rhurbarb crisp!

What a day...I presented at lab meeting (which means working my way through stupid stupid organic chemistry questions that I cannot remember for the life of me! ...a psa for those that end up in the labs of PIs who did chemistry for their PhD...review your basic organic chemistry notes before every presentation you give. I'm pretty sure I've had one question every single time I've presented that involved the phrase "nucleophilic attack." Ugh)

Also, remember those awesome jokes that you'd play on people by putting something on top of a door and when someone would open the door, things would fall on them? Yeah---a stack of ice buckets fell right into my face. Bent my glasses, even. Yowch.

Now---to get to rhubarb. It's mah favorite.

Rhubarb Crunch

Originally from my grandma

Ingredients

4 cups diced rhubarb

----Topping

1 cup flour

¾ cup uncooked oatmeal

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup melted butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

----Center

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons cornstarch or other thickener

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2. Mix together topping ingredients and press half into a 9x9x2 pan.

3. Cover with diced rhubarb.

4. In a frying pan combine center ingredients and stir until thick and almost clear.

5. Pour over rhubarb and top with the other half of the topping. Bake 1 hour.

If you like really tart rhubarb things, this isn't for you...although I'm sure you could reduce the sugar content if you'd like. Unlike, say, strawberry pie, where you can taste the filling and add more sugar if you need it, I would highly recommend against eating raw rhubarb (while the levels of oxalic acid may be low enough to stomach, I wouldn't risk it. And I'm a raw-cookie-dough-eating risk-taker. So yes. Don't eat the rhubarb).

All right--time for bed. The flan for tomorrow's Mexican food documentary night is out of the oven (I think we're watching either Blazing Saddles or The Magnificent Seven, both ...uh...documentaries?) The dishes are done. And I? I am ready to sleep.