---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.02
  
       Title: TULIP, CRAB, AND ASPARAGUS APPETIZERS
  Categories: Appetizers, Seafood, Flowers
       Yield: 25 servings
  
       3 oz Cream cheese; softened
       2 ts Lemon juice
       1 tb Minced chives
       1 ts Minced fresh dill or mint
            -(Optional)
       1 ds Pepper or cayenne
       1 c  Crab meat, flaked
      25    Fresh asparagus spears
      25    Tulip petals
  
   In a medium bowl, beat cheese with lemon juice, herbs, and pepper; stir in
   crab.
   Break tough ends off asparagus.  Blanch in 1 inch of boiling water in a
   large skillet with a lid, or steam standing upright in a couple of inches
   of water in a tall, narrow pot, until crisp-tender, 2 to 5 minutes,
   depending on thickness of stems.  Plunge into an ice-water bath for 1
   minute; then pat dry.  Trim asparagus to abut 5 inches; from the
   trimmings, cut as many 1/4-inch rounds as you have tulip petals.  Save
   extra ends for salads.
   Fill each tulip petal with about 1/2 a rounded teaspoon of crab mixture
   and garnish with an asparagus round.  (If your petals are large and
   asparagus thin, you can use 3 rounds to garnish each filled petal.)
   Arrange asparagus in a fan on a serving platter and place tulip petals
   alternately (or create your own pattern).
  
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