Back to the initial question: Just speculating on the age, there appears to be 13 or 14 growth "rings", each represents a new leaf - so depending on how quickly it grows, say 3-4 leaves per year in a decent environment, or 5-6 if growing conditions are perfect, you can guess that the plant is maybe about 3-4 years old from the time the trunk begins to form, I think it takes about 2 years to begin forming a trunk so my guess is this bottle is about 6 years old, +/- 18 months. I acquired a bottle palm in early June, a new spear was just starting to show. I repotted the plant, and despite the transplant shock that new frond is now opening up, it grows about an inch a day, more or less. I water it generously, 4 times a day if I'm home. They like lots of water.

Thanks all. I'm really excited. I've been wanting to do something like this for years, but it's only recently that work has let me stay local long enough to make even a brief commitment. And thanks for the birthday wishes - but you all sent them weeks ago on my actual birthday! ;) p.s. Annie - I immediately thought of you when I read the sentence "Most importantly, youÂll gain the experience you need to cook with confidence and pleasure---without relying strictly on recipes." LOL!

I just remembered this recipe I've made before, and it was quite tasty. It lists separate herbs, but I bet you can use an equivalent amount of one of your new blends. I think you could use this method for just about any bread recipe, but this is what was in the cookbook, so that's how I'll post it. Herbed Monkey Bread From The Kind Arthur Flour Baker's Companion 10 small servings 1 recipe white bread 101 (recipe to follow) Herb Coating 3 to 5 tablespoons (1 1/4 to 2 3/8 ounces) Olive Oil* 1 tablespoon fresh stemmed thyme, or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tablespoon dried 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 garlic clove, minced Combine the oil, herbs, and garlic. Set the mixture aside. Prepare White Bread 101 up through it's first rise. Grease the bottom and sides of a small (8-inch) tube or bundt-style pan, or a deep (2 inches or deeper) 8-inch cake pan or souffle dish. Turn out the risen dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 32 small pieces, each about the size of a chestnut and weighing approximately 3/4 ounce. Place about a third of them in the bottom of the pan if you're using a small bundt-style pan. If you're using a cake pan, put about two-thirds of the pieces into it. Brush the dough in the pan with the herb coating. Continue to layer with the remaining balls, brushing the top layer with the remaining herb oil. (If you've used the greater amount of olive oil, dip each piece of dough into the oil to coat it completely before layering it into the pan.) Let the bread rise, covered, for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the bread for 30 to 35 minutes, until it's golden. Remove it from the oven and invert it onto a serving platter; the crispy bottom crust should be on top. Serve warm. *Use 3 tablespoons of oil if you simply want to drizzle the herb coating over the bough balls once they're in the pan. To thoroughly coat each dough ball before putting them in the pan, use 5 tablespoons of olive oil. This extra oil will give the bread a delicious crisp crust. Here's the bread recipe. I'll go ahead and enter the complete recipe, even though for the Monkey Bread you'll not use the whole process. White Bread 101 1 loaf, 16 slices 3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons instant yeast 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 3 tablespoons (1 1/4 ounces) sugar 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) butter 1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) nonfat dry milk 1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) potato flour, or 1/3 cup (3/4 ounce) potato flakes 1 1/8 cups (9 ounces) lukewrm water Combine all the ingredients and mix and knead them together - by hand, mixer, or bread machine - until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Adjust the dough's consistency with additional flour or water as needed; but remember, the more flour you add while you're kneading, the heavier and drier your final loaf will be. Cover and let the dough rise for 1 hour, until it's puffy (though not necessarily doubled in bulk). Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface and shape it into an 8-inch log. Transfer the log to a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan, cover the pan (a proof cover works well here), and let the bread rise until the outer edge has risen about 1 inch over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Uncover the pan and bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil for the final 10 to 15 minutes if it appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the bread from the oven, take it out of the pan, and place it on a wire rack to cool completely. After 15 minutes, brush it with butter, if desired; this will give it a soft crust. Sally

I was raised to only buy something if you can pay for it outright. With the exception of cars, houses. To borrow money and pay interest or administration fees etc was is a waste of money. True but with this wisdom in mind it means that it takes a long time to buy the big wants. So this year I did a happy dance when a good sale came on for a camera, the old one was completely outdated and dead. So this was my BD and Christmas present to myself. By definition buying for yourself is not a gift but what would you call it then. This camera wasn't a need its is purely a "toy" for my enjoyment. The money that paid for it could have paid for necessities or put into savings so using it to pay for the camera was to me a gift to myself. I don't plan to sell anything or try to make extra cash to make up the money I used to buy it so to me this is a gift I bought myself. I also indulged by using my in store points earned over the last two years (not a credit card) at a local drugstore/grocery store to get a tablet. I could have used the points to get groceries or gifts for others but decided that I would use them on myself instead, another toy for me that I would consider a gift because I choose not to be practicle with these points. So to answer the OP question I do not usually buy myself gifts but this year treated myself really well. ( I also do not buy gifts to myself paid for buy someone else) I guess I should write myself a nice thank you note ... hmm :)