Woodyoak, I certainly always enjoy working with clients that like bold color in the garden, but have a hard time with those who also insist on roses! It is particularly easy to use color in the landscape here in California; as we have the bright light, year round growing climate, and the ability to use subtropicals, succulents, temperate plants, etc in unique combinations that are only possible as summer annuals or container plantings in more severe climates. I do tend to find myself biased against some long time traditional plants used here in the northern California landscape, as they don't seem as well adapted to current conditions, or have developed diseases that tend to mar their beauty. In that respect, Camellia japonica is not one of my favorites, as the flowers are almost always disfigured by petal blight these days. Most Rhododendrons are also suspect in my view, too many get disfiguring thrips that mar the foliage, or look tortured from lack of ideal conditions, they don't gracefully accept our drier summers and lack of rains. Roses, except for a few, generally don't have the form to look good in a garden when out of bloom, and I hate getting pricked by them, moreso than any of the other various spiney things I do enjoy growing. Fall blooming Chrysanthemums are another pet peeve, with an all too short bloom season for the amount of space they take up and pinching they require to keep them in bounds. I've never understood why the fall blooming asters aren't equally popular,(I really do know why, they can be rather thuggish in a border), or less common but equally beautiful fall bloomers like Nerine bowdenii. In general, I am most attracted to those flowering things outside of the spring season. I want to see flowers in the dead of winter, which would give me a reason to venture out into the cold and the wet to experience them. And if you can incidentally combine subtle or strong fragrance with late season bloom, this combination in particular gets to my own heart and soul... Color in the landscape is something that speaks to me in its own language. While the deep greens of a lush northern forest or a japanese style garden can be beautiful, it is not a style I would seek to surround myself with. Give me the brilliant jewel tones of massively blooming bougainvillea against stucco walls and azure skies, the steely blue foliage of a Blue Hesper Palm, a sweep of deep blue Blue Chalk Sticks/Senecio mandraliscae set against the deep purple black foliage of Aeonium 'Schartzkop', or the equally intense nearly black foliage of the Purple Smoke bush, etc, etc. Vivid color in plants and trees is all around us, and there to be exploited visually in gardens in any climate. In fact, in some of the most severe climates, massive displays of color seem to outdo themselves; such as the west coast deserts(Namaqualand) of South Africa or the Sonoran deserts of southern Arizona in early spring bloom, or the alpine meadows of the Sierra Nevada or Rocky's in June/July after snow melt. I also enjoy seeing strangely incongruent color combinations such as hillsides full of Euphorbia dendroides in red leaf in May in Crete, ready to go dormant for the dry season and giving an early taste of fall color to the landscape. This is a plant that is found growing across much of the mediterranean, but never seems to have made it into gardens looking for compatible plantings below the Olive trees, but they belong together. In the same way, some of the most vividly blooming subtropical trees also bloom when they are naked of leaves, and are much more dramatic as a result. Tabebuias, Jacarandas, Chorisias all come to mind as examples of this phenomenon, or our more typical spring blooming stone fruits or California natives such as our Aesculus californicus. If you are really attracted to bold use of color in the landscape, it is worth getting more familiar with the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx's work. At his best, he was a master of using plantings much as paints to create modernist gardens full of swirling and contrasting colors. Certainly he has influenced current american landscape architects such as Oehmes and Van Sweden as well, who design plantings in similar large blocks, but with temperate plant materials. It does seem as if many landscape designers and architects are not familiar enough with the planting possibilities to effectively use flowers and color to their maximum impact. Or could it also be that the use of color other than greens does not call out to them in the same way as it does to those who crave color? Don't apologize about your preferences, get out there and design something that makes people take note of the other possibilities, establish your own style and see whether you influence anyone to your point of view!

