn't a life worth living.  Maybe you'll have a fantastic few days together and never see their face again, or maybe you'll have heaps of grand kids who come over every Sunday and bake cookies with you.  That's the thing about life.  You just never know.  So for all of you out there taking another chance on love, this one is for you. 

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberry-Lavender Compote

My mom taught me lots of cool things.  Like how to make a mean chocolate chip cookie.  How to plant a garden.  How to drive.  How to persevere.  How to not be afraid of the dark.  How to not take any crap,  from anyone.  How to keep it all together when the world is seemingly spinning out of control.  Mom is one tough cookie, and she had to be, raising four small kids all by herself.  After my dad's sudden death she managed to somehow not lose her mind, and in the end put forth unto the world four strong, smart, kind and good human beings.  My mom is my hero and honestly most days I don't know what I would do without her.  And if you ask my siblings they'll tell you the exact same thing.  Even when she drives me crazy (she's a mom - she's supposed to) my love for her is endless and my heart grateful for all of those times she dried my tears and cheered me on and watched me grow up into the woman I am today.  My love of good food is all her fault too because she let me dig up potatoes, pick the strawberries, eat the cookie dough, stir the pot and lick the beaters, and without those early culinary experiences I wouldn't be the cook I am today.  I learned it all from her. 

Rhubarb Fool with Lavender Cream & Pistachios

I do this thing every year, every day, at this point in Spring - a walkabout around the yard.  I poke at perennials to see if they are still alive - most are but for some wild and crazy reason some don't make it.  (I lost Lamb's Ear and Globe Thistle and Purple Coneflower this year - what the hell?!).  If I were more organized and more nerdy I'd totally make a journal with drawings so I can remember where the hell I planted what, because I'm getting old and the short term memory is just not there anymore, though I can tell you who won the Stanley Cup in 1990 and what year Shakespeare in Love won the Best Picture Oscar.  If you're curious, keep on reading.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, garden nerd talk.  So in this walkabout around the yard, I'm always excited to go back to the veg patch - there is no action there yet - it's just a sad heap of wet, rotten leaves covering dirt until the Rototiller Man can come and work it up for me.  But there in the corner, thriving away in all of its big leafy business in my old friend Rhubarb - or the Barb as I lovingly call it.