Rosie Visits With Maxine.

Mr. Hawthorne dropped me off at Maxine's in Danville Friday afternoon.

Maxine, as always, had a lovely spread for Friday night dinner - rare steaks, white sweet potatoes, spinach and mixed greens salad with balsamic vinegar and oil. Correct me if I'm wrong, Maxine, but I believe you seared the steaks over medium high heat in an iron skillet on one side for 3 minutes, then turned the steaks over and popped them in a 425 degree oven for three more minutes. Perfect. The third plate was for the lovely Carmen ... ... who brought these beautiful camellias.

Saturday, I wandered through Maxine's garden. Naturally, I turned to my friend Marilyn, of Foodies Untie, for identification. It's Ornithogalum nutans, AKA Star of Bethlehem or Silver Bells and is native to Ukraine, Greece, and Turkey Thanks again, Mar.

The Stars of Bethlehem line Maxine's backyard walkway, in front of her budding azaleas and the tucked-in bird bath.

Here's a pretty little Viola odorata.

Maxine's front yard is full of Iberis or Candy Tuft.

Beautiful red berries on Maxine's Nandina.

Too bad I missed the azaleas in bloom. Maxine made us a delicious lunch for Saturday. Perfectly cooked al dente pasta with black olives, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, spinach, garbanzo beans, goat feta cheese, sunflowers, almonds, and peanuts with a light Balsamic vinegar and Canola oil dressing and freshly ground salt and pepper.

Oh my, but this was good. Thanks, Maxine. Stay tuned for our dinner.