sincerely yours, dena

a shot of our own private fireworks show in South Hero Vermont.

This is a low impact and quick game that fulfills the “games” requirement at a shower but at the same time is fun and everyone can play. The basic gist is that you ask the groom 10 questions. Make a game card with the 10 questions and have every guest take a shot at what they believe the answers are. Then you read thru them out loud and have the bride give a shot at them. The guest with the most correct answers wins a door prize.

The best part of eating mussels is dipping the bread in the garlic sauce. Here’s our friend Julia’s recipe that’s so super yummie:

- 1 head of garlic (yes, the whole head)
- 1 small white onion chopped
- Maine Mussels (Maine is the best after all)
- Dry white wine
- 1/2 stick of butter

Simmer all the above in a covered sauce pan until the mussel shells open. Serve with a french baguette for dipping. Don’t eat any mussels that don’t naturally open up on their own!

My new favorite thing in card making is hand stitching with embroidery floss. My mom and I got really into it last Christmas break when we found some stencils at our fav craft store in up north Wisco. Since then, it’s definitely become more popular. I did a little web fishing and I found makeandtakes.com which had this super duper cutie tie pattern. It was fun and easy to make. So easy that I did it during a Friday night girlie wine night. Sorry, Doug for spilling wine on yours….

Click here to download the pattern

When we go to the beach we always write the date and the beach name in the sand and take a picture. That way when it comes time to scrapbook we can introduce the pages within the picture. It’s especially fun when it’s my nephew Eric’s first time on the beach.

Just a few snapshots of the decorations I’ve got around my humble abode and around town.

I’ve got a lot of windows on the front of my new house. I heart window boxes full of flowers but it’s going to be an investment when I do so I want to make sure I do some investigative work first. A few weekends ago we were taking a walk around Charlestown, MA and I started snapping photos of all my favorite windows. I got tons of great ideas incorporating real, dried and plastic flowers. My favorite idea is putting a starfish seashell in the window.

A play off of the “turkey gobbler” that I loved from Clark’s Bistro, it’s got sauteed mushrooms and onions with lots of melted cheddar cheese. The finishing touch, drowned it in Stubb’s BBQ sauce.

Got lots of sage from the organic farm share so I’ve got to come up with lots of ways to use it.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
2 large minced garlic cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
Mix all together or process quickly in a food processor. Chill and serve with rolls or use it on vegetables such as green beans, brussel sprouts, cabbage or other green vegetables.
Recipe from Seeds of Knowledge

INGREDIENTS
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
3/4 cup hazelnuts - toasted, skinned and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons hazelnut liqueur (couldn’t find it ANYWHERE, ended up using Amaretto)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
13 skinned, toasted hazelnuts
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon hazelnut liqueur

DIRECTIONS
Using a blender or a food processor, finely chop 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips. Place in a small mixing bowl. Add vanilla wafer crumbs, ground hazelnuts, 2 tablespoons white sugar, and melted butter or margarine. Mix until well combined. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake in a preheated 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) oven for 15 minutes. Cool.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup white sugar; mix well. Add the eggs and 3 tablespoons liqueur. Mix until well blended. Coarsely chop 1 cup of the semisweet chocolate chips, and add to the cream cheese mixture. Stir. Pour batter into the cooled crust.

Bake at in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 1 hour. Let cake cool for 1 hour. Remove outer ring from pan. Then let cool completely.

Melt 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips over hot (not boiling) water. Stir until smooth. Dip 13 hazelnuts into the chocolate, covering one-half of each nut. Shake off the excess chocolate. Place on a waxed-paper lined plate. Chill until set.

To the remaining melted chocolate, add sour cream. Mix well. Stir in 1 tablespoon liqueur. Spread glaze on top of the cooled cheesecake. Garnish with chocolate dipped hazelnuts.

Taken from Allrecipes.com