Thoughts from Friends: Regina Drucker

This beautiful message comes to us from our long time member, Regina Drucker.

"Somewhere beyond right and wrong, there is a garden, I will meet you there."

Words so prescient by the Sufi Poet, Rumi, wrote these words in the 13th century. Rumi writes that Love, Truth and Beauty dwell in a Garden. Precious water nourishes the Flower in its celebration of the most reverent color in Persian lore, Green. This explains the devotional myth for the carved Mughal Emerald gemstone. Gardens bring Calm to those who wander through Paradise's pathways.

Can we use this proverb every day? Yes, it is meant to begin the destruction of Hate, which leads to War whether by an Individual towards another or Nation to Nation. We must wander through our Hearts, where our Garden dwells, and pluck those weeds which can overgrow and kill Beauty. There is NO beauty in Hate, only decay and delusion. We must reach out to others every day, even to strangers -- a smile to an elderly person walking on the street, for many were once beautiful in youth, now opaque in the Oblivion of Ageism. You can offer a hand to a young person who is downtrodden, wandering on the street with a lack of Self Esteem and a Loss of Hope, for they as well, are someone's child, now lost in feeling alone, unloved, unnoticed.

The words, "Somewhere beyond right and wrong, there is a garden, I will meet you there," were written on a notecard to Princess Diana, laid in front of Kensington Palace atop the pile of flowers...by her last real love, the Heart Surgeon, Hasnat Khan. He tells her he will meet her one day in the Garden of Paradise where all that is unattainable on Earth, is reality manifest.

Today's delicious recipe for rhubarb pie comes to us from our Friends Historian, Marcella Ruble. Be sure to notice the crust shaped into a lovely rose.

Fresh Rhubarb Pie

Fresh Rhubarb filling recipe:

• 4 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

Preheat oven 450 degrees.

1. Combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of it over the bottom layer of pastry in pie plate.
2. Heap rhubarb over this mixture. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and flour.
3. Dot with small pieces of butter. Cover with top crust.
4. Place pie on the lowest rack in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes.
5. Turn down to 350 degrees and continue to bake for another 40-45 minutes.

I make one that is a Pate Brisee Pie pastry double crust recipe:

• 8 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, chopped in little pieces
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Enough ice water to hold crust together - approximately 1/4 cup

Instructions:

1. Combine the flour and salt. Add the butter using fingers or two forks until the dough is pea size. Do not over mix.
2. Add ice water a little at a time, and quickly mix together with fingers until the mixture holds together.
3. Cut into two parts, and chill for 1 hour up to 24 hours before rolling out on a floured board for double crust.

Below are photos of Leslie Kavanaugh's beautiful garden.