Wednesday, February 24, 2010

They Came! They Came! English Text Jeanne d'Arc Mags are HERE!



Boxes.

Lots of boxes.

ALL containing gorgeous, beautiful

ENGLISH-TEXT

magazines!!

WOO-HOO!!

{Insert Happy Dance Here!!}

Off I go to start working on getting them out

to all my 

SUPER-PATIENT pre-order customers!!

If you don't hear from me in a few days, 

it's because I'm wrappin', packing' and shippin'!

Take care and
be watching your mailboxes!!

YIPPEE!!!

~RUTH~

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Got Girl Scout Cookies? Here's A Recipe Using The Lemon Sandwich Cookies!

Lemon Surprise Cheesecake Recipe

Lemon Surprise Cheesecake Recipe
Photo by: Taste of Home
Rating
100% would make again
I love lemon pie and cheesecake—and when I whip up this treat, I can have them both for dessert!—Karen Chesnut, Clarksburg, California
This recipe is:
Contest Winning
Quick
  • 12 Servings
  • Prep: 30 min. + chilling

Ingredients

  • 1-1/2 cups crushed lemon cream-filled sandwich cookies
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted

  • LEMON FILLING:
  • 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 5 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

  • CHEESECAKE LAYER:
  • 1 envelope unflavored gelatin
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel

Directions

  • Combine the cookie crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Press onto the bottom of a lightly greased 9-in. springform pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until crust just begins to brown. Cool pan on a wire rack.
  • In a large saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Stir in water until smooth. Cook and stir over medium-high heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolks; return all to pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat. Gently stir in the lemon juice, butter and peel. Cool to room temperature without stirring.
  • In a small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over lemon juice; let stand for 1 minute. Heat over low heat, stirring until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from the heat.
  • In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Gradually beat in gelatin mixture until combined. Fold in the whipped cream and lemon peel.
  • Spoon three-fourths of cheesecake mixture into crust; build up edges slightly. Chill for 5 minutes. Spoon lemon filling over cheesecake layer to within 1/2 in of edges. Top with remaining cheesecake mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Recipe courtesy of Taste Of Home.com

{Jeanne d'Arc Living 2010 Issue #2 UPDATE...}

{Photo courtesy of sodahead.com}


Well....

It is Tuesday afternoon,

now past the time we would have gotten any UPS
deliveries for the day....

No magazines.

I PROMISE... 

the minute they arrive, 

we'll be all over them to get them 

disbursed back out to all our

pre-order customers.


But, can't do a thing until our replacement

issues arrive,

so remember how on the

(Danish text received instead of English)

I was all about turning those lemons into lemonade?



Well...

Since we're still waiting,

and

it's kind of like a few more lemons.

How about PIE??

Anyone up for lemon pie?

(wink-wink)

All kidding aside,

I am as anxious as all of you to get my

hands on the ENGLISH version of the 

magazines so that 

YOU 

can get

YOUR 

hands on them.

Now...

let's pass our plates and

HAVE SOME PIE!
{Photo courtesy of Bon Appetit}


:)

{Goodness gracious that slice looks GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT!}


Thanks so much for your patience!!

~RUTH~




Sunday, February 21, 2010

Little Bit o' Sunshine -- Little Bit o' Everything :)

So...

When we last "spoke" I was in the midst of making lemonade and
it was SOOO cool and refreshing.  

Thanks for joining me in that.  

Now it is late Sunday evening and I'm thinking of a few things I want to 
share with  you before I get caught up in the
week's "black hole" as sometimes happens.

First, I got THREE blog awards, people!  

WOW!

Who's happier than me??  
NOBODY!

I am feelin' the love big time here!  

:)

I got this bright, cheery 

"Sunshine" award from 





AND
from



Big, Big thanks to you BOTH!!!
Please be sure and visit both their sites --
you'll be amazed and so happy your discovered them 
(if you haven't already!).
I also got
this 
"Sugar Doll"
award

from my sweet friend 

I just love Teresa -- she and I have a friendship that started with
us visiting each other's blogs, and her being a customer, and then us
"friending" each other on Facebook -- she's like one of my
sisters now!  Love it!   :)

I just thank you gals so much!!

With the Sugar Doll award,
you were to list some things about you....

hmmm.....

Well... Let's see...

