Joshua's Birthday Celebrations

Joshua's birthday was Friday and we had four days of celebrating. Thursday evening we had a nice dinner together at home. We headed up to Modesto Friday and had dinner at an Italian restaurant with his parents. On Saturday, we had birthday dinner with his parents, Joy, Lamar, and Solace. I got rhubarb back in May when it was in season and froze it so we could have rhubarb pie for Joshua's birthday. But I didn't tell him that's what I had planned, so it was quite the surprise. I used a recipe from Pie, the pie cookbook that Isaac and Heather gave me a number of years ago. This was recipe number thirteen.

 All-Rhubarb Pie

1 double pie crust

5 cups fresh rhubarb stalks sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick

1 1/4 cups plus 2 T sugar

2 T orange juice

Grated zest of 1/2 orange

Big pinch of salt

1/4 t ground nutmeg

3 T cornstarch

2 T cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Milk or light cream

Sugar

On a sheet of lightly floured waxed paper, roll the larger portion of pie crust into a 12-inch circle with a floured rolling pin. Invert the pastry over a 9-inch standard pie pan, center, and peel off the paper. Gently tuck the pastry into the pan, without stretching it, and let the overhang drape over the edge. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Combine the rhubarb, 1 1/4 cups of the sugar, orange juice, orange zest, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Mix well, then set aside for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the remaining 2 T sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl, then stir the mixture into the rhubarb. Turn the filling into the chilled pie shell and smooth the top of the fruit with your hands. Dot the filling with butter.

Roll the other half of the pastry into a 10-inch circle on a sheet of lightly floured waxed paper. Moisten the outer edge of the pie shell with a pastry brush. Invert the top pastry over the filling, center, and peel off the paper. Press the top and bottom pastries together along the damped edge. Using a pair of scissors, trim the pastry to an even 1/2-inch overhang all around. Turn the pastry back and under, sculpting the edge into an outstanding ridge. Poke several steam vents in the top of the pie with a fork or paring knife, including a couple along the edge so you can check the juices there later. To glaze the pie, brush the top pastry with a little milk and sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Place the pie on the center oven rack and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and rotate the pie 180 degrees, so that the part that faced the back of the oven now faces forward. Just in case, slide a large aluminum foil lined baking sheet onto the rack below to catch any spills. Continue to bake until pie is golden brown, about 25 minutes. When done, you should notice thick juices bubbling out of the steam vents along the edge.

Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 3 hours, preferably longer, before serving.

 Saturday afternoon, I spent some time in the sunny backyard.

Here is our birthday feast; we had steak, mushrooms, spinach salad, fries, and baked potatoes. The rhubarb pie for dessert turned out great and Joshua was so surprised and excited.

On Sunday we had our fourth and final birthday dinner, this time with my family. It was the Nickells' week to make dinner and they did sushi rolls.

We got to help with making the rolls. We ended up with ten different rolls, plus chicken and rice bowls for those who didn't want much sushi. Heather labeled them all.

Mom made gingerbread and whipped cream for dessert. It was so much fun getting to celebrate all weekend with Joshua.