Spring Luncheon: Niçoise Salad with Planked Salmon Fillet

Spring has finally sprung!   The garden is in full glorious bloom, the birds are singing their little hearts out and the kitchen is switching gears to produce lighter meals with spring flavors.  To celebrate spring’s arrival,  I made a gorgeous niçoise salad dressed with a citrusy Meyer lemon vinaigrette and served it with spice-rubbed salmon, grilled on a cedar plank.  A Meyer lemon ricotta cake I featured last week made for a light springtime dessert.  A simple fresh menu, all gluten free, complete with a centerpiece from my garden.

Colorful spring arrangement from my garden: red tulips, daffodils, leucojum, Virginia bluebells, pink hellebores, viburnum branches still in bud. Do you recognize the trellis bread basket standing in as a vase?

Romantic Valentine Table for Two

“It is at the edge of a petal that love waits.”

William Carlos William

Whether you celebrate Valentines’ Day or not, this intimate table setting could also serve as inspiration for a special anniversary dinner, which in my case, is one and the same.