We are attacking summer

There has been none of this "easing into it" business-- we ran top speed into it.  Hannah arrived within minutes of school letting out and it turns out having her here is my new favourite way to kick off a major stretch of holiday. 

I expect Summer Paul to arrive Tuesday or Wednesday.  I hear it takes a few days.  And because I've never met Mr. Teacher Off for the Summer, I'm not sure what to expect.  But I'm stoked.  We had a party to kick things off.  Let's talk about this dessert:

It's the Lemon Rhubarb Bundt Cake from Rustic Fruit Desserts.  Amy gave me a copy after I got drool all over hers.  If you have any warm feelings about fruit desserts, you probably need to go ahead and pick this book up.  I served it up with a strawberry sauce that involved triple sec and BUTTER.  I'll try to get permission to post the recipe for that because it. is. good. 

Okay!  Here's the recipe:

Strawberry Compote from Emily Luchetti's Classic Star Desserts

5 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

5 tbsp grand marnier or Triple Sec (which is what I used.  Mariko thought orange juice concentrate would be great, too)

add 1 Q cleaned strawberries with 4 tbsp butter (half a stick) and stir gently for about 2 minutes, just until the butter is melted.

 serve over ice cream

Other good things-- friends... new ones and old ones.  I am so grateful for them-- especially at this point in my life when they are sometimes harder to find and even harder to keep.  We are trying to do our best at both of those things.