sincerely yours, dena

Rubbles Mowgli-Ortiz Bachman presents:
His 3rd Annual Easter Dinner

Appetizers
Shrimp ala Val Lohse
Boiled w/old bay seasoning served warm w/ cocktail sauce
Buffalo Chicken Won Tons
Careful of the kick!

Soup & Salad
Wedge Salad
Seen for as much as $11 but we serve it for free
New England Clam Chowder
“Kennebunkport surprise”

Entrée’s
Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Shallots
Quickly becoming a favorite. Served with a begging black lab.
Roasted Leg of Lamb
New edition to the menu but promises to be a staple. Also most likely served with begging black lab.
Warm Country White Bread w/ Roasted Garlic
Homemade bread w/ warm roasted garlic

Side Dishes
Fleming’s Famous Creamed Style Corn
A Daddy favorite “not your south park variety creamed corn”Creamed Spinach
Bam! Taken from Emeril Live
Carrots ala Daddy
Cooked for his pleasure
Broccoli ala Mommy
Blanched and not overcooked for her pleasure
Potatoes Au Gratin
Cheesy, yummy goodness a favorite

Desserts
Praline Pumpkin Pie
Its low carbohydrate so Daddy can eat dessert too
Ultimate Cheesecake
Topped warm lemon blueberries

My local grocery store recently started selling blood oranges. In my regular juice I squeeze the juice from 1 blood orange. I find it sweetens my oj naturally. Not to mention it prettied up my mimosa’s yesterday at brunch. The reddish juice sits separately until stirred making a dramatic look.

Recycling the wine bottle is great but take it one step further and recycle the wine corks. Yemm & Hart Ltd is collecting wine cork stoppers with the goal of converting them into a useful product - to extend the useful life of this natural resource for decades. Cork has already been found to be great soft flooring for school’s reading spaces. I’ll drink to that.

Mail all your corks to:
Wine Cork Recycling
Yemm & Hart Ltd
610 South Chamber Dr
Fredericktown MO 63645

I display my wine corks prior to shiping in an old drug store drawer I bought at a yard sale for $3. The slots are pefect size for the corks and is a pretty cool decoration in our office that I get lots of compliments on. Once the drawer is full I send the corks out.

Surprise engagement party a’la purple (the bride to be fav color.) I ordered mini cupcakes from Party Favors and used a glass 3 tier desert tray to form a cake like shape. I bought some fabo wrapping paper and cut an inch & 1/2 strip to use as a rim. I also used the same paper as a table cloth. My favorite surprise party ‘party favor’ is blown up cut outs of the couple’s faces. They serve as masks so the guest can reveal themselves one by one.

My new favorite wine: Barolo. We went out to dinner in Boston’s North End last week with a wino (aka a wine enthusiast) and he picked the wine. Good choice my friend… apparently there is only one place in the world, Barolo Italy that can grow these types of grapes. I say, keeping on growing you growers because what you grow makes me happy.

I got inspired recently by a magazine article where I saw local maps overlaid by a piece of plexi glass (found precut at any hardware store) used as placemats. This way you can switch out the maps for anything to fit the occasion. The placemat: For a spring brunch, I used cute blue gingham paper as the background paper. I then traced the plate, wine glass and utensils out on a contrasting brown paper. On the brown paper plate, write out the menu for the lunch so it gives the guest something to read before the main course is served.

The napkin ring: Take a paper towel roll and cut it into inch wide rings. I covered mine with this new colorful tape that they sell at craft stores. You can use just plain paper or fabric to cover also. For the centerpiece: going with the blue theme I droped my potted hydrangea plant in the center of the table.

We got this recipe from a local wine store, Best Cellars and it’s sinfully tasty for being so easy to make.

Rosè Sangria
1/2 bottle full-bodied dry rosè
1/2 bottle Moscato d’ Asti
orange juice (to taste)
1/2 cup honey
-red apples, oranges slices for garnish

This Sunday is the series finale of one of my family’s favorite shows. What better way to cherish every mafia moment then to bring little Italy to your coffee table.

You’ll Need:

• red/white checkered table cloth (ours is from our camping supplies)
• a good bottle of red/white wine
• lasagna (freezer section is totally acceptable)
• garlic bread (also from the freezer section)
• candle light
• fresh flowers
• the tv remote

When you are putting extra effort into presentation, I say fuggedabout the cooking. Spend your time drinking more wine instead.

Last Sunday during brunch a friend of mine mentioned her love of Teavana. It may sound like a small foreign country in the tropics but it is a little cup of heaven. Even non-tea drinkers will swoon. They sell over 100 kinds of loose tea and as you can see from the picture on the right, it looks more like fruit salad than dried leaves.
So here’s how it works. Teavana has this ingenious tea steeper that allows the hot water and tea leaves to steep. You drain the hot water by placing your favorite college mug underneath. Pure genius and it’s all dishwasher safe to boot.

My husband has this theory: When a man proposes to a woman she gets a ring and the man gets nothing. When he got engaged he wanted an engagement tv of equal value to my ring. Well, a week after he got down on one knee so did I but in a Best Buy. So now we have this tv that doesn’t fit into our original tv cabinet. It’s a great piece with built in shelves. It became an easy candidate for a wet bar. With a few 2×4’s and some black paint you would never know it was once home to our now inferior tv.

Here’s How:

Install under cabinet wine glass racks from Pier 1. Each rack can hold 4 glasses.
	Use wooden wine racks - the flexible construction is great for building in different sized spaces
Build risers out of wood or other material to elevate bottles in ascending order so they can easily be reached and seen
	These baskets from Ikea are perfect for organizing coasters and wine stoppers

• Some other great ideas for storage cabinets.