My Birthday Dinner

  Well, I lied.  About eating salad that is.
   I came home Sunday night to a wonderful surprise.  My boyfriend spent the day preparing a special birthday dinner for me.  On Saturday he went to the farmer's market and bought lamb, beautiful snap peas, and rhubarb.  Have I said how much I love lamb? I do.  I generally can't resist it on menus.  It could go without saying that his lamb was delicious, but I will.  It was meltingly tender, and stewed with beans in white wine.  A dish he picked up during his stage in Paris.  That made me smile too; I've been waiting to taste his new tricks in the kitchen.
   And then there were the peas.  Stunning, giant, thick, and crunchy, so full of flavor I would have thought he just picked them off the vine outside our door.  Then, he sauteed them in butter...quite a bit of butter.  I was sold.  We had a great asparagus salad on the side with mushrooms, onion, and feta.
   For dessert, my sweet man made a rosemary rhubarb crumble.  He is a very talented chef, but would be the first to say that dessert is not his specialty.  Hasn't made any in years, yet he was giddy about this dish.  His excitement was justified.  First, he made a rosemary rhubarb syrup with the ends and trimmings of the rhubarb.  With part of that syrup he cooked thinly sliced ribbons of rhubarb to tender with some of the flaked mace he brought back from France.  In this shape you can truly taste the rhubarb, get to know its tart flavor, and maintain a consistent texture.  I often find that rhubarb in tarts or pies is too mushy, too crunchy, or masked by the flavors of other fruit.  It was baked with his oatmeal brown sugar streusel on top and served with a yogurt whipped cream made with more of the rosemary rhubarb syrup.
   Dinner was such a treat, and even more special knowing that the menu was designed with me in mind.  A birthday present I won't forget.