I would like anything from a good bakery. My birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving and mostly just before or after. I have had my share of supermarket turkey shaped cakes and cakes with pilgrims. I used to ask for ice cream cakes as a kid because they at least had ice cream and usually weren't awful.....The worst was when I was 16. I wanted something grown up and beautiful. My sister talked my boyfriend and my parents into going to a amusement/arcade park for a surprise. The place was a castle themed park called Camelot. All the kids at my school called it "scam-a-lot" I was horrified. When the girl brought out the cake badly frosted and with day glow icing clowns and balloons I asked them to get it boxed and we went home to have ice cream instead. At least none of my friends saw it all. No I am not stealing this from the show Golden Girls. This actually happened to me! I had another cake disaster for my graduation. My sis and I got the freshest ingredients and made a cake from a cake bible cookbook from the library. I had spent a week prior making frosting roses for this masterpiece had saving them in the freezer. We made the cake and tasted the trimmed off parts it was fantastic! The next day we frosted it and that evening when the family tried it it was so dry no one wanted to eat it. After that I always ordered a cake from the European bakery I love in Pasadena. The other cake fail I was involved in was my cousin's wedding. She knew I could do frosting flowers well so she asked me to come over and decorate her wedding cake. She wanted me to use this lavender icing she made. I decorated the whole thing and we set it by the window. After an hour into the reception, the purple icing in the sunlight faded to blue and was melting a little. My part of the family was out drinking and laughing on the grass. My cousin's husband's family was inside being shocked at the drinking going on outside. The cake suddenly started to lean and lucky her husband's brother was sitting close by and grabbed for it. The top 2 tiers were saved but the lower ones crashed. She didn't put in any supports inside. But, great sport that she is, she just laughed and served her husband's family the upper layers and our family the toppled ones. We didn't mind a bit. She's a great gal and can laugh through anything. One of the weddings I can say I really enjoyed. Sliding color changing cake and all. Please no one get a bright colored cake for a birthday. At my granddad's 90th, my aunt ordered a NASA themed cake with dark blue icing. My Grandad worked in the space program after being in the air force during WWII. Everybody had a dark blue tongue and blue teeth. All these old people with blue lips and teeth! I love a simple cake with almond extract and some fresh ripe strawberries or peaches and whipped cream. I had a fantastic cake once made with 4 different pastel fruit flavored layers and also a very good Black Forest cake by a Belgian pastry chef who used to have a bakery in my city but has now retired. I'm too wary to try a special cake again but I love to make pies and decorate cupcakes with fresh flowers.

Well that's great, Al! I'm kind of a gym head and normally if I get tempted my response is "two words: washboard abs." But, like you, I like to bake, and as you say, it's good to have a cheat day or a treat. My gym manager and I are Facebook friends, and last night we were having a discussion about the virtues of frosting, LOL. We're both content with the frosting, any cake being optional, but in the case of your goodies here, I'll exercise the option. :-)

Ann, DH is one of those people who sometimes say they hate something that they have never tried. He really wants to lose weight, but he really likes his snacks. And usually more than one or two in an evening. So I have tried some unusual combinations of things and as long as I don't tell him what's in it before he tastes it, he gives it a fair shake. One of his favorites is sugar-free fat-free vanilla pudding with sliced bananas and cous cous (which he thought was tapioca). I don't lie to him, I just don't disclose everything before the tasting. He also hates eggplant, but he loves my eggplant pizza. I slice the eggplant, brush it with olive oil and broil it (both sides, then add marinara sauce, low-fat pepperoni, fat-free cheese, then bake until the cheese "sort of" melts. There have been several things that DH thought he didn't like - until I found the right venue for that particular item. He now eats tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and vinegar and summer squash several different ways, both items he "hated". As for the garbanzo bean cake, it worked well with the Splenda, but I think next time I will increase it to 1 cup. I didn't take into account the extra sweetness the chocolate chips would have added. The cocoa and applesauce also worked well. I served it with fat-free Cool Whip. DH said it was "okay". I'll keep tweaking it until it satisfies me. This is in no way a reflection on the original recipe, I just have to adjust it to fit our needs.