My neighbor Kirti has some talents that I don’t. She has a former life as an event planner. She balances being a vegetarian with having a chicken-loving husband. She makes the most amazing Chai. But, I’ve got her matched on one thing: we both love to eat. We figured we could disguise our love of (over) eating by inviting other women from the neighborhood for lunch, and sneaking “leftovers” to eat later. (“Oh, husband, what did you want me to do? I couldn’t let it go to waste…”)

Kirti told me that you could “speak” to flowers and get them to open up by gently peeling back the petals, then spritzing them with water to keep them fresh. It sounded crazy to me. And plus, every time I did it, I ended up plucking the petals off. I finally decided to let her handle it herself and agreed to take pictures. She also told me to mix a capful of bleach into the vase of water to keep the flowers fresh. Totally counterintuitive, but I swear it worked…

All we used to decorate the table was a few dozen roses from Wal-Mart (yes, I know I am now officially a suburban sell-out), and some vases from Hobby Lobby (I had never heard of it either. Think Michael’s on crack…). The end result was oranges, purples and pinks. Great for a summer pie-eating contest ladies lunch.

Enjoy!

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