Rhubarb Tart for Posterity

Lunch at the Green Table in Chelsea

Ugh.  My camera phone takes awful photos sometimes.

This photo is of a (in season now!) rhubarb tart with rosemary ice cream and pistachios that I was blown away by when it was set in front of me today at lunch.  (I was treated to this by this Monday's guest blogger--stay tuned for her!)

Here's a better photo of same tart, although you see mine did not come with a flower, but you can see the variegated colors of the rhubarb:  this is what what was so stunning to me!  I gasped audibly when I saw it.

I never photograph food in public.  Some restaurants here are banning people from doing so, asserting it ruins the ambiance of their small places, but I did not want to forget this tart.  When the server appeared to take my plate away, noticing how clean it was--because I'd practically picked up my plate and licked it--I blurted, "How can I have this experience again?"  The tart had flummoxed me, loosened my inhibitions, made me emotional and joyful.

I hadn't been so overcome by the taste of food in a long while.  (And on my way home, Lara sent me a new poem she wrote related to this very thing.)

This lunch was the highlight of an anxious rainy day I was a little underdressed for.  The tart made me feel like everything had been perfect after all.