6 years ago this July, my husband's cousin married one of my dearest friends. My other dear friend (and sister-in-law) and I threw her bridal shower. We cooked a wonderful spring luncheon complete with lavender iced tea. In order to make the tea, my SIL had been "harvesting" lavender from her neighbors and had left it draining in the kitchen sink. Her husband came home and proceeded to wash the dishes, splattering sudsy water all over the lavender. My SIL began yelling at him to watch the lavender because she needed it for her lemonade. He replied incredulously, "I didn't know lavender was food!"Ironically, this July my sister/brother-in-law are expecting their first child and at a mini baby shower the afore mentioned cousin and I threw for her, she brought me a jar of culinary lavender. And this months You Want Pies With That challenge, Herbs & Spices, gave me a great reason to try it out. Since this was my first try at cooking with lavender, I opted for Fruit and Lavender Cream Tartlettes. I altered my standard pastry cream recipe by first adding 2 teaspoons of lavender to the boiling milk and steeping it for an hour. The base is a sweet tart dough and they are topped with white peaches and strawberries with an apricot glaze. Spring has definitely sprung.
