Mrs. Walters' Rhubarb Cake

From Isabel Walters, age 78 or 80 from "One of a Kind".

Mrs. Walters was a housekeeper/babysitter for our family the first 3 or 4 years we were in Newfoundland. (around 1975) She was in her 60's then and had already helped raise several sets of children - some of families in the Psychology Department. Her only son was killed in a train accident in British Columbia around 10 years ago. We got her organized to go to Vancouver to the funeral, her second time being on a plane. A childhood friend of her son's went with her. For years, she didn't leave home because of her two poodles, Pride and Joy. The dogs were also aging but were like children to Mrs. Walters. We managed to get them boarded at Avalon Animal Hospital for the duration of her trip.

Now, we talk almost weekly. She usually calls me to tell me where canned milk or some other important item is on sale. She gave me this recipe about 5 years ago, when we had an abundance of rhubarb.

Isabel is one of those "one of a kind people" a dying breed. She probably has the first pair of everything she ever owned, much of it given to her by families she worked for over the years. She gradually enlarged a shack, bit by bit into a two story house, but still has no running water. Several summers ago, I was worried because I couldn't reach her by telephone for hours. As it turned out, she was on the roof, mopping the holes with tar.

She grew up in very hard times in Boat Harbour, but as the younger child, she says she was spoiled, and had more than most children. She talks about being a tom boy, and helping to put capelin into the trenches to fertilize the potatoes. Almost all of her extended family has already left this world. She has seen her sister and nephew waste away gradually with cancer at the Health Science Complex, and is determined to go fast and hard when she goes. She still goes in the woods alone to cut her own firewood and sometimes has to break the water on the well to get water for a cup of tea. She has had to climb out the back door, which has high rickety steps, to dig the snow from around the front door to let the dog out in the mornings. She chases the young vandals off her property with a stick and calls the open line show to complain about the way Council has taxed her property to put in the sewer. She feels this is unfair because she is not hooked up to the sewer and doesn't plan to.

She still walks the 2 or 3 miles to downtown St. John's to pay her bills because she doesn't have a bank account and hates waiting at a bus stop. She'd rather walk even though she has varicose veins and knows she will have a tough time. She continues to "clean" two mornings a week for a wealthy Newfoundland family. When her employer is in town, she is able to give Isabel a ridein the mornings. When she is on the mainland for one of her many Board Meetings or National Activities, or in Florida or Jamaica, Mrs. Walters has no transportation and gets both ways on her own.

Mrs. Walters is a tiny little woman, with a hunched back. She is less than 5 feet, with very round wide eyes, and her grey hair pinned up and toward the back of her head. Her knees go ahead of her body a little as she walks and her feet are warped from years and years of trudging. For this, and because of her determined spirit, which equals "the force," my son Avrom calls her "Yoda” after the famous little green character in the Star Wars movies. Her favourite TV program is DALLAS and DALLAS reruns, although she doesn't have a television anymore. Her favourite people are "Americans" she knew during the war, and she still keeps in touch with the ones who have not died already. She lives off her pension and a small bit of work, heats her house with a wood stove (but has an oil stove) and manages to be independent. She cuts no slack for the young people who lay around and don't work, or who have children and don't take care of them. She follows all the news daily, and the open line shows, and has great compassion for the children, she hears about who are harmed needlessly.

She is clear about what's right and wrong and says, "I had rather die than be on the welfare." and so she will. She came into St. John's from Boat Harbour as a live in housekeeper and raised her son as a single parent before it was acceptable or fashionable.

So, when you make rhubarb cake, take your butter dish lid off to Mrs. Walters and the many courageous and honest women everywhere.

Melba Rabinowitz
December, 1993

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 cups Rhubarb(chopped)
1/2 cup Sour Milk
2 cups Flour

Topping

1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup Coconut
1 tsp. Cinnamon

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

I usually make this as a coffee cake; although it can be made as a loaf cake, with less topping.

Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients

7-8 cups chopped rhubarb (or 2 cups strawberries + 6 cups rhubarb)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar (dot with butter - let stand)

Topping
1 1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter

Directions

Work topping into a crumble, sprinkle over.

Bake 300F for 30-40 minutes or until crisp and bubbly.

Rhubarb Crush

Contributed by Kathy Mackey.

 

Ingredients About 3 cups of rhubarb cut into small pieces 1 cup sugar 1 frozen can of pink lemonade concentrate Ginger ale

 

Directions

In saucepan combine rhubarb, sugar, lemonade concentrate and 3 cups water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook till rhubarb is very tender. Strain to remove pulp. Chill. Pour rhubarb syrup over ice cubes or crushed ice 2/3 full. Top glasses with ginger ale.

Sometimes I omitted the pink lemonade and used just water, a little extra sugar (or Splenda) and a dash of cinnamon. After cooking and straining, I added fresh lemon juice. The colour of the drink is not as pleasing, but the flavour certainly is! You could also add a slosh of vodka or gin.

Further, since I am a great believer in using all good food, I put the pulp in a jar and used as spread on toast. Yummy! Just make sure to keep it in the fridge.

Contributed by Kathy Mackey.

 

Rhubarb Sauce

This is a recipe from the Organic Gardener Magazine, which was been inbred over the years, so am not sure if it is the same as original. It is a wonderful, tart, crunchy mixture, which can be used on ice cream as a dessert, with yogurt for lunch, or eaten plain, with raisin bread, like applesauce. It is more runny than jam. I have used it over short-cake, like strawberry short-cake, topped with whipped cream or yogurt.

The secret is in the cooking, or rather the not over-cooking. After this mixture is prepared, it is set overnight with a lid. In the morning, you will find the liquid bled from the rhubarb, making lots of juice. Bring to a boil with lid off, while watching, and set off the stove immediately. The juice will be clear, but the meat will be crunchy. This stores in the refrigerator indefinitely.

Preparation:
Wash young, fresh rhubarb stalks. (If they are old, I string them like celery, but Mike doesn't.) Slice stalks lengthwise, into several thinner slats. Lay on cutting board and slice cross wise,
giving small rhubarb pieces about 1/2 to 1/4 inch squares (or thereabouts). Mike's are much chunkier than mine and it doesn't seem to matter.

We use 4 cups of rhubarb to 1 cup of sugar. My folks like it sweeter, so we add more sugar. Mike's aunts like it more tart, so they use less sugar.