My friend and fellow writer, Dixie, had the most unusual flowering plant by her back porch in Lincoln, CA. It was nearly as tall as I, flowering lavender-blue. It looked like an alien sunflower, but it wasn’t. I finally guessed correctly – it’s an artichoke gone to flower. 

Dixie cut one for me, and it now sits with peonies in a floral arrangement on my table. That was my inspiration while cooking for company yesterday. My planned spinach salad was transformed, and turned out pretty cute. The crumbled bacon in the middle looks like sunflower seeds, and the eggs, the petals. It’s just a traditional spinach salad, but arranged with a summer hand.