Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb: Author Visit and Recipe Tasting!
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 @ 6:30 p.m.
Join the Athol Public Library on Wednesday, June 13, at 6:30, as we welcome the Diva of Deliciousness, Tinky Weisblat, for a celebration of rhubarb!
Ms. Weisblat will read excerpts from her new book, Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb, and will whip up something delicious for everyone to try.
As a child, Weisblat disliked rhubarb and balked at eating it. As an adult, she has evolved into an enthusiast for the tart red stalks that pop up in her New England yard every year. Like most converts, she is wildly enthusiastic about her rhubarb “religion.” In Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb she shares some of her reasons for loving rhubarb: its taste, its place as one of the first crops of the agricultural year, and above all its versatility. This sweet/tart plant can be made into just about anything.
The book provides more than 60 recipes, from beverages and appetizers through main courses and desserts. From the Madame Rhubarb (a Manhattan cocktail concocted with homemade rhubarb bitters) to Rhubarb Pizza to (of course!) Rhubarb Pie, Love, Laughter, and Rhubarb offers dishes to delight rhubarb enthusiasts and treats to tempt those who are not yet in love with “pie plant.” The book also includes essays about the history of rhubarb, rhubarb’s place in fiction, its use as the centerpiece of festivals around the country and beyond, and the many meanings of the word “rhubarb.”
Of rhubarb, Wesiblat writes:
“It’s beautiful. It’s resilient. It’s versatile. Oh, my goodness. I just realized that I may love rhubarb because it’s like ME!”
Weisblat appears on Mass Appeal every other week in the warmer months and has worked in a variety of settings—teaching college, editing the catalog at the Museum of Television & Radio, introducing movies at a French film festival—but her first love is writing. Her favorite topics are cooking and popular culture; the connections that link food, story, and song.
Don't like rhubarb? You just might by the end of this evening!
Copies of the book will be available for purchase and Tinky will sign.
Light refreshments courtesy of the Friends of the Athol Public Library.
Please register by calling (978) 249-9515.
