It’s quite possible that you will learn everything you ever needed to know about maximizing the culinary beauty of rhubarb by reading A Little Zaftig.

For AOC readers, we are stuck on the beauty of the images and a recollection from ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, 1891:

I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex. ~Oscar Wilde

It was my intention to publish the recipe for Rhubarb Cordial, but now believe it’s a reader’s choice. There’s a whole lot of sugar in this gem of a recipe, and I can’t in good conscience promote excessive sugar consumption.

Clearly a little bit of this cordial goes a long way, so don’t let me deny your sensual pleasure.

Still, I can’t let go of the rhubarb cordial images, so satisfying to my senses. Just looking at the pictures is a special pleasure, one that unleashes my imagination into smelling the rhubarb simmering on the stove, stirring the pot with a wooden spoon, toasting the final result of the spring harvest in crystal, and even writing a sexy short about the erotic escapades of drinking cordials for two on a verandah in Carversville or Charleston.

My thoughts are a reminder of new research on food consumption and exposure to the sensations of food. Impossible as it seems, seeing beautiful food imagery can satisfy our appetites, not turn them on full blast.

These visual delights also remind me of a 10-year relationship with a sensually expansive partner (not the Italian — remember, I’m not 35), one whose sexual preferences were too broad for me, even though I was amazingly tolerant to the point of no return.

On Sunday nights, after returning from Hong Kong, Paris or perhaps Bangkok, I made his favorite rhubarb crisp — knowingly following his mistress with the whip. Wall Street loves dominating women, a few lashes here and there for their sins, and they are good to go.

Let this post be one written in a minor key then, a small visual tribute to slow living and simple pleasures — to sensual honesty between lovers. There is no need to make this visual treat more scientifically relevant, when it already makes a universally sensual impression that transcends language and culture.

It was the great Italian master artist who said:

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~ Leonardo da Vinci

And the romantic pianist I adore and have played religiously for decades:

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” ~ Chopin