{Our Camellia Sinensis Tea Plant and Japanese Magnolia}

• On Thursday, March 3 at the end of the day with still some sun light, I took these pictures. It was so pretty for capturing our blooming Camellia Sinensis Tea Plant adjacent to one of the Japanese Magnolias; Magnolia x soulangeana.

• Since than it has rained a couple of days so the magnolia leaves are for a big part under the trees...
• Rain is also not making the Camellias look any better!

• The Camellia Sinensis has not been that pretty in years.

• In general white Camellias do brown easily after a heavy rain.

Some rain damage visible on the edges...

• You see how huge such a flower is?
• I've put my hand there to turn this one towards the camera as it was hanging face down to the ground...

• This is the other Japanese magnolia at 6:15 PM. Can you believe such lovely weather till the end of the day? 
• Now it looks miserable... of course rain is good for the lawn as it just is starting to re-grow.

• The good thing is that we view these magnolia trees from our bay window at breakfast time and any time we share a meal.

Japanese Magnolia or Magnolia x soulangeana

• The Ipheion Star Flower is coming up next...

• Our pot plants meanwhile remain inside our greenhouse till there is no more danger for frost at night.

• Pieter is mighty proud of the Almond tree from a cutting, which is blooming inside the greenhouse now. Thinking it is already SPRING...

Enjoy our Spring Gardens by having a tour at Book an Event.

{Cooking Class with Lady Chef Maria from Ristorante da Maria}

FINALLY I got admitted to one of Maria's sought after cooking classes. One cannot book soon enough, as they are sold out each and every time. Well, that's NO wonder considering the excellent Lady Chef, Maria Runggaldier is, at her authentic Italian Ristorante da Maria (←click it) in the heart of Georgia. So on Wednesday evening I had the honor to watch this elegant Lady Chef and Friend with a group of participants at her cooking class. There were several male participants who joined their wives at Maria's Italian Cooking Class. And why not?! Each one of us got the printed booklet with recipes to take home + valuable notes in addition to that.

Lady Chef Maria is a very talented and charming lady!

Those of you who have not yet tasted her scrumptious dishes have been missing out on quite an experience! She's by far the best Chef in the whole region!

Maria also is a dear friend. Having lived and worked only two hours away from where she's from, in northern Italy, kind of bonded us. And, we both LOVE her food...

Maria did prepare very well for this class.

 Fresh Sage and Basil waiting to be used...

First dish: Little Summer Lasagnette wih tomato, mozzarella and basil pesto

Lasagnette d'estate con pomodori, mozzarella a pesto al basilico

Entrée: 'Saltimbocca' of Veal or Chicken

Saltimbocca di vitello o pollo

Side dishes: 'Peperonata' stewed peppers

Peperonata

Butter-herb Potatoes

Patate al burro ed erbe

Dessert: Chocolate and Strawberry Parfait

Parfait al cioccolato e fragole

Watching Maria prepare the dessert and making notes of all the Chef's secrets, she expertly did pass on.

For me, and for all participants (she only can take up to 10) this unique experience taught us more than a handful of valuable little secrets, that nowhere can be found in any cook book. Very professional and quite entertaining, she captivated our attention during the entire class. Her assistent worked alongside and at all times the kitchen was kept looking neat. 

We were all very impressed, also about the calm and highly professional approach.

The lasagna sheets and fresh made pesto and tomato sauce is being assembled with the mozzarella for the Little Summer Lasagnette.

Maria's hands move very swift and it's hard to capture it on camera...

Here the chicken breasts have been butterflied and prepared with the Prosciutto cotto and sage leaves for the 'Saltimbocca'

 Same procedure now for the Veal Top Round Scaloppini

The Summer Lasagnette is ready to be cut...

 Above is our first dish!

Entrée... Yummy tasting!

A view across our long table with fine table linens, to make it into a very festive Wednesday evening dinner.

Chocolate and strawberry parfait to finish this memorable class.
To anyone who is living in the area I can only highly reccommend to attend, as it is amazing what all you learn about creating a healthy and scrumptious meal yourself with confidence!

Maria's next cooking class is on Wednesday, April 27th...

Related link:

5 FIERCE FEMALE GEORGIA CHEFS YOU SHOULD KNOW | as published in EXPLORE GEORGIA in July 2019

{Celestina Marie Design Send Parcel}

Today was like Christmas in March... Several parcels arrived and from sweet Celestina Marie Design (← click it) I got the most precious one. By the way, Christmas in March is not far from reality, as this artist lady has twice designed Christmas ornaments for the Blue Room Christmas tree in the White House! For 1998 (President Bush) and 2004 (President Clinton). You can read about that in her blog: Miss C ~ Goes to Washington (← click it).

Celestina Marie gave me this heart as a GIFT! Her heart... and look how pretty it is. The River Rock that I purchased from her Etsy shop Celestina Marie Design, makes a perfect paper weight too and both are done in her signature romantic cottage style. Let me show you how she does wrap her items for shipment to her customers... This was inside the parcel and another gift that I will show later as it is a surprise for a dear friend. Oh, one more thing about Celestina Marie. She wrote such a lovely post about her Daddy who was a WWII veteran and died October 21, 1998 ~ missing his daughter's visit to the White House but for sure from heaven he did watch her and her husband going there. You can view her post about her Daddy: Remembering Veteran's Day (← click it) and scroll all he way down, past the great story she first does about another fine artist lady that gives back to our Veterans. My husband and I are very respectful towards ALL our veterans!

A rose card was glued on top of the parcel with the rock and the heart was wrapped up likewise with a tulle fabric bow. She even added a silk rose that was stuffed with lavender buds... Her style of presenting things deserves to be put on a 925/000 silver tray for presentation!

Do you see the lavender buds inside the rose?

THANK YOU Celestina Marie!