1/2 cup sugar
6 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped, melted and fairly cool
1/2 cup Chambord
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup strained seedless raspberry jam
Beat cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. Add sugar, chocolate and liqueur and beat until well blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating each addition until just combined. Mix in cream. Swirl in seedless jam. Pour into crust. Bake in preheated oven at 350° until filling is almost set but center still moves slightly when pan is shaken (about 55 minutes). Place on a rack and cool completely.
TOPPING INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons Chambord
6 ounce melted/cooled chocolate chips
Chocolate curls or fresh raspberries rolled in cocoa with mint leaves (optional) Combine thoroughly and pour over completely cooled cheesecake and then chill to set.
Old Fashion Dark Fudge
Submitted by: Amy McKinney
Vincent, AL
MAKES 1 POUND
2 cups sugar 1/3 cup cocoa
1 small can (5-oz) evaporated milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla extract walnuts (optional)
1
In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, mix together sugar and cocoa. Add milk and cook over medium heat until mixture reaches Softball stage (236° on a candy thermometer), stirring as necessary to prevent sticking.
Take off heat and add butter, vanilla and nuts if desired. Put boiler in a pan of cool water and stir until it starts to firm up. Pour into a buttered pan. Cut into squares.
Chocolate Eclair Cake
Submitted by: Susan L. Farrell
Pine Grove Mills, PA
2 small packages of Vanilla Jell-O Instant Pudding 1 tub of EZ-Spread Chocolate/Fudge frosting 1 (16-oz) tub of Cool Whip
3 cups milk graham crackers 9 x l3 x 3-inch pan (a pan this deep lessens the loss of the frosting)
1. Mix packets of pudding and milk. (Easier if done with mixer, but whisking/stirring by hand works too.) Then slowly mix in Cool Whip.
2. Line bottom of pan with graham crackers. Pour half of mixture over crackers. Add another layer of graham crackers. Pour remaining mixture over crackers. Add final layers of crackers.
3. Remove foil from frosting tub. Microwave frosting tub 15-25 seconds. Spread frosting over final layer of crackers.
4. Cover and refrigerate for four hours or overnight for best results. Enjoy!
Christmas Mice Submitted by: Susan Maluschka
Houston, TX
YIELDS 70 MICE
1 package chocolate almond bark 1 large jar cherries with stems, drained 1 bag Hershey's Kisses 1 small bag almond slivers
1. Put water in the bottom of a double boiler.
2. Spread out foil on the countertop next to stove.
3. Break chocolate almond bark into pieces and melt in double boiler.
4. Pat cherries dry on paper towels and unwrap the Kisses.
5. Hold cherries by the stems and dip in chocolate until cherry is covered. Lay cherry on its side on the foil (forms body and tail).
6. After dipping 4 or 5, prop up a Kiss with the flat part of the Kiss against the bottom of the cherry (forms head with pointed nose).
7. Then go back and place two almond slivers between Kiss and cherry (forms ears). If the chocolate has dried too much already, put a little chocolate from the double boiler on the almond slivers and hold them in place until they stay.
Appendix 1
Carpathian Healing Chants
To rightly understand Carpathian healing chants, background is required in several areas:
The Carpathian view on healing The «Lesser Healing Chant» of the Carpathians The «Great Healing Chant» of the Carpathians Carpathian chanting technique
1. The Carpathian view on healing
The Carpathians are a nomadic people whose geographical origins can be traced back to at least as far as the Southern Ural Mountains (near the steppes of modern day Kazakhstan), on the border between Europe and Asia. (For this reason, modern-day linguists call their language, «proto-Uralic,» without knowing that this is the language of the Carpathians.) Unlike most nomadic peoples, the wandering of the Carpathians was not due to the need to find new grazing lands as the seasons and climate shifted, or the search for better trade. Instead, the Carpathians' movements were driven by a great purpose: to find a land that would have the right earth, a soil with the kind of richness that would greatly enhance their rejuvenative powers.
Over the centuries, they migrated westward (some six thousand years ago), until they at last found their perfect homeland-their «susu»-in the Carpathian Mountains, whose long arc cradled the lush plains of the kingdom of Hungary. (The kingdom of Hungary flourished for over a millennium-making Hungarian the dominant language of the Carpathian Basin-until the kingdom's lands were split among several countries after World War I: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Austria, and modern Hungary.)
Other peoples from the Southern Urals (who shared the Carpathian language, but were not Carpathians) migrated in different directions. Some ended up in Finland, which accounts for why the modern Hungarian and Finnish languages are among the contemporary descendents of the ancient Carpathian language. Even though they are tied forever to their chosen Carpathian homeland, the wandering of the Carpathians continues, as they search the world for the answers that will enable them to bear and raise their offspring without difficulty.
Because of their geographical origins, the Carpathian views on healing share much with the larger Eurasian shamanistic tradition. Probably the closest modern representative of that tradition is based in Tuva (and is referred to as «Tuvinian Shamanism»)-see the map
above.
The Eurasian shamanistic tradition-from the Carpathians to the Siberian shamans– held that illness originated in the human soul, and only later manifested as various physical conditions. Therefore, shamanistic healing, while not neglecting the body, focused on the soul and its healing. The most profound illnesses were understood to be caused by «soul departure.'» where all or some part of the sick person's soul has wandered away from the body (into the nether realms), or has been captured or possessed by an evil spirit, or both.
The Carpathians belong to this greater Eurasian shamanistic tradition and shared its viewpoints. While the Carpathians themselves did not succumb to illness, Carpathian healers understood that the most profound wounds were also accompanied by a similar «soul departure.»
Upon reaching the diagnosis of «soul departure,» the healer-shaman is then be required to make a spiritual journey into the nether worlds, to recover the soul. The shaman may have to overcome tremendous challenges along the way, particularly: fighting the demon or vampire who has possessed his friend's soul.
«Soul departure» doesn't require a person to be unconscious (although that certainly can be the case as well). It was understood that a person could still appear to be conscious, even talk and interact with others, and yet be missing a part of their soul. The experienced healer or shaman would instantly see the problem nonetheless, in subtle signs that others might miss: the person's attention wandering every now and then, a lessening in their enthusiasm about life, chronic depression, a diminishment in the brightness of their «aura,» and the like.
2. The Lesser Healing Chant of the Carpathians
Kepa Sarna Pus (The «Lesser Healing Chant») is used for wounds that are merely physical in nature. The Carpathian healer leaves his body and enters the wounded Carpathian's body to heal great mortal wounds from the inside out using pure energy. He proclaims, «I offer freely, my life for your life,» as he gives his blood to the injured Carpathian. Because the Carpathians are of the earth and bound to the soil, they are healed by the soil of their homeland. Their saliva is also often used for its rejuvenative powers.