An Irish Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the U.S.!

My good friend, Corey, from the IrishFireside.com compiled a fabulous list of Irish recipes you can use for your Thanksgiving feast (or your Christmas feast, too, if you like).

Here's a few of my favorites from his list:

Irish Fireside Recipes - Corey and Liam's proven recipes
Wee Kitchen - Beautiful images!
The Irish Cook - The images on this site will take you to Ireland
Favorite Irish Recipes - Download an e-book!
Ireland's Eye - Recipes and historic info
20 Favorite Irish Dishes - Can't go wrong with these anytime of the year
Vegetarian Times Irish Food Recipes

Start a new tradition! Try adding one of these recipes to your typical American Thanksgiving and give it an Irish twist. Serve a choice: colcannon or mashed potatoes and gravy. Or try Irish whiskey cake in place of the often-maligned fruit cake. 

Give us your favorite recipe links, and let us know if you'd like to add some Scottish and Welsh recipes links to the list, too.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving! Here's my greeting for you:

Thanksgiving e-card: Click to view

For more information about the music in this greeting card, check out my "Old English Holiday" e-album on iTunes, and see the entire "A Light in the Forest" CD at amazon.com (both downloads and physical CD are available there). 

For Valentine's Day and Beyond

Today, Valentine's Day, I received a few articles and links about love, so I thought I'd spread the love and post them here for you to peruse. Don't forget to read through to the bottom of this post, so that you can try out my hubby's wonderfully decadent Two-Tone Guinness Brownies!

• The Harp Connection's Romantic Harp Music Albums for Valentine's Day and Beyond! View all of their recommendations, including my Haste to the Wedding CD, filled with traditional Celtic love songs.*

• It's never too late to send an e-card to your sweetheart. You could send a silly card from RubberChickenCards.com loaded with fine dating advice (get a free six month subscription right here). Or some Hunny Bunny e-cards or the little-bit-naughty Bunny Burlesque e-cards from the folks at BanjoBunny.com. Or head on over to my other blog for special ways to say "I Love You".

• Acupressure Point CV17, for Healing Your Heart Emotionally. Stressed out because you are head-over heals for a certain someone? Or are you getting over a relationship? Check out this link.

• Does Dark Chocolate on Valentine's Day Help Your Heart? You bet it does, according to RealAge.com. But did you know that not all chocolate is healthy for you? For it to contain the maximum amount of antioxidants, the chocolate needs to be cold-processed--Healthy Chocolate! Join and make income while enjoying the benefits of high antioxidant chocolate.






Speaking of chocolate, here's that special recipé from my hubby, "Mr. Bakerman", for Two-Tone Guinness Brownies:

Ingredients for Bottom Toffee Layer: 
Cooking spray
6 Tbs. softened unsalted butter
1 1/2 C. packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking power
1/4 tsp. salt
1 C. chopped pecans or walnuts

Ingredients for Chocolaty Top Layer:
3 oz. finely chopped unsweetened chocolate (or you could use 3 Healthy Chocolate Power Squares if you cut back a bit on the granulated sugar)
4 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 C. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. Guinness stout
1 C. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 13 x 9" baking pan with cooking spray.
2. Prepare the bottom layer by combining butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake 20 minutes and remove from oven.
3. Prepare the top layer by placing chocolate and butter in a double boiler. heat gently and stir until chocolate is melted. Stir in sugar, then add eggs, vanilla and Guinness, stirring until well-combined. Whisk in flour and salt until all ingredients are combined. Slowly pour over partially baked bottom layer.
4. Bake 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan, placed on a wire rack, before slicing.
Serves 24 (or more, if you slice them into smaller squares). Serve within 2 days.


Sending loving thoughts,
Anne :-)

* Purchase my Haste to the Wedding Album all over the Internet, including at my website, where you can request an autographed copy. Or download it from CDBaby.com, amazon.com, and iTunes.

My Thanksgiving Gifts to You!

Here in the U.S., Thanksgiving Day is this coming Thursday. It's a day when we all pause to be grateful for the blessings in our lives.

You can express your gratitude to your loved ones by sending a wonderful e-card. My gift of thanks to you, my readers, is a free, 6-month subscription to Rubber Chicken E-Cards. Click here for your gift subscription.

Or, you can send a card expressing your gratitude to those special people in your life using a unique Banjo Bunny E-Card. To send a beautiful e-card filled with my Celtic Harp Music click here.

Don't know how to express yourself in words to show your gratitude? Try using a bit of Shakespeare--Visit my newest blog for a hand in how to wax elegant like the Bard.

And finally, here's a way to save some money. And you don't need to wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday for shopping deals...I have a big sale at my website. Huge discounts on everything--CDs and books! But this sale ends at midnight, Thursday night, Thanksgiving. This sale is for the early shopper. So go there now and save, before the sale ends Friday.

