Rhubarb and Strawberry Pie. I'm not out of season, YOU'RE out of season.

Usually, strawberry-rhubarb pie would be something to eat early in the summer.  If you grow rhubarb, you know it's best to pick it before the end of July.  However, I inherited a MASSIVE rhubarb plant from the last inhabitant of this place and it needed trimmed back.  Badly.  So while we were pulling the large green stalks off of the plant, I saved a few of the smaller, pinker ones in the center to make a pie with.

Now, I think rhubarb pie is gross.  And I think strawberry pie is gross.  Somehow, when you mix the two together, they become some sort of delicious magical treat.  The tartness of the rhubarb mixes with the sweetness of the strawberries and they balance one another out.  Next time I will probably go ahead and add the tapioca like most recipes suggest.  Corn starch and flour don't work like they do for apple pie, because the berries and rhubarb become extremely liquid.  Fortunately for me, most of the liquid spilled out into the pie pan where slices had been removed and left the actual pie, keeping it from turning into a soggy mess.

Pies- now with better lighting!

I used all the rhubarb and strawberries I had (a whole pound of strawberries!) and I think it still could have used more filling, but it was pretty tasty.

 *****

In other news our move to Sellwood has gone mostly very well.  A friend helped us with big furniture, but we have done most of it ourselves without any help.  Both of us have lost enough weight carrying things up the steps here to afford eating pie for breakfast.  We are not quite done yet but we will be probably by the end of the week.

A strange phenomenon has occurred, though.  Balloon and Furball no longer fight.  They are more like partners in crime, now.  They are both allowed to go outside (collars on, during daylight) and they seem a thousand times happier for it, though they act like snotty teenagers and pretend not to know us when they are outside.  All calls and temptations with food or treats fall on deaf ears until they are good and ready.

There are lots of other neighborhood cats, too.  Word traveled fast in the cat community, and once I gave treats to one, more came to say hi!  The neighbors have a tiny grey cat named Priscilla.  She might weigh 5 pounds and I think she's an adult.  Another cat without a name tag (Just a Multco registration tag) came to say hi.  I couldn't believe it; he was a beautiful cross-eyed Balinese!  Furball doesn't like the Balinese...colorpoint envy?  Zach said other cats had come during the day while I was at work, so I think there will be more.

For now here's a picture of our dining room, still not totally unpacked.  (Enlarge the picture, we totally have a framed photo of Ms T and her husband from our wedding.)

Final Countdown: Packing the Cube and Saying Goodbye!

Yesterday our Relocube came.  Its like Pods, but less famous and about 1/3 the price.  I can't say if its as good until I see all my stuff in once piece on the other side of the country, but I do know that if they screw it up or lose our cube, we get 7,000 dollars which is far more than anything in there is worth.

Our cube.

Zach's brother came to help us load the cube.  He was good at both lifting and real-life tetris.

 Saying goodbye to old pals isn't always easy...especially if they don't have e-mail.  Hermes is an old friend who is always there when we need him. 

Final Countdown: Pittsburgh 1 week and counting.

The last few weeks have been so, so busy!  Packing up and saying goodbye is really time consuming and draining.  However, the last two weeks in Pittsburgh have been the most fun I've ever had here.  Zach's graduation parties, family gatherings and farewell dinners with old friends. Pictures follow:

Zach's Grad Party at Pittsburgh's Hopfbrauhaus.  We did not consume as much beer as we appear to have.

Zach eats a Rocket Pop on his Graduation Day.

Boating at Twin Lakes Park

Making cheese raviolis with Tess with my Grandma's ravioli press.

All of this is making leaving Pittsburgh so hard! I don't know if I'll actually miss living here, even though it was somehow voted "Most Livable City" by Forbes magazine again.  I'm definitely ready for a new environment, but leaving the people that I love so much is really, really difficult.  Maybe I'll be back someday.  Maybe...