sweet dreams...

I always take something sweet to our Friday night card game and last week while blog rolling, I came across an interesting looking recipe for something called "Raspberry financiers" on the new to me blog Darjeeling Dreams so I gave it a go.

I cheated a bit here and there.  Used already ground almonds ('cause I had them and it's much easier), substituted frozen dark black cherries for the raspberries (didn't have raspberries) and added some rum flavored powdered sugar frosting - 'cause everything is better with a little extra frosting.  They were fairly easy to whip up, except for putting the parchment paper in the pan part, that was a bit comical for me but I eventually got it and they came out quite nicely.

We'll have to take Andrew Henry's word for it though because I couldn't eat them...

Don't cry for this gluten-free girl.  I made up for it the next day.  Andrew Henry and I went to a local eatery and shared the most delightful treat.  This is called the  "Dolce Della Casa" (sexy no?)...

it's very warm and the inside is filled with Nutella and bananas...

and it's worth every minute on the treadmill!

What's your favorite dessert?

nothing like an old friend...

I mentioned last week that I had some childhood friends over for a visit.  These are girls I have known my entire life.  We went to grade school together.  Two are sisters, the absolute sweetest of women, one makes the very best cupcakes anyone has ever tasted and the other runs one of Phoenix's biggest sport bars.  The other is a mother of FIVE, a school teacher AND sings in two different bands.  Can you imagine a better afternoon visit?  Nothing like friends and food all mixed together.

Did I forget to mention there was food?  There is always food.  The plan was dessert and a movie at my house.  Mother of 5 friend brought the last Twilight movie because they were all dismayed that I have yet to see it.  Guess what?  I still haven't seen it.  You know what happens when four women get together.  Talk, talk, talking.  Eat, eat, eating, some more talking and movies are forgotten.  I cannot imagine the movie would have been better than our gabbing.  I mean Cary Grant wasn't in it so how good could it be?

Dessert is easy and should be eaten with people you love, or alone in a dark kitchen at 2:00 a.m, wait where were we going?  Oh right, because I am a crazy person (many people will verify this), I decided to do a little 3 dessert sampler. 

I polished the silver...

and set the table....

 

I clipped some flowers from the front yard (remember these from yesterday?)...

 

I like to set a bottle of water at each place setting.  These are simple bottles from Ikea and I use them all the time.  We keep our water in them, I put them out at dinner parties and on the nightstand when I have guests.  It's hot in Arizona, we need lots of water.  Water bottles filled...

 

Time to eat.  The only thing I didn't make from scratch (I didn't make it at all) was this. 

 

The vanilla was to go with the Black Cherry Sweet Cake...

 

and the pistachio (which was DIVINE by the by) paired with classic brownies (sweet sister #1, who was in my wedding, requires chocolate)...

 

and last but not least, no, more like first because it is crazy good (Andrew Henry's other favorite dessert) was Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie...

 

None of these were gluten-free so I had Gelato (again, pistachio was surprisingly delish).  Do you know what the best part of the day was?  I bet you do...

 

These are my 3 girlfriends.  These fabulous and all over 40 women (don't they look great?!) are the best part of any get together.  No matter how busy you are, if you have 5 children at home, a big restaurant to run, live over an hour away, or jewelry orders to fill, please find time to connect with your friends.  You know - where there is a will, there is a way.  Make it happen for yourself.  Feed your soul with friendship.  As Martha would say, it's a good thing.

fort knox...

It's Monday, therefore we must be talking about food over here at Everton Terrace.  Dessert again this week.  We had our last Friday night card game with our friends Al & Ewa, last for a while anyway.  They are off galavanting around Europe for 6 weeks.  I know.  Believe me, I know.  I offered to carry their luggage but alas, here I sit, melting in the Arizona sun and the only bags I've got are under my eyes (and possibly over my beltloops).

In honor of our "last game for a while" I made everybody's favorite dessert.  Again, it's dessert.  It is not healthy.  It is probably considered a sin in many religions and should only be consumed a few times a year.  It's decadent and divine.  I can only eat a sliver because it's so rich, therefore, it is not my favorite (I do really like it) but seems to be almost everyone elses #1.  This is one of Andrew Henry's top two favorite treats.  I am  REQUIRED to make it for all holidays, his birthday and if I lose a bet of any kind.

