THE VILLAGE VOICE

"Now every field is clothed with grass, and every tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their blossoms, and the year assumes its gay attire." ~ Virgil Pansies, hyacinths and daffodils Yoshino cherry blossoms, shadblow serviceberry blossoms ( Amelanchier canadensis ), American Elm Forsythia Tulips Groundcover (myrtle, pachysandra , bergenia ) Trillium

" If one daffodil is worth a thousand pleasures, then one is too few." - William Wordsworth ________________________ DAFFODIL CAKE ~ from Elmwood Inn (Ireland) ( www.elmwoodinn.com ) _______________ Yellow batter : 3/4 cups sifted flour 3/4 tsp. baking powder 6 egg yolks 2 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 Tbsp. cold water 1/2 cup granulated sugar Sift cake flour and baking powder together six times. Beat egg yolks with lemon juice and water until thick, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar. Sift a fourth of the flour mixture at a time over the egg mixture; fold in. White batter: 1/2 cup sifted cake flour 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar 6 egg whites at room temperature 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar 1/2 tsp. vanilla 1/8 tsp. salt 1/2 cup granulated sugar powdered sugar Sift cake flour and powdered sugar together six times. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar, vanilla, and salt. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar. Sift a fourth...

"Poultry is for the cook what canvas is for the painter." ~ Brillat - Savarin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Anthelme_Brillat-Savarin ) _____________________ FORTY-CLOVE GARLIC CHICKEN ~ a surprisingly mild, perfect 'end of winter' meal adapted from The Garlic Lovers' Cookbook created in Gilroy , The Garlic Capital of the World -- " ... the only town in America where you can marinate a steak just by hanging it out on the clothesline." (Will Rogers) === 1 plump chicken (a capon would be lovely) rinsed & patted dry 40 cloves of garlic 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 stalks of celery and leaves 1 bunch of minced parsley 1 Tbsp. thyme 1 Tbsp. rosemary 1 lemon 2 bay leaves 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup vermouth coarse salt & freshly cracked pepper Sprinkle cavity of bird with lemon juice and half of herbs, salt & pepper. Stuff with celery, bay leaves and sliced lemon rind. Massage bird with 2 Tbsp. olive oil and remaining herbs, salt ...

GARDENING NOTE: All daffodils are Narcissus, which is the genus name. According to the International Cultivar Registration Authority (for Narcissus and for several other flowers that is the UK's Royal Horticultural Society) daffodil is accepted as a common name for all members of the Narcissus genus. However, most people think of daffodils as the single flower, large trumpet yellow ones, which are the most common kind of daffodils, and call the smaller headed scented varieties, narcissi . The Oxford Dictionary defines narcissus (plural narcissi ) as "any of a group of flowers including jonquils and daffodils, especially the kind with heavily-scented single white flowers". In fact, even the growers of the scented varieties ... call all of their products white or yellow, single or multi-headed, " narcissi ".The flower is named after Narcissus in Greek legend ... "Narcissus" comes from the Greek for "numbness" referring to the narcotic proper...