Flowerpwr45: "Bloody Caesars"? What a neat name! Perhaps the reason he makes them like that is because they live so close to Canada: on Lake St.Clair between Detroit & Port Huron . . . which, of course, is just over the borders from Windsor and Sarnia, Ontario, respectively. He may have originally had one at a restaurant over there. Do you add dill pickle juice and a pickle spear to yours, too, or is that just my BIL's idea? We love it. As for Clamato Juice, we buy it in Michigan but they also sell it at many grocery stores here in New Mexico. Love it! Lynn

I have one. I am not impressed by them. For one, the wax still gets hot, hot enough to burn a child, so I don't see any safety bonuses over a candle. Second, a candle of any size won't melt all the way, mostly just melts on the bottom and therefore not much fragrance is released. Third, the fragrance does leave the candle. I mean, its not like you can have a candle sit on it for days. I don't know why, but the scent leaves the candle and eventually you have unscented wax to throw out. I much prefer burning a candle; I think you get a stronger fragrance throw. I am a candlemaker, and the only candles I have used on my candle warmer have been the ones I make. The one thing I can say the candle warmer is good for is when you have just a little wax left, not enough to burn but it still smells. The candle warmer will finish up the fragrance. Susan

I bought a warmer from Michael's which has the base and a removable bowl. I use scented jar candles on it, which will last for a long time, or the little wax cubes or votive style scented candles in the bowl. I have a couple of small glass custard cups that I also use, so that I can switch scents without cleaning the bowl. I will also add drops of the scented oils that were/are meant for potpourri or lightbulb rings to melted wax when the original scent is gone. I rarely keep it on for a whole day -- a little goes a long way with me, so I don't mind inexpensive melts that are good only for several hours. When it is time to clean the bowls, I just put the bowl into the freezer for a short time, then the wax pops right out. I have a neighbor who take the used wax to make her own candles. I actually like very few scents - I really don't like most florals, and many others are too artificial to me (like, "clean linen", or "fresh water" . My favorites are fresh apple (not apple pie), and balsam/pine. I like grapefruit, pear, lemon (if it is not too strong or artificial), gingerbread and some pumpkin spice scents. I usually find a Christmas blend at Macy's that I like, too. I'm fond of the Woodwick candles' Jolly Gingerbread and Cinnamon Cheer. Crabtree & Evelyn used to have a scent called "American Harvest" that I loved. I would be so happy if someone would make a "fresh quince" scent that really smelled like a fresh, cut quince.

Ruby, it sounds wonderful! Glad you had fun. Lipton soup dip, We have a very fancy pizza place near us. They have a salad I adore with roasted butternut squash, pepita, whipped ricotta and honey-drizzled watercress. ANd of course TDF pizza. But they also have homemade chips w onion dip, which I want to order so badly but keep thinking I could easily make! Sueb, I don't know if crostini bar is a "thing" but I am the queen of bars because I think people really like doing their own thing (I do panini bars, panna cotta bars, summer roll bars, yogurt parfait bars, etc etc). But here's what I do. Buy some good baguettes. Slice, brush w EVOO, sprinkle w salt, and toast in the oven till just golden Let cool and throw them in a big towel lined basket. Serve them with fixins. I usually set up a sort of cluster to nudge people toward combos but obv they can do as they please. So I might have a bowl of fresh ricotta, honey, a black pepper grinder, and a lemon with zester in one cluster. Then a cluster with sliced goat cheese, arugula and beet puree. Then a cluster with sliced filet, boursin, and microgreens Maybe a bowl of diced tomato mixture for bruschetta Or my fave pea parmesan dip (TDF) https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1012617-pea-dip-with-parmesan Getting hungry!