Strawberry almond crumble

It is so easy to take good fortune for granted. There are times in all of our lives, when we live through trying times. Most people never experience the kind of massive devastation we’ve been seeing on the news from Japan, or on a smaller scale recently, Christchurch, NZ.  I can only watch the suffering on the news and contribute to the Canadian Red Cross.  It goes to show that at any moment, our lives can be thrown off course. By nature, illness, acts of violence, accidents or a phone call or doctor’s visit that turns lives upside down. Our little family remains so blessed in good fortune while some close to us have been thrown off course. So it’s been a bit unbalancing.

This week marked the anniversary of the death of my beloved mum. I still miss her so. My lovely man left me a sunny bouquet to cheer me on the day.

(Say it – awwwww). It made the heartache ease for a moment and gave me a smile. And I’ve been hit with the cold/flu thing going around so haven’t been my normal self – I’ve been snarky, short tempered and weepy – none of which I find attractive in myself which adds irritation to the underlying heartache. So it hasn’t been a stellar time. But to gain my balance a bit, I retreated to the kitchen. I've been inspired by these posts but didn't manage to cook those recipes yet. This week I managed to make a batch of low acid tomato sauce, a large vegetarian moussaka, a loaf of bread and strawberry almond crumble.

The strawberry almond crumble recipe is from Nigella Lawson’s newest book – Kitchen. I love the way Nigella writes, as if I were sitting in her kitchen and she was chatting away to me. And I love this recipe. So far I’ve made it with last year’s strawberries from the freezer, raspberries from the freezer, blueberries, my own canned peaches and the huge, somewhat woody version of strawberries that are in the stores currently.

Each version has been delicious. A sweet mix of cooked fruit, sugar, almonds and vanilla that warms the soul.

I think my man would eat it every day if he could.