That's how the Rasberry Rhubarb Crumbles

 The rasberries came in like gangbusters this July.

We planted the bushes about two years ago. Back then they were stark, bare branches. I couldn't imagine them some day bearing juicy, red berries. But they slowly come in around the end of June, then peaked during the 1st week of July, perfect for 4th of July celebrations. Before trailing out now at the end of the month.

The East End is a great place for berry picking. Strawberries, blueberries, rasberries and blackberries are all found in abundance out here. They grow on farmland as well as wild.     I just found blackberries growing wild on our property. There are plenty of farms and farmstands where you can buy local berries, as well as pick your own.

I still enjoy them that way, especially on a hot summer evening. Pour really cold milk over a bowl of fresh blueberries or rasberries, then sprinkle them with a little sugar...ah perfection! So refreshing and so good for you.

Problem is that most people want their rasberries in a dessert, preferably topped with a heap of ice cream or whipped cream on top. Not that whipped cream isn't a good thing.  Whipped cream on anything is delicious, but it can sometimes overwhelm what it's meant to accent.

I peruse recipes for rasberry pies, but they all look pretty involved and who wants to be that busy in the kitchen in the middle of summer?

That's when my Father-in-law suddenly stopped by with an armful of fresh rhubarb he had just picked on his property that morning.  I love rhubarb baked into pies, but again pie baking is too much work right now.

Seeing as I've never done anything with rhubarb before, I decide to make a Rasberry Rhubarb Crumble. Crumbles are awsome. It's kind of like baking a pie, with all the taste and sensation of a pie, but not as much work.

First, no crust involved, which is time consuming and who wants to be making crust in the middle of summer?  When making a crumble, you just combine a bunch of ingrediants into a pyrex bowl, bake it in the oven and voila...an ooey, gooey, fruity treat for your mouth.

(My sister-in-law Barbara, my mom & me at the Southampton 4th of July Parade)

So while my mom was visiting me during the 4th of July holiday, I made a rasberry-rhubarb crumble, straight from the garden. My rasberries and my Father-in-law's rhubarb.

Mom picked the rasberries. She enjoys berry-picking, something she did a lot growing up in northern Sweden. She came from a small northern town called Stromsund. I think timber is their number one export. It's beautiful there, nothing but woods, woods and more woods.

The crumble was super easy and came out delicious. Not too tart and not too sweet. Then we paid a visit to my Father-in-law, bringing the dish along, so he too could enjoy the fruits of his labor.