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Night Rider

Roba Dolce thanks you ..and an easy super bowl recipe!

Your flavor ideas were fantastic! Thank you all for participating. The “list” is now before the guys at Roba Dolce and I will announce a winner here shortly. Also, to all those who participated in the blog button and review, your samples will be going out to you later this week -be on the lookout for a big white box with dry ice, be careful when unpackaging your gelato and sorbetto. Let the product temper, meaning soften a bit before sampling. Then let us know what you think, and if you post a review on your blog, send me a note so that we can make note of the review! Roba Dolce would also love photos of you or family members enjoying the gelato/sorbetto – feel free to post them on their facebook page or send to me at karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com and I can forward it. We might ask you for permission to use that photo on our newly improved website, which is currently getting an overhaul – so you can be creative with that as well! We want pictures of anyone from the very young to the very old – There is now a store locater on the site that will tell you where you can find the gelato and sorbetto near you.

Now… for a great super bowl treat –

Pimento Cheese and Bacon Crostini

We had good friends over for game night on Sunday – Apples to Apples, Pictionary (girls won!) and PATRIOTS..who lost. These were an easy and really tasty appetizer I found on the Food & Wine site – a great edition to any super bowl celebration.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups finely shredded extra-sharp white cheddar cheese
2 1/2 cups finely shredded extra-sharp orange cheddar cheese
One 7-ounce jar pimientos, drained and finely chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Cayenne pepper ( I left this out)
40 slices baguette, toasted
4 strips cooked bacon, crumbled

Directions

1.In a big bowl, combine the white and orange cheddar cheeses. Add the chopped pimentos, mayonnaise, black pepper and garlic powder; blend at low speed with mixer. Season the pimento cheese with cayenne pepper to taste. (I didn’t) Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

2.Preheat the oven to 400° Spread the pimento cheese on the toasts, top with the bacon and bake until the cheese is melted and browned, about 2 minutes. Serve.

Makes 3 cups or 40 crostini.

What this New Englander does…

…when it’s colder outside than a witches behind after flying over Antarctica on Halloween.

I saw something like that on someone else’s blog and it just cracked me up – forgive the plagiarism 🙂

I love the beauty of snow in winter, the soft muffled silence in the outdoors, the crystal icicles hanging from rooftops (did you know… if you see a lot of icicles hanging from a house, it means there is poor insulation and heat that was paid for with hard earned money is escaping via the roof? You learn something new every day! ) .

I’m happy to report there are no icicles hanging from this old house. The bad news in that little bit of information is… the house was rebuilt so tight, we just discovered that when you attempt to start a fire in a second fire place and the first is already lit, the house fills with smoke and the alarms go off and the fire company and alarm company both call you immediately to ask what’s going on and do you need assistance and you tell them no please don’t come it’s just smoke and everything is OK we’re cracking windows and they ask what is the password please ma’am and you… had better…. remember it.

I didn’t.

I knew it was a pets name so I rattled off every pet I have ever owned in the past 45 years. That’s more than a few and I’m sure there was more than an eye roll on the other side of the phone.

What I don’t love about winter is the freak’n cold. As I get older it seeps deeper into my bones and I find just a little less joy in the season of chill. So right about this time of year I turn to these things for comfort and dream a little dream of Spring.

Fingerless mitts – whoever invented these – I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I used to think they were a little silly –

until I wore a pair and my silly self was much less chilly.

Must have reading material on night stand at all times –

Especially this kind –

I’m planting blueberry bushes this year – might order a half dozen from this catalog

Root beer floats hit the spot and stave off boredom – this is why I shouldn’t make resolutions.

I don’t keep them very well.

And lest we want to tick off the alarm Co. one more time…

I now know the code and I’m seriously considering tattooing it to the inside of my wrist.

Everybody needs a little Love

This is Roba Dolce’s best girl, Shayna at the Patriots stadium gelato give-away this past fall. Shayna is an athlete and has participated in Special Olympics with great success. Roba Dolce is a proud supporter of the Special Olympics. The Jingle you will hear on the video was written and is sung by Shayna’s brother James and the cast of this video is the entire Olerio family – founders of Roba Dolce. I thought you’de like to know who you’re rooting for. My husband and I are thrilled to be along for the journey and we’re grateful that you’ve joined in.

Thank you to all you bloggers out there who are helping us to spread the word – it means the world to us. There’s still time to name that flavor and sign up for a gelato and sorbetto sampling delivered to your house. Read previous post for details!

Hey facebookers!..we’ve got a face too! Become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/#!/robadolcegelato

Recent taste test winner Paula S. of California receives her gelato and sorbetto

just in time for a reprieve from a heat wave –

It just keeps getting better

The guys over at Roba Dolce headquarters are getting a kick out of your flavor ideas. They also said “WOW, blogs are pretty cool!” And then they asked me to throw this out to you too – Not only are they going to pick a winning flavor and ship one of you a case of their sorbetto and gelato – Whoever posts the Roba Dolce button I have over there on the right (you can grab the code below it) on their blog sidebar for a period of a month (or more! Hey it’s Ok with us!) will ALSO get a gelato and sorbetto delivery. After you’ve received the product and sampled it – if you enjoyed it – a brief post on how much you liked it would be appreciated. If you want to participate in helping us get the word out, simply e-mail me with your blog address and delivery address at karenthisoldhouse@hotmail.com.

