Hello Everyone!!! HI Chuy!!! Thank you!! You are always so upbeat and I always love to hear from you!!! The guest loved the blooms!!! Hi Barb!! Thank you as well.. The Desert Sunrise changes all of the time. I think it really should be called the Camillieon!! LOL. It is always changing and I love every single color change... It is one of my favorites!!! Hope you are having a great blooming season. Love to see your pics... Hi Brian... You are right. DS is a stand out and I would recommend this cultivar to everyone. It has been the first to bloom here and it is still going strong. The blooms smell wonderful and they last well in a vase too!!! ( stay quality ). Hope you are well.. Ahhhhhhhh. Robert... You are correct !! Lol, they did put their noses in the blooms.. They even picked up the displays and looked closer. You know I LOVED that!!! Lol.. We know we would do the same, after asking of course!!! I also was one that kept putting my nose to the table. Before during and after dinner... I just love there flowers.. WE all do. That is why it is fun to share... Thank You!! I know you would have your nose deep in the blooms!!! ;-) Hi Rox!!! THANK YOU !!!! I have never done this... But it is a great idea!! I just pick and put right I to the little vials of water. But, I think it would work.. They do this for the leis in Hawaii, so it would be a great idea.. Mahalo for that!! ;-). Thanks for the invite .. Have a wonderful time at your Luau!!! Wish I could be there... Hi George aka Simi!!! I am glad she twisted my arm too!!! The heat always is changing the color on my DS.. You never know what change from day to day... It is amazing!! I, glad you bought one. You will love her!!!! As always, thanks for the compliments!!! Hi Peg!! I was making one for a friend... Then when I was looking at the table, it needed something else, so I added the other wood display and it just seemed to connect!!! I like how it flows and it looks like it was made to follow the flow... I think I have to make my friend another... Lol!!! ;-) Thanks for twisting my arm... ;-) Hi Mark!!! I like the white one too!! Funny... It is the only NOID there!! When I trim the white... I'll be in touch!!! Thank YOU!!! Mscynthia!! Thank you !! You are so right about lusting after DS. I would advise you to put her at the top of your list... She is that impressive to me!! My guest loved the blooms... Lol.. I was even asked to name them at dinner.. Lucky for me.. I could name them all. Didn't open the wine yet!!! ;-) Hi Manuel... Thank youso much for the kind compliment!! I really enjoy making them and finally having the blooms to fill the vials. This year has been a great year for me and my trees and the blooms are just beautiful... The fragrance at night is simply divine... Tuberose is so strong and fills the air in the evening. Hope you are having a wonderful summer!! Mahalo!! Take care , I hope you all are enjoying the summer... My Taj Mahal is about to open as well as Pele, JJ Orange and Keiki Lavender.. I'm really excited!! Then I'm afraid that the wood displays will have to be put away for the year.. Hopefully the blooming season will last for another month or so... Mahalo!!! Laura

It sounds like you already have some ideas. I think there are so many different things you can make with just the veggie and sea food ingredients that both you and your guest enjoy. I think a Thai style menu would work well I also think an Indian style menu would work If you don't consider it too exotic for your palate give it a try. You don't need oven or microwave to make either of these cuisines and a rice can be cooked in your rice cooker in no time. Thai Menu: Some type of soup or your salad would be fine but dress it with a soy peanut and lime dressing. Use lettuce, bean sprouts, scallions and grated carrots to give it an asian feel. Instead of croutons sprinkle some toasted peanuts to finish it off. For the main course make a thai style shrimp curry. You can make your own curry or buy a store bought (Any Asian market will sell it). Mix the curry with couple of cans of coconut milk. Let it simmer until it's thick, add the shrimps to it, squeeze of lime and garnish with cilantro. Serve it with rice. You can also make a vegetarian pad thai as yet another dish if you'd like to go elaborate. All you need are some rice noodles that you soak in hot water and then stir fry them with veggies of your choice (even frozen oriental mix will work). Ensure you use garlic and ginger as you stir fry it and add some soy, sugar, lime juice and scramble eggs. Finally add the noodles. Garnish with lime quarters and cilantro Dessert - Mango Icecream or Sorbet. Hagan Daz makes many exotic versions of this. It's a fitting end to a Thai meal. Indian Menu Salad - You can use whatever salad you planned to. Try to find some pappadums that you can fry up (available at Indian stores). Also buy a few dipping sauces (green and red also available at Indian store, known as chutneys). Pappadums can be served with a salad and some dipping sauces as a starter Main - Make a shrimp curry. Again coconut milk cans and perhaps Patak or any other ready to make curry mix. It's easy and results are very good. Add shrimps, garnish with cilantro Spicy Potatoes and cautliflower - Make this Indian style. Chop an onion and fry it in oil. Add curry powder to it along with some freshly grated ginger and garlic. Add the potatoes and cauliflower. Cover and cook it until tender. Garnish with cilantro. Dessert - Mango Icecream will work well with this too.

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I love dinner parties, too, but if I got an invitation to one from someone I didn't know, just dropped in the mailbox, there is no way I'd attend that party. Inviting people to dinner is probably not the best first step in making new friends. It's a bit too much, too soon. The way to meet your neighbors is to get out of your house when they are also outside. Smile and say "hi" to people you meet on walks. Go over to next door and ask them a question--could they recommend a plumber? a good pizza place? somewhere to buy a ladder? Get to know people first, then invite them over. You could have a dinner party where you invite three of your newly-met neighbors and ask them all to bring one new person to the party. I did one time realize that all the tenants in my three-family house and the two houses next door were all single women. So I arranged a summer afternoon get-together with all of us, just so we could meet and know who our neighbors were--and who we could call on if we needed some help. Tea, lemonade, cookies and some fruit, and about two hours of fun conversation. It was easy for people to come and go, and not feel locked into staying for hours, as they would with a dinner party. I don't fault you for wanting to make new friends, but I just think a formal dinner party is not the way to go.