Tulips & Orchids!

What a lovely Saturday at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The Orchid Market was happening this weekend. Tulips were in full bloom and the weather was just right, sunny, light breeze and not hot at all. We got an early start and arrived at the gardens right after it opened but I could see it getting crowded soon. The tulips were the star of the day, they were everywhere in every color! There were also lovely daffodils and Irises in bloom throughout the garden. After a quick perusing through the orchid market gathering a few Paphiopedilums, we headed out to take in all beautiful bulbs.

These were my favorite off course, I might plant some of these in our garden this Fall

 

 

The upper level of the new Visitor Center

We visited the newly opened cafe located in the old visitor center and enjoyed some coffee and pastries by the fountain.

chocolate croissant, I suspect it may have come from Alon's

 

 

For more photos of tulips, check out my Facebook album: Tulips!Tulips!
 We worked up quite the appetite walking the gardens. Time for Lunch at Farmburger!

 

After lunch, we headed off to Virginia-Highland for a quick visit to PAPERSOURCE, and then we were off to Cooks warehouse, my new favorite kitchen supply store. I found the kitchen scale I've been dreaming off there !! , lookout for it's appearance in future post. We had little bit of time before we had to leave the city to make it back in time for my evening cocktail party gig so we headed to the WESTSIDE .

Wonderful locally grown asparagus at Star Provisions , HUGE spears!, I bought some since I felt a dinner party coming on..

For "tea", we shared a lemon meringue tart from Star Provisions

 

The JONATHAN ADLER store that just opened last Thursday, very Chic!

We made it home in plenty of time before my gig. After a successful piano session of Cole porter, George Gershwin, Johnny Mercer and Duke Ellington, I came straight home to begin some much needed relaxation and messed around with the orchids I got at the show.

This was an exceptional Paphiopedilum specimen with 3 spikes that I just had to have. Unfortunately, it had been dressed up in Easter finery. I thought the arrangement was rather pretty with the lovely moss lined basket, dyed mushrooms and wheat grass but I was not looking forward to having to trim the wheat grass so it was time to undo and re-purpose. I also wanted to let the orchid shine for itself instead of being loss in the Easter basket mess.

Orchids can be checked in at the orchid-sitters counter while visitors visited the gardens, I was orchid parent #12

The basket was perfect for my maidenhair ferns

The cat's enjoyed the fresh wheatgrass

This is more my speed. I transferred the orchid into a simple wooded container and surrounded it with reindeer moss. This allows for the wonderful foliage on the orchid to be fully appreciated

Thursday Teatime!!

Today, we celebrated Joyce's birthday with a special tea! With Willy Wonka the Musical successfully behind me, I was in a celebratory mood. I finally got around to trying out the dark chocolate madeleine recipe from one of my new cookbooks.

Madeleine pans prepared almost as instructed, brushed with butter and dusted with cocoa(my experiment)

dark chocolate is melted with butter

whole eggs are beaten with sugar till pale and foamy

chocolate mixture is stirred in to finish the batter

Always a good sign when the recipe makes the stated specified amount.

 

 

success!!, and boy they are delicious!!

Next up , some scones. I decided to try something different and made cherry scones instead of the usual currants. I received some wonderful Dried Michigan pie cherries for Christmas from Kathy.

 

 

 

 

Tea is not complete without some savory foods. I decided to make turkey & watercress sandwiches and also made a wonderful shrimp salad with the wild shrimp from Publix.

peeled , deveined and tossed with olive oil, just the perfect song for a sing a long

 

 

dressing for shrimp

For the 2nd savory snack, Cajun turkey and watercress!

 For the tea service, I selected the more sparkly dish patterns since it was such a gloomy day.

Our tea selection for the afternoon

madeleines are finished with a quick dusting of confectioners sugar

 

 

 

After tea, we took a quick stroll in the garden to see what was blooming. The sun came out briefly and is was nice.

 

 

 

 

Thalia Daffodils

It has been a cold and wet spring so far, which is good for plants but I am eagerly awaiting warmer days ahead. Joyce shared a few tomato plants she started with us yesterday. I will spend the next few days "hardening off" the plants and plan to plant them in 2 or 3 weeks. We also received an invitation to a wedding in Charleston S.C. and I have till April 18th to decide weather to go or not.. decisions, decisions......