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May has been a busy but wonderful month so far. The weather has been quite lovely, with some much-needed rain and all the perennials coming back. A holiday Amaryllis I received a few years back came into bloom on my birthday and I also received some lovely plants to add to my window box. I was treated to a wonderful birthday celebration out at McIntosh reserve and given a heartwarming and beautiful scrapbook decorated by Seth Fitts and filled with lovely thoughts and well wishes presented in the form of beautiful cards, photographs and collages all gathered inside the beautiful green binding. I will treasure this gift for many moons. After a weekend of celebrations, I dived into a week of cooking, at my new part-time post at Farmers Fresh(I’m cooking up some lovely dishes available “to go” made from locally grown and sourced food) and for a lovely wedding brunch. On my day off, I headed into the city to pick up supplies for the wedding and also to indulge in some “birthday in city” time. Our first stop, Star Provisions for some double devon cream. While there, I sampled a delicious leek tart and “homemade” pop tart filled strawberry rhubarb with my requisite freshly brewed coffee from the kiosk at Star Provisions.

I spotted a book on bird nests at Star Provisions to add to my list and picked up some yummy “birthday treats”. Next, we were off to Trader Joes for more wedding party supplies and Virginia-Highlands. I enjoyed visiting Cacao for more “birthday treats”. The Chocolate dipped marshmallows were divine and the bar of single origin LOVE BAR delicious as usual, stay tuned for details. I also finally got a chance to peruse the recently opened Stanton Home Furnishings store next door. What a beautiful store, chock full of beautiful books, unique gifts and home furnishings. All beautifully arranged and lit, truly inspiring. I found a few lovely gifts for some upcoming birthdays here.



After a yummy lunch at HD1, a quick detour to King of Pops and we were ready to head home inspired and tummies full. It was a whirlwind few days leading up to the wedding, with additional Mother’s Day orders to bake and cooking at Farmers Fresh but I managed to pull it off with the help of a couple of friends. For the wedding, I served smoked salmon and cucumber canapes, Scones with double devon cream and fresh local berries. A crudite with dill dip, cornbread madeleines, cheese grits, two types of quiche and macarons. I filled the bright green macarons with a chocolate liquor infused ganache and the pale green ones with a pistachio and gooseberry buttercream.


After the wedding, I did get a couple of days to “catch my breath” and enjoyed a few of my birthday gifts and treats. I opened the sample box of Bellocq tea I got for my birthday and tried the “White Nixon” blend. It was very good, I loved the grapefruit flavor in it. I enjoyed the tea with a bar of Sweeteeth Chocolate, the “A’Chocolypse”, dark chocolate with ginger and popped sugar.


The showiest plants in the garden currently are the Annabelle Hydrangea, I love them at this stage when some of the bracts have matured to white while some are still green. The “Creeping Charlie” weed has formed a nice mat around the Hydrangea. Hopefully it will help control other more unsightly weeds.


I picked up some early zucchini at Farmers Fresh and tried a recipe for Zucchini Carpaccio with Avocado and Pistachios by Patricia Wells for a quick-lunch. I served it like a bowl of pasta instead. Hunger won out over patience. I liked making lemon salt and made extra to have on hand for some other dishes. I also used avocado oil(what I had on hand) instead of pistachio. Flowering Lemon Thyme I harvested from the garden.



One of the treats I got at Star Provisions was a canister of Bellocq “Assam TGFOP”, one of my favorite teas and especially good since it was organic from Bellocq. “TGFOP” stands for Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe. A little explanation of these tea terms: (F)Flowery refers to teas made from very young leaves, (G)Golden describes a tea made partly from golden tips, (T)Tippy refers to tea containing a high proportion of young leaf buds or tips (OP)Orange Pekoe tea made from the thin curled leaves, usually the uppermost portions of young shoots. I enjoyed the delicious tea with a homemade dark chocolate cupcake. My favorite method to brew tea is with freshly drawn water in a warmed clean pot. For black Assam, I let the water sit about 2 minutes after it boils before pouring it over the leaves.

Cotton Mill Farmers Market opened last month on the same weekend as Earth day. It was nice once again to spend a leisurely Saturday morning visiting with friends while shopping for beautiful and delicious locally grown and produced fruits, vegetables, baked goods and even plants for the garden. I came home with a lovely bag of yummies to inspire my Sunday night dinner party(say tuned for details). From the market, my favorite and most interesting find was garlic scapes from Garry Farm. I sliced the bottom half of the scapes for soup and used the tops for my centerpiece.

I anchored my favorite hairpin style vintage flowers frogs with some plastic wrap in a vase from Middle Kingdom. A few blue hosta leaves from the garden completed the arrangement.

It was also a lovely day with visitors coming to see the garden and later that evening, a lovely time performing with the Clear Rivers Chorus followed by a delicious Earth day potluck.