Tuesday, July 29, 2008

July 27, 2008 Flowers in the Garden

There is the sweetest restaurant in Elizabethtown called Flowers in the Garden. This is a play on the word flowers as that is the name of the owners, Jim and Polly Flowers and their daughter, Laura Flowers Mummau, and also because flowers play a featured role in the menu and servings. Our first time dining there was on a Friday evening, when we opted to dine out on the patio. The iced tea came with fresh mint, pansies decorated our entrees, and herbs came directly from the garden. Truly delightful!





The menu has the colorful names for the dishes. For example, one salad is called pear blossom --- bed of romaine with sliced pear, English walnuts, blue cheese and blue cheese dressing. Another is named Partridge Berry --- a bed of greens with sliced apple and pear, dried cranberries and walnuts with raspberry vinaigrette. The sandwiches too bear delightful names like Catnip (a hint, this one has tuna); black eyed Susan (contains black olives). Others just conjure the flowers for which they are named: amaryllis, carnation, delphinium, cornflower, and viola. You can even create your own “flower” (sandwich) by your choice of bread, meat, cheese, garnishes. The breads alone sound tempting just by themselves: brown sugar bread, whole grain raisin, whole grain apple, whole grain blueberry. The desserts are all homemade too, presented on a tray to make your decision all the more difficult.

David and I took the opportunity to eat dinner here twice, both times sitting at our favorite table on the corner of the patio where we could have an uninterrupted view of the gardens.









We suspect that our time in this area is waning, and we wanted to try one of the delicious sounding brunches that are offered on Saturdays and Sundays. So this past Sunday after church, we drove to Flowers in the Kitchen. There are “themes” throughout the year, and blackberries were being featured at this time. (David has had the blackberry glazed salmon and I the blackberry grilled shrimp for dinner.) So for brunch, I was wanting to try the French toast which was a cinnamon swirl bread stuffed with cream cheese and banana, topped with black raspberry jam. Sliced almonds gave the perfect touch on top for flavor and crunchiness. Ohhh, it was sooo good!

We dined inside this time as rain was threatening. Even the décor inside makes it a cozy place to eat.




The table decorations carried on the theme of blackberries as there were vases of the dried seedpods of blackberry lilies on each of the tables.




If you are ever in Elizabethtown, we highly recommend a visit to Flowers in the Kitchen --- just an absolute delight! They are open Monday through Thursday 10:30 to 3, Friday
and Saturday 10:30 to 9, and Sunday from 9 to 2. (Lunch all day, dinner from 5:00 til 8:30.)



And for the Jersey Shore folks reading this, Polly is a cousin to the Heisey’s. Small world!

July 19, 2008 Maytown Garden Tour

On one of our drives about the countryside, I spotted a sign for a garden tour that was going to be held in nearby Maytown.





This is another cute little town with many old and interesting houses, which I love to see. So I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to peek into their gardens! These pictures don’t need a running commentary --- just enjoy. Potting sheds and water features seemed to be a recurring themes.







































Peek-a-boo!