Bloomin' like an onion

Okay, so I was trying to think of a clever title for this blog entry and in regards to "blooming," all I could think of were bloomin' onions, which in turn made me think of what might be my favorite scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where Andrew is riding on the back of Spike's motorcycle and they have the following conversation:

Andrew: You sure you don't wanna stop and pick up some burgers or something, you know, road trip food?

Spike: It's not a road trip. It's a covert operation.

Andrew: Right. Right. Gotcha... I—I bet even covert operatives eat curly fries. They're really good.

Spike: Not as good as those onion blossom things.

Andrew: Ooh, I love those.

Spike: Yeah, me, too.

Andrew: It's an onion... and it's a flower. I—I don't understand how such a thing is possible.

Spike: See, the genius of it is, you soak it in ice water for an hour so it holds its shape. Then you deep-fry it root-side up for about 5 minutes.

Andrew: Masterful.

Spike: Yeah. Tell anyone we had this conversation, I'll bite you.

Andrew: Right.

Love it. It has nothing to do with this post, but it's just so funny. Anyway, the real reason for this post is to express how super excited I am because one of our crape myrtle trees just started blooming for the first time over the weekend! This may not seem like a big deal, but they are little baby crape myrtle trees and we thought they would not bloom for another couple of years (which I was pretty heartbroken about), so it was a really nice surprise! And the blooms are hot pink, the color of flamingos. I feel like it's my birthday all over again (since I got the trees for my birthday and now they are blooming)!