1.)  I don't do so well with "surprise" visits from people.  This is not
a good trait about me.  I know I should really learn to be more
flexible.  Don't get me wrong, I love visits -- I just like a 5 minute warning...at least.  :)
I'll blame it on being a Southern lady (afterall, isn't that the perfect
excuse for any quirk we have?).  We Southern gals like to give 
each other a minute to fix our hair and lipstick and tidy the house -- 
like we actually look like that ALL the time.  ;)


2.)  I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve.  If I were a
character from Winnie the Pooh --- I'd be Pooh.  
My daughter often
laughs at me for some of the things I say that I guess just
sound "mushy" or "Pooh-bear-ish".  Oh well... that's just me.
Love it or leave it.  :)

3.)  Jumping off on #2, I also tend to be (unfortunately) somewhat
easily hurt and may tend to take things a bit too personally.
I will never forget my father informing me of this -- in his usual very
candid, no sugar-coating way -- when I was younger.  I had never
realized this about myself until he brought it to my attention.
Now whenever I find myself in the midst of maybe taking something a bit
too seriously, I remember his words and kind of smile...

4.)  I am the WORST at returning phone calls.  Just ask
anyone who knows me.... it aint pretty. 
I wonder if it is due to my inherent bad case of shyness...
I sometimes just freeze when I have to pick up the phone to call
someone I don't know.
Once I actually place the call and start talking, all is forgotten
and I'm great with it... it's just that initial dialing that somehow trips me up...
Good thing I'm not a phone solicitor! 
 I KNOW I need to work on this...  :)

5.) And jumping off #4, regarding my shyness, in store situations
where I've been in one of several others
working the floor of a booth, etc., I am likely to let the
others working for me be "out front" and you can find me
somewhere toward the BACK of the booth -- standing there
just smiling at the customers and totally clammed up!
YIKES!  
Not how you'd expect a shop owner to be!!  :)
And yes, I know I need to work on THAT as well...

6.) And going back to #3 where I mentioned being perhaps 
overly sensitive --- I can tend to joke around an awful lot and be fairly
sarcastic at times (in TOTAL fun!) but then just totally "fold" when
someone gives it right back to me... now explain that.  
Silly me...  I can dish it out, but I can't take it.  :)
Yep -- gotta work on that one, too.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me!  

Okay then, off to races to begin another busy week
(HOPEFULLY SPENT SHIPPING OUT ENGLISH VERSIONS OF
JEANNE D'ARC LIVING MAGAZINE!)

Before I go, I just HAD to share this 

Her blog is beautiful and shares her passion 
for all things French!

But you've GOT to watch her latest fun video!!
In case you haven't seen it, she does an 
completely impromptu and unrehearsed video
rating of her new 



"In - Styler" hair appliance
that she bought and LOVES!

She cracks me up!  And boy is she perfect for
doing videos!!  A natural!

Again, you can click 
to see it!

Have fun!
Maybe after we all watch her fun video about
her new favorite hair appliance, there will be a
run on In-Stylers at Target!   HAHA!   

Take care, mes amis,

~Ruth








Friday, February 19, 2010

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Jeanne d'Arc Living Issue #2 (A.K.A. Would you like some lemonade?)



So....

Less than 24 hours ago...

I jotted out a quickie post to let you know that the new issues
of Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine had just
hit our doorstep (literally).

My how things can change while you're sleeping...

So here's the deal:

I awoke to an email from the good folks at 
Jeanne d'Arc Living...

Here's what it said:

Did you receive your magazines yet?? It seems that something went wrong when the freight company packed the magazines, so that many of the US shops received the Danish issue. 

Please let me know if yours are correct.

Have a nice week-end.

Mange hilsner | Kind regards


I read the email at about 6:30 AM and immediately
fled over to the office where the cases were sitting
waiting to be opened and mailed out today...

Yep... every last box...

Kan du sige Dansk??
{Can you say "Danish"?}

The good news is, I think they have already mailed out replacement
cases for us and we should have them possibly as soon as Monday.

That's not too big of a delay...

I am just so sorry to have to tell you this news -- but I was equally sorry to receive it.

So what does all this have to do with lemonade?

Well... for about 1/2 hour very early this morning,
I had the bitter, sour taste in my mouth from the
"lemons" found in that email I awoke to.

However, 
I know that 
there is nothing I did to cause the issue,
nothing I can do to change it,
and now instead of the next 48 hours 
(literally day & night) 
being filled with magazine shipping 
(which we often turn into sort of a party atmosphere here),
I will now turn my attention to some things 
that were going to have 
to wait until next week some time and get those things done instead...

not the least of which -- 
visiting my mom this weekend.

See?

Lemonade.

The lemonade stand is now open for business.

If enough of us joins in this impromptu
Lemonade Fest, 
guess what?

We will have successfully turned a 
problem
into
PARTY!  

So can I pour you a glass?

I promise...
the minute the English version arrives here (fingers crossed for Monday!)
the magazine shipping "machine" will spring into action and
get all orders shipped 
PRONTO!

In the mean time,
have a great weekend full of 
sugary-sweet lemonade goodness...

~Ruth~