What’s Cooking? How Does Your Garden Grow!
Cherry blossoms float through the air, baby lettuces nestle in the soil and spring’s first blooms beg for a vase. If you’re from the Northeast, you crave lush greenery and joyful flowers this time of year. We start planning summer’s gardens, setting out birdbaths and outdoor furniture, bringing inside breathtaking bouquets of forsythia, crabapple, lilac and quince, and gathering nosegays of daffodils and tulips.
We so loved putting together this week’s curated Paradise City Marketplace, “How Does Your Garden Grow”. We started by looking at flower imagery, like Cheryl Miller’s appliqued wall hangings of giant red poppies, Lori Austill’s exuberant encaustic paintings of gardens, and even Mary Lynn O’Shea’s jackets and totes sporting stylized tapestries of peonies and lilies. We were fascinated by how Chihiro Makio fabricates twelve silver triangles into a perfect floral sphere – dangling as earrings or pieced together into necklaces.
Thinking about flowers led us to vases and planters. Bring it all inside! Glassblower Danny Polk has magnificent vases perfectly suited for your most lavish floral arrangements. Ceramist Erika Novak has sweet hanging planters and colorful cut-out vases. Have you ever tried your hand at ikebana? It’s easier than it looks, takes very few flowers and Warren Vienneau has one made out of wood that’s simply stunning.
The coming of spring makes us contemplate outdoor spaces. Even if you just have a fire escape! How about a strawberry pot holding a cool trellis by Piper Foreso? Deana Blanchard and Chuck Young’s giant metal flowers and intricate garden gates will keep your outdoors cheerful all year round. We have a frog and lily pad birdbath by Roger DiTarando that makes our backyard birds sing with joy. Daniel Gomes builds portable, comfy teak chairs, perfect to settle into and watch the goldfinches, robins and blue jays splash around.
It’s your own personal Springtime in Paradise. Each image below links to an artist’s site. Some links take you directly to their online store while others show work that can be ordered via phone and email. Just like at our shows, you are buying directly from the artist!
What else is cooking at Paradise City? Read this week’s recipe for a delectable and most unusual Mediterranean Rolled Meatloaf.
Featured Artists
This Week’s Recipe
This recipe, with its classic Greek flavors of spinach, feta cheese, oregano and garlic, is a flavorful way to use ground turkey. If you substitute a little ground lamb for some of the turkey, it’s even more authentic. And the cut slices look so elegant and pretty!
Mediterranean Rolled Meatloaf
1.25 lbs. ground turkey, 85% – 93% lean (you can use whatever meat mixture you like)
3 slices bread (any kind), diced or crumbled
¼ cup Madeira or red wine
1 egg
Salt & pepper to taste (about ½ tsp each)
Small finely chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
½ tsp. oregano
½ tsp. rosemary
3 tbsp. grated parmesan (reserve 1 tbsp to sprinkle on top)
Filling:
1 package defrosted chopped spinach
½ cup feta cheese, crumbled or diced
½ cup diced tomatoes (if canned, without juice)
1 andouille, or any spicy precooked sausage, diced
Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a loaf pan.
- In mixing bowl, soak bread in Madeira or wine for 10 minutes.
- In the same bowl, mix together all ingredients except filling.
- Lay out a piece of parchment paper or a double layer of wax paper. Spread the meat mixture on the paper in a flat rectangle, about 10” x 14”.
- Starting on a 10” side, place the filling ingredients evenly so each ingredient is a 10” long stripe.
- Using the paper to help with the rolling, start on the side with the filling and roll the meatloaf like a jellyroll. Pick up the paper and slide/roll the meat into the prepared loaf pan, evening out the edges.
- Dribble a little olive oil on top, sprinkle with reserved parmesan, and bake for one hour. Let rest a few minutes and pour out any fat in the pan before cutting into slices.
