Well, hello there!
Welcome to the poetry potluck — pull up a chair and a compostable paper plate.
Oh, and let me grab you a hibiscus iced tea!
Here’s the truth. My poetry sisters and I plan our whole year of prompts each January. It’s challenging! It’s thrilling! It’s… always incomplete! I can’t say why but we inevitably leave one or two months unspoken for. (In our defense, twelve months is a lot of months.) So when May crept up on us and we didn’t have time to sort anything out, Tanita declared a potluck — a bring-what-you-will — so we did.
Since it’s (very nearly) summer, I decided on my grandmother’s strawberry-rhubarb kuchen — tart, pink, eggy, delicious! And since following a recipe is essential when baking, following a poetic form felt necessary, too.Ā Thus, my triolet (with a couple of little cheats — sorry, but think of it like adding just a little shake of nutmeg or ginger).
Strawberry Rhubarb Kuchen:Ā A Triolet
Liz Garton Scanlon
Recipe written in grandmotherās hand
Faithfully followed by cup and by spoon
Dough pressed to crust up the sides of the pan
Recipe written in grandmotherās hand
Warm eggy custard, fresh fruit (never canned)
Strawberries sweet and rhubarb rough-hewn
Recipe written in grandmotherās hand
Faithfully followed, will be ready soon
Now, dig into the other potluck poems. Seriously — eat up!
And don’t forget, it’s our very own Mary Lee, hosting the party in her backyard this week!
As for June, we’ll be writing “In the Style Of” this triptych — August, by Louise Ireland — although we’ll be leaning into summer rather than stepping out of it!! Join us?
Liz, that has to be one of my favorite triolets of all time! I, too, have recipes written in my grandmotherās hand, always in green ink. Although she has been gone many years, her memory lives on in fruit salads and cookies. Thank you for sharing your Strawberry Rhubarb Kuchen and for stirring up fond memories.
Oh, green ink — how special and surprising!
Oh Liz! I am drooling for the kuchen and for the love in this poem. Thank you for breakfast. Thank you for the delightful rhyme too. xo, a.
I must actually make some soon — writing about it isn’t enough!
I, too, felt the call of some kind of form that honored the recipe vibe! And now I’m feeling the call of rhubarb strawberry ANYTHING! (I think there’s a bit of sauce left in the fridge and a spoon or two of vanilla ice cream in the freezer…dessert for breakfast is calling me! (I’m with Amy in admiration for your rhymes, especially that “rough-hewn” rhubarb!)
Last year I made a delicious panna cotta with a rhubarb compote on top that, I suspect, is a little like the sauce you’d put on ice cream. YUM!!
Liz, I particularly love the shake of nutmeg or ginger. š Those hand-written recipes are precious, aren’t they?? Thank you! xo
Yes! I also have my other grandmother’s handwritten recipe for vinaigrette!
Do you know I only recently learned to like rhubarb when we were in England? Maybe it’s because it was so fresh! I dunno, but your recipe and poem make me wish I’d been raised on that kuchen. A perfect triolet for our potluck.
I do think it’s a just too sour for some, and definitely a more northern plant, so we don’t get a lot of chances to fall in love with it!
Swooning (with tummy growling) at your triolet. Love handwritten family recipes; want some of that Kuchen NOW!
I wish I could zip some over to you, Jama!
How do you keep the rhubarb red?! I’ve never cooked with it (unfortunately allergic) but I’ve seen it grayish in pies before. This is so pretty!!
And I love that you have recipe cards written in your grandma’s hand to be “faithfully followed.” MaDea wouldn’t write anything down so I have instructions I scrawled and it’s a lot of “put some” this or that. It amuses me – but she said every time she made anything it turned out differently – and that’s definitely the case when *I* make it.
It turns gray when overcooked. If you cut it and let it sit in a little sugar first — to bring out the juices — then it doesn’t need to cook as long! (Also, some rhubarb is just pinker!)
There is nothing as special as a loved oneās handwriting. I recently found a card my mother had written to me. Your triolet is just right. I love ānothing cannedā!
And hardly anyone writes anything by hand any more š That’s a loss…
ooooh, I miss rhubarb. I tried to grow it in VA, and I didn’t have very good luck. The repetition here is perfect for the details of the recipe. I love “up the sides of the pan.” Wouldn’t it be great if we could have one more kitchen visit with Grandma? I would LOVE that!
Oh my gosh — both my grandmothers — if I could have just one more afternoon.
You know I love triolets, but I also love kuchen. My grandmother made the best apple kuchen. I’ll admit that I just can’t find much to love about rhubarb. Maybe I haven’t had it in the perfect recipe yet. Perhaps this is it!
The last line of this triolet is perfection. Chef’s kiss for this poem.
Try this! I made this three times last summer — it’s soooo good!
https://substack.com/@cronesandwich/p-165197245
What a delicious post. And I love how you share the way you decide the prompts for the year.
We evolve our systems every year, but we do love to start with a great big zoom brainstorm in January!
Liz, lovely Triolet and the lines- Recipe written in grandmotherās hand
Warm eggy custard, fresh fruit (never canned) reminded me so much of the beauty of old school cooking and handwriting on recipe cards (or in the margins of cookbooks.) Thanks for sharing the fun and bounty of your Strawberry Rhubarb Kuchen and poetry potluck!
I know. I sure do love the NY Times cooking app, but it’s not the same, is it?
Applause!!! Well done with this delicious triolet. I’ve been impressed with the variety of forms you talented poem-chefs have brought to your potluck! Thanks as always, to all of you, for sharing the bounty. Yum!
so much fun to play with something new every month!
Thanks for your delish & delightfully sound-filled Rhubarb poemāYum! Hope you are offering secondsā¦
A pan goes fast!!
I love thinking of your “cheats” as dashes of optional spices. They sure created a delicious dish for your readers! Rhubarb is the best, and a recipe from your grandmother raises it to an even higher level. You’ve inspired me to go out later today and see what’s happening in our rhubarb patch!
Oh yes — lucky you!
I just shared this with Tricia (above) but I made this recipe several times last summer and it’s delicious:
https://substack.com/@cronesandwich/p-165197245
Liz, your rhubarb triolet is so lovely…”Recipe written in my grandmother’s hand” choked me up every time, and reminded me of my adored mother-in-law who left behind so many recipes written by hand that are such a joy to behold now, and something so tangible. Thank you for this poem, and also sharing the potluck idea, and the August poem. Sharing your inspiring post with my Inked Voices poetry group!
Oh, what a treasure trove!! Do you cook from those?
Yum. What a lovely poem.
Oh, I love this, Liz!
“Recipe written in grandmotherās hand” calls such vivid images to mind. I can picture both my mother’s and my grandmother’s handwriting exactly (and they were so much alike!)
This is simply charming.
lucky gramma, to have lucky you membering her pink & lucious rhubarb tart! we feel lucky to peek at her recipe. appreciations!
Liz, what a delightful triolet. My mouth is watering over this custardy wonder. Strawberry rhubarb anything is a favorite of mine, but the custard part sounds even better. I’m going to be flying to Minneapolis in two weeks, so rhubarb is on my list of things to harvest in my daughter’s garden.