Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie

There seems to be a cosmic traffic jam of planets transiting Vrishabha (the placement of Taurus) at the moment! Hosting such great leaders of universe as Guru (Jupiter), Ravi (Sun), Shukra (Venus) and Budha (Mercury) is not a small task for a bull! Especially when the shadow planet known as Rahu in the Vedic astrology, is playing mischievous tricks among the honourable guests by causing solar eclipses and alike! The meeting taking place in the eleventh house of social assembly and gain in my birth chart, has kept me busy beyond belief for the past three, four weeks. But busy is good when the marketplace is filled with mentors, elders, networks, aspirations, realizations, regains and arrivals. It is a convention of progress and profit.

Desires can be devious because they tend to fructify sooner or later, often to our great surprise when we have already forgotten them. To keep myself on the safe side, I have internalized only one dear and valuable wish, which is unfolding in small but intense clusters during such periods of focus as now. The only gain I hope to be blessed with is the association and loving guidance of saintly persons and, with their permission, the right to enter deeper into the secrets of devotional reality.

I’m not the only one in the phase of renewal. Nature is suddenly dressed in green, except for the fruit trees that are blooming in pastels. Dandelions, violets and wild strawberry flowers are singing with clear voices in the forest choir. The harvest of rhubarb has launched the garden season. Growth is inevitable in all species of life. As human beings, we are so fortunate to have the facility of intelligence as a compass of discrimination. We are able to grow – not only in size, age and good looks :-) – but internally as a reservoir of eternity, knowledge and bliss.

Having been busy working with the micro- and macrocosmic parallels and philosophizing :-), I’ve neglected the blog more that I’d like admit. My apologies. I find it challenging to write about food from the point of view of my lifestyle in a way that would be relevant, both, to me and the readers. Food is, firstly, a cultural indicator. Because of the variety of values, a common language is not obvious.

How would you like me to improve the blog content? I hope not to sound grandiose, but is there a topic you’d like to hear my opinion or thoughts about? Is there something in my way of life and philosophy (please see the introduction) you would like to learn more about? I would appreciate your help in building a more personal and interactive platform of sharing.

Now that I have pushed the responsibility on you, take a deep breath and relax :-). Have a visual bite of the strawberry and rhubarb pie we ate yesterday. It turned out almost like a soft cake, because I added too much liquid into the dough as well as the filling. You may reduce the amount if using the recipe.

The recipe makes plenty of dough! From the rest of it I made small apple and pear tarts. They were served with chocolate sauce.

Thank you.