December 19th, 2014: Dinner Plate Dahlia 'Tartan' (Dahlia ) by pirl

The Bloom of the Day for December 19th, 2014 was Dinner Plate Dahlia 'Tartan' (Dahlia ).

View the bloom of the day here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/botd.php?date=2014-12-19

Thanks, Kell!!!

Tartan was the star of the dahlia garden in 2014. The tubers came from River's Dahlias and I can't praise them highly enough.

riversdahlias.com

I just sent a gift certificate to a friend from Rivers Dahlias on your recommendation Arlene. Thanks!

I hope you have a a very Merry Christmas Arlene with your family. I bet it will be so special with your new grandbaby! (relatively new! LOL)

PS
Guess what Tom is cooking tonight...........lobster! 2 big ones. I always think of you when I have lobster. LOL

That's a good way to think of me, either lobster or Godiva, or both!

You & Tom have a very Merry Christmas as well. I wished for snow but we'll get rain for Christmas Eve.

Little Robert turned a year old in September. What a live wire he is!

Your Robert is so adorable. I bet he is more than a bit spoiled. LOL I wish my kid would reproduce!

The lobster was so good. Usually lobster here has little taste. This was so sweet. YUM!

I am having trouble with River Dahlias. The gift certificate that was to be sent immediately via email never was sent. So I emailed them with my copy of my order and Paypal telling me it was paid. I got a timely response which made no sense. LOL It said:
"Let me know if you have any issues.
Eugene at River's Dahlias"

Well, my email Eugene was responding to told him that no gift certificate was sent was the issue. So now it has been 5 days and still no response. Maybe they are closed for the holidays.

Anyway, now to gear up for New Years! Hope you have a perfect one!

Is your son married? Better to wait for marriage to have grandkids!

Lobster should taste sweet. If it wasn't such a novelty item I doubt many would bother with it. Here's the lobster rolls from Cape Cod in June.

I wrote to Eugene, explained the problem again, and hope he will contact you shortly. Let me know, please!

Yes, New Year's and our 24th wedding anniversary on 1/1. Lots of good times to all for 2015.

Now that is sinful! LOL OH MY!!! I have never had such beautiful lobster rolls. I want! I have to show my husband that photo. It may have been last night I was watching a cooking show that featured a place in Maine that served lobsters. I had to go to Yelp right away and fantasize a trip. LOL. Though their rolls looked nothing like yours! Waterman’s Beach Lobster, South Thomaston

Tonight I am so thankful for my husband. I have been very ill and took a nap. I have been obsessing about chicken noodle soup. While I was sleep he made me a huge pot of homemade chicken noodle soup, even though he does not like it. LOL. I woke up to a huge hot bowl. So though no lobster rolls, I am so happy! LOL

Thanks for talking to Eugene. I did not know you actually knew him. He has written 2 emails in my box but I have not read them. Hopefully problem is solved.

How great you get to celebrate on 1/1 24 great years of true love. How romantic. Hope you have planned something special! It took 24 years to make that day for you both!

Now to go back and look at that photo of the best 2 lobster rolls I have ever seen!

The lobster rolls were wonderful but, strange as it seems, I enjoyed the lobster bisque even more.

Eugene replied to my Email and we both hope all is now well. I only "know" Eugene from maybe 6 Emails back and forth. I hope your friend is happy with whatever she selects.

What a good husband. My daughter was sick with a bad cold and her then boyfriend, now husband of 13 years, made a big pot of chicken soup for her...though he was a vegetarian at the time.

Maine's best lobster roll is supposedly found at Red's but we didn't wait in line for an hour and had one across the street that we loved. Still, Becky's Diner in South Portland has the best - even better than Arnold's (Route 6A, Eastham) Cape Cod.

My friend wants to know how much that lobster roll cost? We were just saying that no lobster dish in San Francisco, whatever it is, ever would have that much lobster, regardless of price. We are so deprived here.

How I wish I had taken photos of the price list! I think it was $15.95 but was $11.95 not that long ago!

For two lobster rolls (they come automatically with fries and coleslaw), two cups of lobster bisque, it was $45.00.

I'll take more photos in September since we're skipping June because too many restaurants are not open until mid June.

Here's a funny one for you that I just remembered. At this Southold restaurant, the North Fork Table and Inn, their lobster poached in butter was $44.00 in 2007! How I wish I had as much lobster as was in the lobster roll! This was an entree, not an appetizer.

