Hi there,

We moved into our home in Haddonfield in 1979. It was a cold, snowy, winter day in January. But we didn’t care, we were over the moon happy to be able to make this sad, neglected house our home.

We couldn’t even afford professional movers. But, our band of friends all came to our aid with a fleet of cars and rented trucks and quickly got “the owl and the pussycat” settled into our beautiful pea green house.

As we were taking a lunch break that afternoon, two adorable young girls rang our doorbell. They introduced themselves as Becky and Kathy Malcarney. They brought over a homemade cake and welcomed us to the neighborhood. With as much sophistication as they could muster, the girls informed me that they would make excellent babysitters. Then, they quickly returned to childhood, and asked if they and their brothers could continue to roll down the hill on our front yard.

This is the Malcarney bunch and that is our house in the background.

I had the pleasure of watching these adorable young girls become kind, caring, beautiful women. And, as a bonus, Dom and I developed a wonderful friendship with their parents that extends into the present day.

So, the other day I was gifted with a box of rhubarb from Becky hand- delivered by her mother, Kaye. I have never attempted to make anything from rhubarb but decided to give it a try and decided to make rhubarb syrup and invent a rhubarbtini.

Ingredients:

• 3 to 4 lbs of rhubarb cut into approximately 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 vanilla pod split
• 8 cups of water
• honey powder or sugar to garnish the glass

Directions:

1. Wash the rhubarb in cold water, trim the ends, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. (There’s no need to peel them or worry about the fibers, as these simply melt down.)
2. Place the fruit in a 6 to 8-quart pot and add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, immediately reduce the heat to a low simmer, and cover, stirring occasionally. When all the chunks have broken down into a uniform soup — 20 minutes or so — remove it from the heat.
3. Uncover and allow to cool. As soon as it is cool enough to handle, ladle into a fine-mesh strainer over a spouted collecting bowl. (You may have to do this in batches.) The pulp will become a mass, so stirring it in the strainer with a wooden spoon will allow it to drain better.
4. Once it’s drained, put the the syrup into a container and refrigerate immediately.

Rhubarbtini Directions:

In a shaker filled with ice add equal amounts of syrup and vodka. Shake until chilled and pour into a coupe glass that has been rimmed with powdered honey or sugar. Enjoy!

Talk soon, ❤️💕 Bernadette