Have a great time this evening. When you wake up tomorrow and consider your New Year’s resolutions, here’s an idea:
Spend more time with friends and family in the New Year by entertaining more often and more easily.
Don’t focus on a formal event that takes time to plan and costs a lot of money. Think casual, and simply set aside 2 hours a month to catch up with people you don’t see often enough, or with those you’ve met but haven’t had the chance to see again.
Make it a regular event and set aside the second Friday evening or third Sunday afternoon of the month, for example. Invite 4 to 8 people over for a mini-tasting:
Try different teas, mineral waters, Spanish cheeses, single-origin chocolate bars—whatever you’d like to learn more about.
The group will enjoy mixing and discovering new specialty foods; small groups are easier and less expensive to manage and guests mix more easily.
Spend an evening with sparkling wines and
triple-crême cheeses (here, Brie and
Champagne). Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
Buying cheese for tonight? Double-crême and triple-crême cheeses like Brillat-Savarin, Brie, Camembert, Explorateur and Saint-André are the way to go with sparkling wines. Learn more in our Cheese Glossary.
In addition to tête de cuvee bottle in the article, we also love the vintage or nonvintage Pol Roger and Bollinger Champagnes, which have a higher concentration of Pinot Noir and are more robust.
If you like your bubbly on the more delicate side, Taittinger, a blanc de blanc (only Chardonnay grapes, instead of a combination of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir), is a perennial favorite, too.
For great taste on a budget, we’re fans of [yellow tail] sparkling wine, called [yellow tail] Bubbles, and the [yellow tail] Bubbles Rosé, a beautiful rose color as well.
HAPPY NEW YEAR from all of us at THE NIBBLE. We’ll be nibbling hard for you in 2010.
Tomorrow is National Champagne Day (appropriately, it’s New Year’s Eve).
Most people bring a bottle of Champagne as a gift to New Year’s Eve parties. Add a book about Champagne, and your gift will be remembered long after the bubbles are gone.
Home cooks and culinary professionals can compete for cash in the first “Florida Strawberries—A Taste of Summer All Winter Long Recipe Contest,” sponsored by the Florida Strawberry Growers Association and “Taste of the South Magazine.”
The entry categories are Starters or Salsas; Salads; Sweets and Best Photo. A total of $6,000 in cash prizes will be awarded.
Upload your recipe by February 28, 2010 and see the contest rules.Florida is the major U.S. supplier of strawberries from November through early spring. For those who want to buy foods with fewer carbon miles and purchase domestic rather than imported produce, each carton of Florida-grown strawberries has geographic identification noting where the product was grown.
Strawberries are not only nutritious; they’re one of our favorite diet foods. Eight strawberries contain more vitamin C than one orange. A one-cup serving (about 8 to 10 medium-sized berries) contains 45 calories and has no fat, cholesterol or sodium.
So, even if you don’t enter the contest, make strawberries part of your healthy “New Year’s Resolutions” diet.
Hickory Dickory dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
As twelve bells rang,
The mousie sprang,
Hickory Dickory dock.
But no one will be springing away from these yummy chocolate “surprise” mice cookies, no matter what hour of the day or evening you serve them (we’re waiting for the clock to strike twelve on New Year’s Eve). These mousies are filled with Cholives, olive-shaped chocolates with chocolate ganache centers (perfect for chocolate martinis, glamorous garnish or simply indulgent popping).
If you can’t get your hands on Cholives before New Year’s Eve, you can substitute. Miniature Easter egg shapes work as well; Hershey’s Kisses will work, but they’re not of the quality of Cholives. We haven’t tried Dove Promises in this recipe—they’re square rather than oval—but they’re filled with delicious soft centers, just like Cholives. As long as you mound the dough correctly, your choice of chocolate should work.
A sweet way to start the New Year—or any
day of the year! Photo by Lisa Leick.
This recipe was adapted by Cholives from Cookies, Brownies & Bars, Classic Pillsbury Cookbooks, 1991 (you can find copies on Amazon).
Cholive-Filled Chocolate Mice
INGREDIENTS
– 3/4 cup sugar
– 1/2 cup butter, softened
– 1/2 cup shortening
– 1 teaspoon vanilla
– 1 egg
– 2-1/4 cup unbleached flour
– 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– 3 dozen Cholives (or Kisses or other chocolate)
– White, silver or colored nonpareils (tiny sugar balls) or miniature chocolate chips, for eyes
– Chocolate or black string licorice, for tails, cut into 2-inch pieces
PREPARATION
1. Heat oven to 325ºF. In large bowl, beat sugar, butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; blend well.
2. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Stir in flour, cocoa and baking powder; mix well.
3. Shape dough into 1-1/2-inch balls. Push Cholive into ball and roll gently in hands until Cholive is covered in dough.
4. To form Cholive-filled mouse, pinch one end of ball to form nose. For ears, make two tiny balls of dough and flatten slightly; gently press into dough on upper front of each mouse body. For eyes, press 2 nonpareils into dough below ears.
5. Place shaped cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 325ºF for 8-13 minutes or until set.
6. Remove from oven. Immediately insert piece of licorice “tail” into the rounded end of each cookie.
7. Remove from cookie sheets.
Makes 3 dozen chocolate mice. Recipe can also be adapted to make Chocolate Cats and Chocolate Dogs.