We’re still looking for flavor ideas too, so don’t be bashful. Let us know what your favorite flavors are and what combos you might like to see. Be creative! Personally I’de love to see a rootbeer float gelato!…

Holy Snow!…and then some.

That’s Mike blowing a path at 6am so the dogs can go out to the bathroom.

Ask me how much he loves me when he has to do this kind of thing.

Not.

If you haven’t entered your ideas for flavors in the previous post, please do! We’re getting great ideas, the more the merrier.

Name That Flavor Give-Away

OK folks – you know I’ve talked a little about Mike’s new venture with the Gelato company, Roba Dolce. See Button that The Blue Ridge Gal helped me make, click for website on right – I am happy to report Roba Dolce is growing in leaps and bounds. They have just enhanced their line of flavors and many new stores nationally and internationally are signing on to carry their gelato and sorbetto. A revamp of the website is scheduled for some time this month and the Patriots Stadium contract is in full swing. Below is the new mascot costume which will make its debut in the bleachers soon – check Matt out, he ‘s made for this work, don’t ya think? He’s also Mike’s other wife, the two are attached at the cellphone, 24-7. I won’t complain though – Matt is the reason we can now say we make a killer sauce.

So here’s the deal on the give- away. They are looking for new flavors and they’d really like to know what consumers want to see in the stores . The website tells you what they already have. In my comments section, give us any new flavors you’d recommend for a gelato or a sorbetto. Be sure to be specific which one it should be… for instance, lemon and blood orange are sorbettos because their flavor lends it self to an icier texture, whereas pistachio and raspberry chocolate almond are flavors that call for a creamier texture. Anonymous commenters will have to either e-mail me (see sidebar) with your e-mail contact info or leave an e-mail address with their comment because I have to know how to contact you to give you your free gelato and sorbetto if your flavor is chosen. Whoever comes up with the flavor combos Roba Dolce decides to use will win a case of gelato and sorbetto shipped directly to your house. I’ll leave this post up for a few days, spread the word and lets see what we can come up with! ….

This is the newly enhanced Raspberry Chocolate Almond – my favorite!

I was longing for a raspberry chocolate flavor and Matt threw in the almonds.
He got it going, and it was a hit!

Some stores, like Krogers, carry us under their brand name –

In Stop & Shop we are Simply Enjoy…

So.. let’s hear it!

Good Morning from This Old House

Runs with the big dogs

Our little white mutt is the one who has battled cancer this past year. She’s a tough cookie, this one -right now she’s in remission. Bailey weighs 13 lbs. to Bens 185, yet she is the boss, hands down. I have never met a dog with more tenacity, must be the terrier in her.

Notice she’s got him against the fence…

She frequently takes his toys away…

This time she didn’t.

Was I the one who wanted snow? ME??…..

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Glass

I love things made of glass, always have. When I was very young, my grandmothers house was a refuge – she had a lovely little house full of domestic and exotic treasures. One piece that I particularly adored, caressed and held in my hands just to feel the smooth surface and heavy weight of it… was this…

This paperweight was gift to my great grandfather at Christmas time from a client in NYC – Acker & Jablow, a fabric wholesaler in the garment district in the early 1900’s. My grandmother kept this on her desk for many years. The design is what is referred to as Millefiore – “The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words «mille» (thousand) and «fiori» (flowers). A. Pellatt (in his book «Curiosities of Glass Making») was the first to use the term «millefiori», which appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 1849. While the use of this technique long precedes the term millefiori, it is now frequently associated with Venetian glassware.”

This is what millefiore canes look like before they are used to create art –

Some History on paperweights –

Nineteenth century revival of the glass industry -In early nineteenth-century Europe, a new creative potential developed in the decorative arts. An increasingly urban population and an expanding market of goods created by the Industrial Revolution stimulated the manufacture of many new decorative novelties. In the mid-1840s, glass paperweights appeared. They were a wholly modern, functional glass form that drew upon the ancient glassmaking techniques of millefiori and lampwork and the late-eighteenth century technique of cameo incrustation.

The sudden emergence and popularity of paperweights can be attributed not only to their decorative appeal but also to a growing Victorian leisure-time interest in letter writing. This fashionable upper and middle class pastime assured their profitable manufacture along with many other glass accessories related to letter writing, all of which were purchased inexpensively at stationery and novelty shops.

My collection over the years has grown, most pieces kept in a small curio cabinet in the keeping room. This is a jellyfish by Richard Satava – the photo doesn’t do it justice – very luminescent in the right lighting, as are jellyfish in nature.