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Dear Ann,
Holiday Greetings from all of us here at Harmony
Sweets! We hope this newsletter finds you enjoying a
healthy and happy holiday season. We have many
great ideas to share with you through this issue of the
Harmony Sweets Herald.
We have recipe ideas, gift giving ideas and
even some historical facts to share. We have a new
and exciting concept for you to maximize your shopping
opportunities through the new addition of "The Villa
Market at Harmony Sweets". Our Travel Tips section
and of course our feature Product of the Month will
help you continue to prepare for and enjoy this special
time of year.
Happy Tasting,
Laurie J. Curtis
Editor
Confection of the Month
This month we are featuring our Cantabile product from
Belgium. It is offered in a classic black tin, and a
beautiful holiday red tin for gift giving. It is one of our
favorite products and always receives rave reviews
whenever we preview it to customers.
This elegant confection is a delicate chocolate cup
filled with one of five exquisite flavors; Mocha, Caramel,
Praline, Champagne, and Pistachio. It is packaged in a
beautiful tin and then wrapped in ribbon with your gift
card, placed in our attractive shipping carton and can
be sent to anyone on your gift list in two days.
Please take a look at our Cantabile product from
Hanssens of Belgium and give the gift of good taste in a
festive holiday tin! If you would like to try it for
yourself, it is also available in a lovely larger sized box,
perfect for holiday entertaining.
Cantabile Red Tin, Black Tin and Boxed Chocolates are
on sale through December.
Red Gift Tin $16.95
200g (.44lb) 15 pieces
Save $5.00, regularly $21.95
Black Gift Tin
$16.95
200g (.44lb) 15 pieces
Save $5.00, regularly $21.95
Cantabile Boxed
$19.95
400g (.88lb) 30 pieces
Save $5.00, regularly $24.95
Hanssens Cantible in Red Gift Tin
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On a Musical Note |
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Do you ever wonder where some of our most beloved
Christmas Carols originated? One of the favorite carols
of all time "Silent Night" has an interesting story behind
it. It is said that Silent Night was written in 1818 on
Christmas Eve in Oberndorf, Austria.
Although there are several stories about its origin the
most common one is that the church organ at St.
Nicholas Cathedral was broken and therefore the
assistant pastor of the church, Joseph Mohr, needed a
piece to be written for the guitar for the service that
evening. Joseph had written a poem in 1816 and that
Christmas Eve gave the poem to the organist at the
church, Franz Gruber.
Franz composed the melody at once and wrote the
arrangement for two voices, a guitar, and choir. It is
said that it was performed that same night at the
Midnight Mass. Silent Night had become the most
recorded song of all time by 1955.
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The Recipe Box - Chocolate Pecan Pie |
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Chocolate Pecan Pie
Serves 6
4 oz. German sweet chocolate
3 T. butter
1 t. instant coffee powder
1/3 c. sugar
1 c. light corn syrup
3 eggs (slightly beaten)
1 t. vanilla extract
1 c. coarsely chopped pecans
1 unbaked pie shell (9 inch)
Heat the chocolate, butter, and coffee powder over
low heat until the chocolate is melted, stirring
constantly. In a separate pan bring sugar and corn
syrup to a boil, stirring to make sure all sugar is
dissolved.
Simmer this mixture for 2 minutes, while stirring
occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in the
chocolate mixture. Stir into eggs gradually. Add vanilla
and pecans. Pour into the pie shell and bake at 375
for 45 minutes. Enjoy with or without a topping of
sweet whipped cream.
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Awesome Travel Tips |
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There was a time when traveling by air for the holidays,
that I always packed my clothes in my suitcase and
then carried those fragile and carefully wrapped
presents on the plane with me in my carry-on luggage.
Those days have now changed with heightened
security at airports and train terminals. Please note
that if you carry on wrapped packages you may very
well be asked to unwrap them for security purposes.