Current menu: http://www.zagat.com/r/north-fork-table-inn-southold/menu

I hate to say this but that is more lobster than I have ever seen here in a dish. My friend here agreed with me when he saw your lobster rolls. Wait till I tell him they were at that price. Tom paid $12 a pound for the 2 lobsters he bought 2 weeks ago. He said they were $70 though no way they were that big.

My gift certificate friend BTW is the one that lives on the Cape in East Falmouth. She was my college roommate. Last year I got her a GC from Swan Island Dahlias on your suggestion. She grows beautiful dahlias as does her sister. Her sister has a garden you would just adore. I used to get her Jackson and Perkins amaryllis but they have gotten rather tacky the last few years. Though I succumb every year to their pictures of them and buy at least 6 different triples for myself. I watch and wait for that 1 sale day they are reduced in price plus free shipping. LOL Makes it so much more fun adding that bit of excitement in laying in wait.. Of course the sale prices this year were the full prices last year. But I prefer to think I got a deal.

After being steeped in lobster thoughts all day, I hate to admit that I am having hamburger for dinner. Though Tom does make a great hamburger. LOL

In Maine the price of lobsters is $5.00 a pound! So tempting. I always say that someday we'll buy five pounds and they can pack it in dry ice but we don't take that route going home.

Swan Island is good as is Lynch Creek Dahlias so you may want to give Lynch a try next year.

Since I have 33 amaryllis plants I don't even look online! As Oscar Wilde said, "I can avoid anything but temptation".

I love a good burger but Jack no longer does any BBQ cooking so think of me tonight.

I have to laugh. Bloom of the Day has not had this much action in months. LOL

$5 a pound. I would go nuts. I want lobster tempura!! All I can eat.

I will check out Lynch Creek. I still need a gift certificate this year. I do not want to deal with Eugene ever again. LOL I just cannot have a prolonged conversation with someone that makes no sense. Unless I am related to them. LOL

I did email him back a snarky email explaining to him the facts of the gift certificate. But I think it is probably over his head.

And so sadly for me. I see he sent me the emails via his I phone which I am not capable of doing. So what does that say about my intelligence? LOL

When we combine BOTD, you, and a pretty dahlia, add Eugene and the ensuing confusion, we have the makings of a skit fit for TV.

Don't feel bad, Kell...we don't even have cell phones!

Just ordered another GC from Lynch Creek. LOL I am an optimist.

Supposedly I got my refund from Eugene but of course I didn't really. I may just have to accept the inevitable and eat the loss.

Happy New Year Arlene.

Eugene told me, in a short note, that he refunded your money. Try and keep the faith.

Now I'll be anxious until I find Lynch Creek has come through for you!

Thanks, Kell. Happy 2015 to you and all your loved ones.

I take it back on Eugene and the refund. After a long email to Paypal explaining all about no refund gotten and a generic no sense canned response I called in. LOL. I had finally mustered enough niceness to call Paypal again and go thru their hoops. Turns out the "last step" to me getting my refund was never done even though they closed the claim and would not allow me to query this. She manually did that mysterious last step and VOILA the refund is in my account. AMAZING! So lesson learned PayPal sucks too! LOL

I have not heard from Casey but I did get an immediate email from Lynch Creek acknowledging my purchase so that is a hopeful sign.

Tom just came home with cleaned fresh dungeness crab. Tomorrow we are having 2 kinds of crab cakes with ikura and caviar and garlic noodles. LOL I can't wait!

Here is one of the recipes http://altonbrown.com/kimchi-crab-cakes-recipe/
The other is Tom's own perfected over years.

I'm relieved you got it resolved!

I hope Casey contacts you as soon as she gets the gift certificate. They are such a nice company and Andy owns it. When I complained that four tubers didn't grow in 2013, he replaced the entire order without any charge for the tubers or for the shipping!

Yum! I love crab cakes and we have them as appetizers when we don't have lobster on Cape Cod.

Happy New Year! Celebrate!

Hi Arlene. Just to let you know I finally heard from Case and she did get the GC from Lynch Creek the very day I paid for it. Her 90 year old + Mom is very ill and she has been so busy. It so sucks getting old!

I'm glad Casey got the gift certificate so quickly but sorry to hear about her mother. The end of life is never the thrill that birth brings. It's sad but true.

Wow, beautiful striking bloom.

Thanks. It changed colors in October, as most dahlias do, but got darker instead of lighter.