Many blessings to you for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

How to be Frugal Without Being Cheap--Plus A Special Gift!

November is here, the stores are stocking holiday gift items, and most of us start looking at our bank accounts to determine what we can afford. It's trendy to save money, and everyone understands this. But there is a big difference between saving money and being frugal and pinching pennies to be cheap. Frugal looks good and is trendy. Cheap looks like you really didn't want to bother in the first place. You can always purchase an inexpensive gift that looks like you put some thought into it.

Find out what your friends and loved ones really want, then start shopping for bargains now. And if that item is completely outside of your pocketbook, get creative. I don't mean resorting to "junk", the stuff that you wouldn't want to receive yourself. Give gifts that would last. Music, movies, and events that create a memory. Here are some creative ideas from thinksimplenow.com. My favorite fun gift sites include Liam Hughes Shard Jewelry and On Purpose, but that's just my style of gift-giving. Really, just Googling the kind of gift someone wants to receive will take you to sites that may contain some inexpensive choices.

Rule of thumb: Don't give anyone something you wouldn't want to receive yourself. Ask yourself before you buy, "Does this gift look cheap?", or "Will this gift make me look like a cheapskate?"

An inexpensive, but in no way "cheap" way out of buying a gift is to send a card. Wonderful e-card sites enable you to send the perfect gift cards to your friends without paying postage and getting hand cramps from writing. If you love harp music, go to Sylvia Woods' website and send wonderful harp e-postcards. Send a uniquely magical e-card from Banjo Bunny, including a wonderful Thanksgiving e-card containing my music! Many thanks to Susan, the head Bunny (and gifted animator) at Banjo Bunny!

Since you've read along this far, I have a special thank-you for you, my wonderful blog readers. It's something you can use today, and you can consider it my early holiday gift to you! My good friend Steve, the "head chicken" of RubberChickenCards.com, has included my music in a couple of his cards, a lovely encouragement card and one featuring Louise the Angel.

Louise the Angel

Now, as an expression of thanks, he has gifted me with something that I am passing along to you:

Get your f*ree 6-month subscription to Rubber Chicken Cards by clicking here

Way cool, huh? I love these e-cards, and you will too. Send as many Rubber Chicken e-cards as you want over the next six months for f*ree!

Next post will contain more frugal (not cheap) tips for your holiday parties and upcoming weddings! Have some ideas you'd like me to share? Post them here or contact me!

Cheers,

Anne :-)

P.S.--Of course, the folks at Rubber Chicken Cards hope you'll love their cards and continue using them even after six months. But this is a f*ree subscription with no strings attached (bad harp pun). Just go there and enjoy sending those cards!

(For early shoppers, all of my products are discounted on my website (for a limited time), including my book that contains money-saving hints for your wedding day in my book, The Bride's Guide to Musicians, published by Hal Leonard Books. It's also available as a Kindle Edition. Go to the facebook page to view some ideas now)

Have You Sent Your Sweetie a Valentine's Day Greeting?

It's less than a week away, and thoughts of love are in the air. Can you feel it? Valentine's Day is approaching!

If you just can't think of what to say to your sweetheart, send an e-card. It's quick and easy and you can say "I Love You" and whisper sweet nothings in your loved one's ears from the comfort of your computer. And you can even send an e-card that contains my harp music!

Hop on over to Banjo Bunny E-Cards and find something unique to say--in a beautifully unique way--to your honey bunny. Make sure to visit the "Love More" e-card that contains my version of "The Manx Courting Song" from my Haste to the Wedding CD.

May your heart be warmed on Valentine's Day,
Anne :-)

Banjo Bunny E-cards

I'm pleased and tickled to announce that my music is now part of Banjo Bunny's land of whimsical, inventive, and funny animated Internet greeting cards!

For all my friends in the U.S., you'll find my music embedded in Banjo Bunny's newest Thanksgiving e-card, "Grateful Harp". This card is graced with the song "Epping Forest", an old English dance tune dating back to 1670. The full version of this tune is a track from my A Light in the Forest album. What a fabulous way to sample the tune! (You can purchase it as a download on iTunes and at Amazon.com)

Like multiplying bunnies, there are many more e-cards on their way that will include my music. Hop on over to BanjoBunny.com to start sending those magical cards to friends and loved ones for the holidays!

Check out A Light in the Forest and all of my CDs on many online stores such as Amazon.com and CDBaby.com. They are also available for purchase at retail outlets like Barnes and Noble Booksellers and Borders stores.

Autographed albums can be purchased at http://www.celticharpmusic.com/, the only place where you can buy three of my CDs for the price of two--a money saving option for holiday gifts. Inexpensive shipping is available (U.S. Media Mail) as well as speedier shipping options that allow for tracking.