Southern Living May 2021

I’M NOT PROUD of this memory, but I’m going to share it anyway. When I was about 12 years old, growing up in Memphis, I had a competitive friendship with my next-door neighbor, Josh. We were rivals at everything—basketball, Ping-Pong, Atari video games, ghost in the graveyard, you name it. He was more athletic and usually won, but that didn’t diminish the intensity of the battles. Sometimes tempers would flare, and one day, after an argument over a questionable call in a game of touch football, he stormed off in protest. As he passed the Evans house, he punched our brown metal mailbox, and because it was a little wobbly to begin with, it landed with a clang in the street. Not to be outdone, I ran to his house…

WHAT WE’RE LOVING, SHARING, AND CELEBRATING THE TULIP UPGRADE You can give a bouquet of grocery store tulips (we used three varieties: French, variegated, and standard single) unexpected dimension by popping their petals to create a showstopping focal point. Start with a third of the blooms, selecting ones that have just begun to open. Use your thumb to gently push the base of each petal until it snaps outward. This will reduce the life of the arrangement slightly, but it should still last four to five days. THE COLLECTED ARRANGEMENT Stick to this formula: height + cluster + hero. Foxgloves and snapdragons give the display a peak, working well together due to their similar sizes and structures. Group three peonies in a julep vase to balance out the real star: a wide-open peony bloom…

Chilled Cucumber Soup Process 3 chopped English cucumbers, 1 avocado, 3 cups packed fresh basil leaves, 1 cup packed fresh parsley leaves, ½ cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt, ½ cup ice-cold water, 3 sliced green scallion tops, 3 Tbsp. lime juice, and 1 ½ tsp. each Champagne vinegar and kosher salt in a blender until smooth, about 1 minute. Chill until cold, about 30 minutes. Garnish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, thinly sliced cucumber, basil leaves, and black pepper. ACTIVE 10 MIN. - TOTAL 15 MIN., PLUS 30 MIN. CHILLING - SERVES 4 Cucumber-Chickpea Salad with Feta-Mint Vinaigrette Toss together 2 sliced medium English cucumbers and ¼ tsp. kosher salt in a bowl. Let stand 5 minutes. Process ½ cup fresh mint leaves, ½ cup crumbled feta cheese, ⅓ cup olive oil,…

“I THINK THE BEST way for us to show our love for people is by cooking up a storm,” says Maryam Ishtiaq (@maryamishtiaq). The new mom and former e-commerce manager moved to Dallas with her husband, Nabeel Shah, in November 2019, just months before the coronavirus made gathering with their loved ones impossible. But she’s hopeful that she’ll be able to play hostess again this spring. Every year, Maryam, whose family moved to Atlanta from Pakistan when she was 12, observes Eid al-Fitr (an Islamic holiday that marks the end of the monthlong fast of Ramadan). In 2021, it falls in May. “After 30 days of fasting, people want to eat,” she says. “There are massive spreads of food, and we spend the day with family to celebrate Ramadan and…

MEGAN CAIN’S green thumb can be credited to a combination of nature and nurture. When she was growing up, her parents (both scientists who hailed from rural parts of the Carolinas) believed that a happy house had plenty of greenery. They filled their suburban Raleigh home with plants—lots of them. “We had over 100,” recalls Megan. “There were fiddleleaf figs, a variety of palms, succulents, and pothos vines cascading through the kitchen.” There was also a terrarium that her parents built in her father’s childhood home in the late 1980s, shortly after they got married. “I’d press my nose up against it as a kid and just be in awe of this world of greenery inside,” Megan says. So, when her mother, Margaret George, suggested that they take up terrarium building…

Fancy Feet A Virginia native shares Irish dancing with a new audience MORGAN BULLOCK saw Irish dancing for the first time when she was 10 years old. “It was like nothing I’d ever seen,” says the Richmond resident. “It was mesmerizing. I immediately asked my mom if I could start classes.” She’s been Irish dancing ever since and connecting with people all over the world thanks to this shared passion. In March 2020, when the coronavirus meant she was spending more time at home and online, the 21-year-old began posting videos of herself Irish dancing on TikTok, a social media platform. To her surprise, they went viral. “A lot of people were just shocked by it, especially by me not looking like how they would typically picture an Irish dancer,” she says.…