Celebrate A Spring Harvest

Some men see things as they are and ask why.

Others dream things that never were

and ask why not.

by George Bernard Shaw

All my years of accumulated knowledge and schooling seemed to have taken a bit of a hit recently when I read the list of some of the words given out towards the end of the 84th Scripps National Spelling Bee! Some words I had not even heard let alone know how to spell correctly. Certainly it was a hairy finish for the winner Sukanya Roy, a 14 year old who spelled "cymotrichous" correctly to win. In case this word is not in your repertoire: cymotrichous is an adjective used to describe something having wavy hair. How about weltschmerz and pavonazzo? These were the words missed by the last two contestants.

Akeelah and the Bee, a 2006 movie, is about an 11 year old girl Akeelah who has an amazing talent for memorizing and spelling words. Her environment and lack of family support threatens her quest for success. Realizing that Akeelah has a rare talent, her principal steps in and provides her with a coach. The movie gives a lot of interesting background to the Scripps Spelling Bee. It was impressive watching the diligence these contestants display as they put in daily long hours of practice trying to reach their goal of winning.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:

• pie crust (I have used Pappy's -frozen pie dough thawed with a lot of success-use two dough circles for bottom crust rolled thin and 2 dough circles for top crust-there will be some excess-I have found one circle for each crust is not enough )
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 3 TB. tapioca
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2- 1/2 cups finely chopped rhubarb
• 3 cups of diced strawberries

Directions:

• Mix all ingredients except pie crust
• Let ingredients sit in a bowl for about 20 minutes
• Drain juices out of mixture using a slotted spoon and spoon fruit mixture into bottom crust
• Dot with 1/2 tsp. butter place on fruit
• Top with crust
• Mix a little cinnamon and sugar together
• Brush top crust lightly with milk-if get too much milk dab with paper towel
• Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture on top and make 5 slits on top as vent
• Crimp strips of foil around outside edge of crust to prevent over browning
• Bake 400 @ 35-40 minutes till filling is bubbling through crust vents
• Let pie cool 2 hours to set will be easier to cut (only if you can wait that long!)
• additional note...I found a metal pie pan for this recipe works better than a glass one