Ah, the classic combination of strawberry and rhubarb. As you may know, I got a whole lot of rhubarb and 2 quarts of strawberries and I didn’t want them to sit around until the next week, when I would likely be getting more of them, so I had to use them up.


I wasn’t feeling too original nor was I in the mood to think, so I whipped up my standard galette/crostata dough and mixed up the rhubarb and strawberries with sugar and cornstarch. But, of course, not one to be content with simplicity, I added some floral notes, courtesy of dried lavender buds in the crust and rosewater in the filling. I’ve seen rhubarb-lavender desserts, and strawberries and rosewater is fairly common, so I figured I’d incorporate both flavors to play off the sweet-tart strawberry-rhubarb action. Nothing earth-shattering, but a little unexpected twist to the classic combination.

Today is 3.14 and that means that today is Pi Day! Yes, my recognition of this makes me a nerd, but this is something I have known for a long time and I fully embrace it.

Earlier in the week, my friend Meg and I made plans for Saturday: watching a few episodes of “The Wire” so that I can get caught up before season 5 stars up in January, and baking. I had completely forgotten about the latter half of the plan until she reminded me on Saturday morning while we were running errands. She suggested an apple pie, which I couldn’t bring myself to bake given that it was sunny and 95 degrees outside – definitely not autumn weather. Apple pie turned into peach pie at my suggestion, but Meg wanted Peach Melba, and so the Peach Melba Pie was born.

A galette is a simple, rustic, single-crust fruit pie. Because it is so simple, its success lies entirely in the details, namely, the freshness of the fruit and the quality of the crust. Homemade pie crust is not only deliciously tender and flaky, but it’s quite easy to make – it requires minimal skill and takes about 15 minutes at most. Sure, your first few attempts might not come out great, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll never go back to store-bought.