desserts that are pink are the best desserts

Last night I went to Kelsey's dance recital. Ohmygod people. There were tiny little girls who obviously didn't know their dance as they kept looking off the stage to their teacher and all doing different things and waving at their parents. And you guys know I can't resist that, especially since I used to be one of those tiny little girls. Anyway, I went (out to the suburbs, I might add) because Kelse's family couldn't be there so I was surrogate family. She was great in what they call "oriental" dance here and had the awesomest costume that she decorated herself (I know this is true, I watched it happen with my own eyes). Then I got to talk to Alex and was assured that he's ok and loves the states. Then Kelsey and I decided to stay up until 5:30am. You see, her parents and sister came in today, and she had to take a train to Paris at 6am, and was too excited to fall asleep. Hey, I said, I have laundry and cleaning to do- come over and we'll both stay up.
So what's a girl to do when she's staying up till 5:30? Laundry (in the apartment now, I'm happy to say), decorating frames from Ikea, getting glue from said decoration all over myself, watch Pieces of April, unpack some of my things, be convinced by Kelse that making a fort is a bad idea, especially when I had just put away all of those books, and, oh yes- bake!
It would be so romantic to say that I had bought strawberries and rhubarb at the market and knew exactly what they were destined for. But that would also be a lie. And lying is bad. Honestly, I read that the Amateur Gourmet (who I've met, so it's not totally wierd) made strawberry rhubarb pie, and I thought "I think I had that once! I think I may have liked it! But I'm not sure. Hell, it's PINK" When I got home with all my stuff (including the world's best goat cheese), I realised that I had not enough to make most of the recipes (thanks KELSEY aka Miss One-stalk-of-rhubarb-is-definitely-enough). Shit. But at 2 in the morning sometimes you just NEED something that's going to be pink. So crumble it was. With added crystalised ginger and a little bit of rose water. You can't taste the rose water, but I swear it's in there. It's really really good and made the apartment smell great. Plus we had the windows wide open and could hear people talking and it rained and the great rain smell came in (but that's a whole other story called why-i-love-my-new-apartment-so-much).
The important things to notice in the photo are a)I didn't even take off my pearls! b)the apron, which I LOVE and is probably the apron that most represents me plus the pearls plus the fact that I'm baking make me look like a circa-1950's housewife, c)I'm not going to put the crumble in the mini-four you see behind me I'm going to put it in a REAL OVEN THAT'S ATTACHED TO THE STOVE! d)I am cooking in the kitchen and STANDING AT MY FULL HEIGHT. No more bending over to cook suckahs! e)did I mention the oven? Cause I have one. It's right by the washing machine. f)look at that cute coffee cup and saucer on top of the not-in-use oven- Niki gave them (and several more) to me when she left because she couldn't fit them in her suitcase. I LOVE them and they randomly match the espresso cups that Alex's family gave me for easter.
This, mes amis, is happy.