Week 2 and Baked! Vol. 2: Rhubarb-Berry Crisp Bars

Is it the end of week 2 already?  Is the the end of the weekend after week 2 already?  Our summer professor, who teaches both pathophysiology and anatomy, assured us at the end of week one that in our second week we were really going to pick up speed.

This was kind of a surprise to all of us, since we hadn't realized that the pace of our first week qualified as "taking it easy."  Week two took us from the cell into tissues, systems, and an extremely comprehensive lecture on cancer in pathophysiology; in anatomy we moved on from the back to the upper limb and pectoral region.

If that sounds straightforward - think again!  The upper limb is a fascinating and complex world of the shoulder, arm, forearm, and hand.  There are more bones, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels than you can shake a stick at, all of which work together in intricate coordination to perform the actions we take for granted.  

Have you ever considered the complexity involved in being able to use a pen?  In a healthy body you can hold a pen, know that it is in your hand, not hold it so tightly that you send it flying across the room, maintain enough pressure to write without tearing through a sheet of paper, and coordinate all of this while making a series of detailed, meaningful marks on a page with a speed that is really quite surprising, no matter how slow you write.  

You have fingers with multiple articulations, hand, wrist, arm, elbow, and shoulder all working together.  This is all thanks to our friend the brachial plexus, the network of nerves of the upper limb that hangs out in your armpit.  Here is a video that helped me study it, given by a guy who is basically Tom Haverford from Parks and Rec with a PhD (disclaimer - this is probably not worth watching unless you are actually studying anatomy):

So yes, week two has been a crazy week, made all the crazier by gearing up for our first test this coming Wednesday.  I am quickly making 2 realizations: First, studying is my life now.  My wife and son are my life, but studying is my second, kind of more time-consuming life now.  I am at school during the day, and aside from dinner and helping out with bedtime (and the occasional blogging), I need to be studying.  Second, I really need to step up my studying game.  There just isn't any time to be wasted.  I am spending all my time studying for an anatomy test this week, kind of neglecting patho, but then we have our patho test the following week, so I'll need to totally switch gears, only to again being preparing for another anatomy test after that.

The second years (sidebar: every time I say that I feel like I should follow it with "from Ravenclaw house") have all been super cool and encouraging, and told us that while the fall will be more intense, spring semester is a slight reprieve, and summer second year it's actually possible to take a weekend off now and again.

In the meantime my wife has been making our family survive.  She is taking care of our son, taking care of me, keeping our house presentable, teaching her own lessons, being super pregnant, and doing it all with grace and poise.

Yeah, I'm a lucky guy.

This week I did my first baking for school.  Since it is summer in Minnesota, rhubarb is all over.  I made Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Bars.  I did a 9x13 pan and a slightly larger bar pan, so I quadrupled the recipe.  I had no idea what to expect - were the PA students going to be shy Minnesotans and not even try them, leaving me with a ridiculous amount on hand?

I had intended to make them all-rhubarb (meaning eight cups of rhubarb after quadrupling, instead of half rhubarb/half strawberries as the recipe indicates), but after going outside twice to chop down more stalks and getting down to the thinner, scrawny ones, I did the last cup with a berry blend we had in the freezer.  They were a hit and I didn't take a one home.

Baked! Vol. 2: Rhubarb-Berry Crisp Bars, from Smitten Kitchen

I had quadrupled it to make two large bar pans, but the recipe below is for a single 8"x8" pan, like the original.  Since I was splitting it between two pans, I also diverged from the original recipe's layering of berries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice, and just mixed this all together in a bowl before splitting it up between the two pans since this seemed easier.  Also, since my fruit ratio was heavier on the rhubarb, I also slightly increased the amount of sugar and lessened the amount of lemon juice.  My 9"x13" pan ended up with a slightly thicker crust, which I think was right-on - for this, double the recipe.  If making this for a bar pan also double the recipe, but be prepared for a slightly thinner crust (which was still awesome!)

1 cup Rolled Oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

Heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (I used salted)

1 teaspoon Cornstarch

Scant 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Heaping 1 Tablespoon Granulated Sugar

1-3/4 cups small-sliced Rhubarb

1/4 cup Mixed Berries (chopped if any are big)

1. Preheat oven to 375°.  Lightly grease a 8"x8" baking dish; fold a piece of parchment paper to the width of the bottom of the dish and place it inside as a sling for the bars.
2. In a bowl whisk together oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt.  Pour melted butter over the mixture and stir until clumpy.  Add 2 Tablespoons more flour at this point if your mixture looks overly damp, although I didn't have to.  I was a little worried that my mixture looked too dry and wouldn't hold together, but it came out great.
3. Set aside 1/2 cup of the crust mixture and pour the rest into the 8"x8" pan, flattening it out evenly in the bottom out to the sides.
4. In a bowl combine rhubarb, berries, cornstarch, lemon juice, and sugar.  Stir to combine and then spread over crust.
5. Crumble reserved 1/2 cup crust over fruit.
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes, "until fruit is bubbly and crisp portion is golden and smells toasty and amazing."