The perfect summer dessert for me is fruit, preferably with a little twist- be it some vanilla sugar, chocolate coating or a simple dash of rosé. And since rhubarb is in season, what better way to treat yourself than putting together a compote to chill you down in the evening hours. We’re experiencing full summer in Norway, almost a heat wave, I’d say. And as it always is when you’d rather be at the beach, I’ve been working in court these days and so I had to dress accordingly. However, when I finally get home, it’s off with all the office clothes, on with the bikini, sparkling wine in hand and dessert on my mind. 😉

I’ve been working at two short stories lately, unfortunately I opted for Norwegian, otherwise you could read an excerpt. I found out Norwegian is the language I express myself the easiest into, simply because I’ve used it the most in the past 18 years. Sad thing to realize, the literary mother tongue fading away- I often find myself searching words on google for fear of using them in the wrong way. 😦

Otherwise I’ve been shopping for summer wear- and it’s always fun, isn’t it? I found me a pair of gorgeous suede sandals and a couple of airy t-shirts, too.

But let me get to the point, this dessert is super easy, so don’t let anything stop you from trying, it’s done in 40 minutes, but you’ll only need to work for 10 of them yourself.

Ingredients:

4-5 rhubarb stems

1-2dl water

100-150 g sugar

one vanilla bean/vanilla essence

cinnamon

half a strawberry basket (around 250-300g )

heavy cream

Peel and cut the rhubarb, add the strawberries and put it all in a pan with 1-2dl water. Add the sugar, the vanilla bean (cut it open and scrape the seeds first, then add them to the compote) and sprinkle some cinnamon. Boil for around 15-20 minutes, then let it cool down. Serve with fresh strawberries and a dash of cream. Tell me how it turned out!

Bon appetit!

xxx, Alina