I say Torte, He says Tor-Tay

Here is another zinger illustrating the difference in dialect west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rockies.  Torte in Michigan, it's pronounced: 'Tort', Brady says: 'tor-TAY'.  It is defined as a layered cake primarily made with eggs, sugar and ground nuts-thank you, Wikipedia because I know how you are such a reliable and always accurate source...

My husband has said on several occasions has expressed, out loud, that he would give very vital, very specific body parts to partake in the consumption of a very specific torte (say it with me, 'TORT').  It is a family recipe, again from my mother-in-law (who you will remember, is a very good cook, and the reason I married my husband =) ).  Rhubarb Torte.  This torte has no nuts, it is made with flour and there are really only 2 layers, a crust and a topping.  But who am I to argue what truly constitues a 'torte'.  And if I were to argue that it is not technically a torte, then my husband bursts in to 'tor-tay' (spelled, t-o-r-t-e, of couse) must be different.

So anyway, this torte requires rhubarb, obviously, which I vaguely remember hearing about back in Michigan, but I don't think it ever graced my lips.  A friend of mine grows it, she grows LOTS of it.  So she was nice enough to share about 15# of her bumper crop with my mother-in-law last weekend, and then some more with me yesterday.   She sent me a picture of her patch, because if I saw rhubarb growing in the wild, or in someone else's garden, I would never know what it was.  I didn't know what a thistle was before I moved out here, for crying out loud!!!



This is the rhubarb patch AFTER it was thinned out





This is how big the leaves are...HUGE leaves, green and red/hot pink stalk.  You don't want to eat the leaves...

Brady's mom was willing to give up this recipe quickly (I think she knows just how much he enjoys it, anything for her baby!  =) I can completely sympathize.  Honestly.)  I trimmed and rinsed it Thursday night and plan to make a batch of Tor-Tay this morning...If I get to it. 

These two clowns and a whole gaggle are comin' to town to hang out for the weekend, so we shall see.  These two are the definition of City Girl-although they did get their hair washed at 'the Walmarts' once when they were camping...

Beware Central Iowa!