My Grandma Rosie was an extraordinarily good cook.  She made chicken soup, like my friends' grandmas, but she also made stuffed veal roasts and chicken fricasee, chopped eggplant, stuffed peppers and stuffed cabbage, homemade water bagels, chopped green beans, salads of every imaginable variety, potatoes and spinach, calves foot jelly (p'cheh), and all kinds of other delicacies.  Her table was always full. 

Grandma Rosie wasn't much interested in baking; most of her desserts consisted of some kind of fruit.  My absolute favorite, hands down, will always be her rhubarb.  The mix of sweet and tart is absolutely irresistible to me.

1 pound rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch pieces (approx 3 cups)
2 apples, chopped  (Sometimes she used a pint of strawberries instead)
1/4 cup raisins
juice of 1 lemon plus zest from 1/2 of lemon
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Place ingredients in covered dish, stir, and cook in 350-degree oven for 15 minutes.  Uncover, stir, and cook for 15 minutes more.  Serve plain or with vanilla ice cream, unsweetened whipped cream, or a little cream poured on top. 

Just like last week's tomatoes and okra recipe, Grandma Rosie's rhubarb is delicious no matter whether it's served warm, cold, or at room temperature.