Happy Saturday!

The rowing club, Florence

evoking childhood

When I think about rhubarb, I remember myself as a little girl playing  in the old garden of my Great-grandmother. There was a huge cherry tree, strawberry plants lined up neatly, oldfashioned shrubs and a few rhubarb plants with their red stems and dark green leaves standing near the fence. I used to take water from the standpipe and fill it into sand moulds together with mud, grass and ripped off leaves. So I "cooked"  for the wild rabbits. Sometimes I took one of the big rhubarb leaves as  tray to offer some appetizing flowers as well. And, to my surprise, every morning the rabbits had eaten their meal without leaving any leftovers...

Unfortunately I never appreciated the very special acidity of rhubarb. Even now, when I only think of it I feel like shrinking inside ... The only way I always loved rhubarb was when it has been transformed into mere taste in the form of syrup.
Delicious to flavour fresh strawberries, icecream and even cocktails.

Recently I stumbled upon a very simple recipe in one of my favourite Blogs eatmakeread.

Rhubarb Syrup

Combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water over low heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, add 1 cup chopped rhubarb and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain out rhubarb and you've got yourself rhubarb syrup.

Enjoy!

#4 Negroni

Eighty-year-old Grandma arrived to celebrate Easter with us. Knowing she loves the bittersweet taste of Campari and and its beneficial effects on the digestive system, we decided to mix a Negroni to welcome her. I admit we felt a bit worried the high content of alcohol could harm her (dizziness, sudden tachycardia, sleeplessness...). Instead she enjoyed it a lot, slept perfectly well and asked for repetition tonight...

The original Negroni was invented in Florence, in 1919, at Caffe Casoni, now Caffe Giacosa. Count Camillo Negroni invented it by asking the bartender, Fosco Scarselli, to strengthen his favourite cocktail, the Americano, by adding gin rather than the normal soda water.

How to mix it:

2 cl Vermouth rosso
2 cl Campari
2 cl Gin

Serve on the rocks, poured over ice. Enjoy!

Happy Easter, happy holidays and happy spring!

Gründonnerstag - the day we traditionally eat something green

Easter is coming

Did you know the German tradition of hanging coloured eggs into the trees during Easter time? Originally, I suppose, it must have been an East German tradition, because I don't remember it from my childhood in West Germany.  In the meantime (and after more than 20 years of German Unity) there is no difference anymore. The egg trees have quickly conquered the whole country !