Flower News

Tiptoe through the tulips at this annual flowery fest in Waxahachie

If you like tulips, this is your event. Photo by Jane Howze

A flower festival mounts a comeback this spring: Called Tulipalooza, it's an annual charity fundraiser in Waxahachie specializing in tulips, and this year will take place at the Waxachachie Civic Center from March 19-28.

There'll be a quarter million tulips imported from Holland. Although actually, that should say tulip bulbs. They import the bulbs, then grow them in Waxahachie into flowers, which the likes of you and me can buy.

The tulip farm first opened in spring 2019, and describes itself as the biggest tulip farm in the Waxahachie area, not likely a claim anyone would dispute.

Tulipalooza is a venture by Poston Gardens Foundation, to raise money to fund scholarships at Daymark Living, a residential community for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The 2020 festival happened right when the world shut down to the COVID-19 quarantine. The tulips were still there, but visitors were not allowed and fundraising efforts shriveled due to the lack of traffic.

Nonetheless, they still raised enough money to fund three, four-year scholarships.

And Tulipalooza also provides volunteer and work opportunities for residents of Daymark Living.

This year, they'll share the venue with 12 other North Texas charities so they can raise awareness and necessary funds for charity; 100 percent of the proceeds from ticket and tulip sales will go to charity.

The charities participating in Tulipalooza will include:
• Act
• Best Buddies
• Catholic Charities of Dallas
• Easter Seals
• Goodwill Industries of Dallas, Inc.
• Minority Entrepreneurship Institute
• Poston Gardens Foundation
• The Rise School of Dallas
• Special Olympics of Texas
• The TouchDown Club of Dallas
• United Way
• YMCA Dallas

"It’s really inspiring to be part of this group of North Texas charities banding together to create a one-of-a-kind fundraiser that supports multiple missions to improve the lives of many underserved populations,” says John Poston, Founder of Poston Gardens and Daymark Living, in a statement. "After having to end the season early due to COVID in 2020, we are really looking forward to welcoming guests to enjoy our tulips in full bloom this year."

Tulipalooza will be open rain or shine from 10 am-7 pm. Tickets are $20 for adults, and $5 for children two and up on weekends; on weekdays, it's $15 for adults.

Chefs on TV News

Itinerant Dallas chef John Tesar lands spot on groaning new TV show

House of Knives

John Tesar on House of Knives.

Occasional Dallas chef John Tesar is back on TV, this time in a shlocky cooking show called House of Knives, which premiered on Food Network on March 18, and will air every Tuesday at 8 pm. (It can also be streamed on HBO Max, and the first episode is now on YouTube.)

The series, which boasts an insufferable theme that draws from HBO series Game of Thrones, has eight episodes, and the finale will air on Tuesday, May 6 when one chef wins a $100,000 grand prize.

The show is hosted by chef and Chopped judge Scott Conant, garbed in a highly questionable maroon suit; he's one of three judges with chefs Marcus Samuelson and Judy Joo. They form a "council" because Game of Thrones theme.

It's been at least a decade since Game of Thrones mattered, but both Food Network and HBO are owned by Warner Brothers, so they're just exploiting their collateral.

But the result is really groaning metaphors like "who is going to be exiled" and visual effects such as a row of burning flames.

Here's a sampling of some cringey Game of Thrones-themed lines:

"The last chef sitting on that throne will claim the culinary crown."
"You tried to protect your throne valiantly."
"You are now the new esteemed ruler in this House of Knives."
"Sleep with both eyes open, chefs."

House of Knives chefs with host Scott Conant in his unsettling maroon suit.Warner Bros.

Each competing chef has a big banner with their name on it hanging behind their station — to represent their "house." When a chef gets kicked off the show, their banner drops with a flourish, like a curtain falling. So dramatic.

And when they knock someone out, they say "Your house has fallen." Curtain whoosh.

Tesar, who can barely still be called a Dallas chef since he seems to spend as much time in California and Florida (if you go by his Instagram account), is a cooking show ham, reflexively reciting quotable quotes that get his mug on screen such as:

"I'm the one chef with a Michelin star so I'm not going to be the first one banished."
"The scariest thing about this game is who's gonna come in next because it could be anybody in the entire culinary world."
"Everybody thinks I'm a meat guy but I really grew up on the bay and the ocean. My dad took me fishing every Saturday and Sunday, I was on a boat catching flounders."

The shocker is the actual throne, an angular vinyl lounge chair that looks more like a crew seat on the Starship Enterprise than the original Iron Throne. Why on earth did the props department ignore the opportunity to create a throne out of knives?

In addition to Tesar, other chefs appearing on the House of Knives over the season include Anne Burrell, Shirley Chung, Kelsey Bernard Clark, Poppy O’Toole, Viet Pham, Jonathon Sawyer, Martel Stone, and Claudette Zepeda.

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