Strawberry fields for ever...

I have just been watching Gardener's World from the Malvern Flower show. I love these shows, they are just so inspirational, it is a shame we do not have anything like it in this country. It was really windy there, everything was just blowing about, it is much the same here at the moment, it feels decidedly autumnal. The weather has been funny this week, it feels like this year will be the same as the last two years, where summer happened over April and that was it. Ah well, it can not be helped and it all has its charm.
I have had a nice couple of days really. Wednesday morning after the job interview I decided to go on to Utrecht on the bus as I was already halfway there. Now that did actually take a long time, which is a drawback about travelling on the buses. You see a lot of places though that you would normally never see and it is actually quite a pretty drive, so I did enjoy it. I had been planning to take the train to Rotterdam from Utrecht as there is an exhibition of Robert Frank's photographs there, but as it was already later than I wanted it to be, I decided to go to Amsterdam instead, which is nearer, and anyway, I could probably just make that train...or not. The next one came along 15 minutes later, so that was not too long a wait. It was quite crowded, so I had to share a bench with someone. I was looking at a few ladies thinking how much they reminded me of my best friend as I was sitting down. I looked at someone else, and slowly it dawned on me that I was looking at my best friend. She had to work in Amsterdam that day, so that was a real surprise. As she only had to work till 2, we met up afterwards, then had a nice lunch in the park and walked to the Jewish museum to watch an exhibition about Morocco.
This was a real eye opener, it was an exhibition by two different photographers, one ( a Jewish Moroccan) who took pictures in the 1950's and a Dutch photographer who took pictures in the last few years. It was fascinating, particularly the story behind it all, as for several centuries Jews and Moroccans had been living peacefully together, helping each other out in very many different ways. This peaceful co-existence only became disturbed under the influence of Europeans. This does make me wonder sometimes. Anyhow, this is not a show I would have gone to, but she wanted to and I am glad I did go too. This only goes to show how valuable friends and friendships are.
Yesterday I met up with a former colleague, she is Australian and moved back home 3 years ago. She was over here for two weeks and we had a quick coffee and catch up. She had a son last year and it was about time I met him. I managed to knit him a cute sailor's jumper and a very colourful dog, which he loved. Unfortunately I did not take my camera, so no pictures...you have to take my word for it that he is the cutest thing...

The other day I was reading something about strawberry lemonade. Now as soon as I see the word strawberry I start drooling. I really think they are the best things on earth, although I will tell you this about raspberries and blueberries and cherries as well...OK. I am a bit fickle, but it is fun. I will eat strawberries morning, noon and night given half the chance, but I had never before heard about strawberry lemonade. I had to make it. I hunted round a bit for a recipe, and soon figured out that it had to be something North American. Sure enough, Martha Stewart (again) came up with the answer.

Strawberry lemonade (serves 2)

1 pint strawberries
8 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons superfine sugar
8 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Seltzer water

Puree strawberries and 2 teaspoons of sugar in a blender. Set out two glasses and spoon out 3 tablespoons of the resulting strawberry puree, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 4 tablespoons of lemon juice in each one. Stir the lemonade and add ice. Top up the glasses with Seltzer water.

Really the easiest thing ever. I cheated a bit though, as my blender would not puree the straw berries as there was no liquid in the beaker. That could mean that I have an inferior blender, or that I put too many strawberries (there is no such thing...) in there, as I have no real clue as to how much a pint of strawberries is. I was too lazy to look it up, so I used 500 grams which I took it to mean. I also just added the 2 teaspoons of sugar, as I thought that was all it needed, but that could just be me... However, I really loved it.

As I was feeling a bit blah today I decided to do some baking as well, and this is the result. Now these I like tremendously!

Rhubarb/ Strawberry Crumb bars

For the Streusel:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus room temperature butter for the pan
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus extra for the pan
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the cake:
1/2 pound rhubarb (cut into 1/2 inch pieces) and strawberries (quartered)
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line with parchment paper, leaving a 2 inch overhang on 2 sides. Butter and flour parchment, tapping out excess flour.
2 Make streusel: Whisk toghther butter, brown sugar and salt. Add flour and mix with a fork until large crumbs form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
3 Make cakeL In a medium bowl, combine the fruit (rhubarb and strawberries), brown sugar and a 1/4 cup of the flour. In another medium bowl whisk 3/4 cup of flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and confectioner's sugar until light and fluffy, beat in eggs, one at a time. With mixer on low, beat in vanilla, then flour mixture. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with the fruit and top with the streusel.
4 Bake cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs attached, 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Using paper overhang lift cake from the pan. Cut into 16 bars,

Tomorrow I am meeting another former colleague and we are taking a road trip to the eastern part of this country. I am really looking forward to this as I have not seen her for a while and I really love that part of our country.

Enjoy a sunny weekend!