I discovered the recipe in a magazine about 22 years ago.  It was an ad for Knox Gelatin.  I ripped it out and have been making it ever since.  The recipe has you make your own crust, which I did for years.  Now, I just buy a premade Oreo crust and call it a day, which means I add chopped nuts to the caramel since they are not in the crust.  It's rich, do not be tempted to use sweetened cream on the top - it might put you in a coma.

Enjoy at your own risk.  I take no responsibility for your health or your waistline.

Add the melted cream and gelatin to a blender with the chocolate (see that crock pot - it has acid  in it for jewelry making, shhhhh)...

throw in lots of other things while it's blending and it will turn into nice liquid chocolate...

while it's in the fridge becoming what it was always meant to be, mousse, you start on the caramels...

the key to them is always melt slowly, I don't know if this is true but I told myself that one day, so it is.  They start to look like this...

pour the goodness into the crust...

add the nuts, if you so desire (I so desire)...

and let it get fairly set.  Then put the now formed chocolate mousse on top, and add the whipping cream (whipped this cream a bit too much, tasted fine but could have looked prettier)...

Dive right in.  You won't be sorry, well, you might, but don't come crying to me - you've been warned!

we are going to have to eat that weird jello...

The story of the Pretzel Jello.  Oh, the pretzel jello indeed.

I did not grow up eating casseroles or any kind of potato or macaroni salad, coleslaw or, more importantly, jello concoctions.  My mother grew up in post WWII England.  I do not think the average household in England during the '40s and '50s ate these foods, therefore, I did not grow up eating these types of things.  I won't touch mayonnaise - yikes.  I've tried - just don't feel the love. 

Andrew Henry grew up in the midwest to parents who also grew up in the midwest.  He grew up eating all of these mixed up collaborations.  I consider (rightly or wrongly) the food his family serves at get togethers and holidays, very midwestern.  For years, YEARS, my daughter and I would not eat most of it.  Picnics and holiday buffets were a bevy of casseroles.  We would usually end up with a roll, some salad and an occasional vegetable.  Unless of course, they were serving the green bean CASSEROLE - see everything was a casserole.     

Now, one year we arrived at Easter dinner, starving.  Seriously, starving.  There was ham (won't eat it), mashed potatoes (they put mayonnaise in them - I have no idea why), the green bean mixture and the..........pretzel jello.  The green bean mixture looked the least weird to us so we ate it.  It was simply delicious.  We ate mounds. 

Still hungry but couldn't bring ourselves to eat the ham or mayonnaise mashed potatoes.   We stood there and my daughter very quietly said to me "we're gonna have to eat that weird jello".  Yes, we would.  We surely would.

As with anything in life, you just never know until you try.  I am fairly adventurous in life, not so much with food.  Daughter has grown to be quite an adventurous eater.  She's kind of a foodie.  I have improved.  Still a vegetarian and do not ask me to eat mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles, mustard or the like, but you can serve me PRETZEL FLIPPIN' JELLO anytime your heart desires.  It was so good.  Like candy.  Each bite I put in my mouth made me scold myself  "I could have been eating this all these years"! 

It's not an elegant dish and is about as far away as you can get from healthy (TONS of butter and sugar), but it's a great thing to serve once in a while during the summer.  I made it last week for the first time (don't know why it took me so long) and took it to our friends house for a night of cards.  She asked for the recipe pronto and that's all I have to say about that.  Except, I will be cutting the butter WAY down and cutting out the sugar almost entirely (will probably try agave next time).  Seriously, look at the crust when you take it out of the oven!  Can you feel your arteries clogging?

Was going to type the recipe out for you but it's all over the web.  I foolishly thought it was just Andrew Henry's family.  There is so very much I do not know.  Found the same recipe on Pioneer Woman's blog, of course, so I'm just linking you up to that one.  We used strawberries instead of the raspberries - it's all good.  I might go for dark cherry next time. 

 Have you ever eaten this magical dish?