Checked luggage is also often searched prior to
boarding as well.
If traveling for the holidays it is actually better to place
gifts unwrapped in luggage or carry-on bags and plan
on wrapping them when you reach your destination.
Another option is to ship your packages ahead of your
arrival, which gives you the option of tracking it and
insuring it as well.
Better yet, let Harmony Sweets ship your gifts and
have them arrive on the date you desire. If you wish
to carry on your Harmony Sweets' gift keep in mind
that our packages are so beautiful that we only wrap
them with ribbon- so no need to worry about security
not seeing what delicious gifts you are taking to the
special people you see over the holidays!
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Holiday Gift Ideas |
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We would like to introduce you to our wonderful little
book "Chocolate Therapy". This delightful book, by
Murray Langham, explores what our chocolate eating
habits reveal about us. It's a lighthearted look at our
love for sweets and all our "chocolate eating" behavior-
it even addresses how you fold your wrapper!
Find out about your inner center in this great book. It
will fit easily into a stocking or make it an ideal
accompaniment to one of our elegant assortments.
And what a perfect gift to bring the hostess of your
New Year's Eve party!
Have you thought about a Country Explorer gift? You
might consider ordering an item or two from a specific
country and then also adding the wonderful musical CD
we offer to accompany your gift of sweets. For
example you could send your friend or family member a
gift from Ireland by selecting our Lily O'Briens Irish
Truffle pouch, a unique Butler's Café ballotin of hand-
made assorted Irish chocolates and our Celtic Fiddles of
Ireland CD. All elegantly wrapped with your
personalized gift card --a unique gift sure to please!
Chocolate Therapy »
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Give yourself the gift of chocolate- guilt free! |
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Chocolate is a Vegetable
Author unknown
Chocolate is a vegetable
Chocolate is derived from cocoa beans
Bean = vegetable
Sugar is derived from either sugar cane or sugar
beets.
Both are plants in the vegetable category. Thus
chocolate is a vegetable.
To go one step further- chocolate bars also contain
milk which is a dairy product-
So chocolate bars must be health food!
Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, or orange slices
and strawberries all count as fruits, so eat as many as
you want.
Remember as you feel stressed over the holidays-
that "stressed" spelled backward is
DESSERTS- so enjoy!
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Quick Treat for a Cold Day! |
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If you want a special delicious treat on a cold winter
day try this quick idea. Pour a hot steaming cup of hot
chocolate into a large mug, add a scoop of peppermint
ice-cream, and stir with a candy cane. Enjoy with our
wonderful Walkers Shortbread Cookies in front of a
roaring fire- relax with friends and family!
Walkers Chocolate Shortbread Assortment »
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The Villa Market at Harmony Sweets: |
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A new opportunity at Harmony Sweets is "The
Villa Market". A link can be found at the bottom of our
home page at www.harmonysweets.com and is your
quick access to wonderful businesses which we would
recommend for your additional shopping needs. With
one quick click you can access exceptional products or
services sure to delight anyone on your shopping list.
This month our featured Villa Market business is
Brookstone, Inc.
Having lived myself in New Hampshire where Brookstone
originated I have many times walked through their
stores admiring the unique gifts and hard to find tools.
They seem to have something for everyone- and items
you don't usually find anyplace else. They offer items
for all ages.
It seems to me they specialize in the gifts you need to
buy "for the person that already has everything"! I
found a tool to allow you to jump-start your car by
using the car's cigarette lighter. They have wonderful
gifts for pets and people, for home and garden. Just
recently walking through their store in Ft. Worth, Texas
I found a few Christmas gifts for some hard-to-buy for
friends and family members on my list.
Although I first look to Harmony Sweets for my gift
giving ideas, Brookstone is another great shopping
opportunity. Please check out Brookstone,
Inc. at "The Villa Market at Harmony Sweets" and while
you are there take a look at our other quality business
partners. Happy holiday shopping!
Brookstone »
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