Very nice Rita! Is the wine a type of Mead? You'll have to let us know how it tastes...AnnT has the best recipes - you'll have to share your favorites. Hand embroidery is almost a lost art and something to cherish. A very special package! -maria

Really nice, Kate!

You will treasure that cookbook. Ann's recipes and photos are inspiring. And as a sewist, I really love that tea towel. Is it hand embroidered? Wow, that's almost a lost art.

The wine sounds intriguing. Let us know how it tastes. And where is PLUMAS county?

Enjoy the candy.

Sounds like these were all just perfect for you :)

That's a great swap assortment!
I know you will treasure Ann's cookbook, in all it's yummiest! The tea towel is the kind that I like to use when I need to cover rising yeast dough.... Enjoy!

Nancy

Rita, I counted three. I thought the two books were packing material. I think that is a first - someone receiving my recipe collection as a gift.

I love the tea towel. Beautifully stitched. And that wine sounds very interesting. Judging by the name I'm assuming a dessert wine. I'll bet it tastes wonderful.

Well done Kate.

Ann

Lucky Rita! Glad you got such a great box. I love everything in it. Ann's book. Very cool. Kate that was so great of you to embroider that towel for her. Lovely.

Rita, did I miss why you had to take your Hubby to the hospital? Hope everything is ok.

The embroidered towel is very beautiful. I wonder if you can use the Blackberry wine in cooking - I would be interested in making some kind of dessert dish with it. Or it might be good with some sort of game meat.

I haven't been to Plumas County, but I have driven from San Francisco to Reno and probably came close. It's a very beautiful area, and I hope you get the chance to visit.

Great selections, although we didn't get to see all the candy since it was eaten too quickly!

Lars

Lars, what a good idea, I'll bet pears would be wonderful poached in that instead of Port.

I love the towel, almost no one does that kind of hand work anymore, it's lovely.

Great box. Have you finished the wine, yet, Rita? LOL

Annie

I love the regional items. And a AnnT's desserts - what's not to like? Hey I wonder if you can make anything in a certain Le Creuset stoneware set bwahaha....

The tea towel is AWESOME! Such patience embroidery takes IMO... I haven't done any since the year I was taught how in school, and I am a great admirer of those skilled in the art.

I think Lars is on to something... Annie's right, I bet poached pears with the wine would be great, but back to Lars' game meat theme, how about pork, even? But then, at my house, we'd probably just drink it!

And not only are Ann's recipes great, her pictures are mouth watering. Just look at those apples and that pie on the cover... yummmm!

Very nice job, Kate!!

(Rita, Hope DH is OK)

Wow! A hand-embroidered towel -- what a treasure. You'll feel loved every time you use it. And what a clever idea to include Ann's cookbook. Great job!

Very, very nice! I agree that the towel is a treasure, and so are Ann's recipes!

What an awesome gift! I agree with everyone else, hand embroidery is to be treasured. I'll bet there's going to be some serious baking going on with that cookbook.
No suggestions on using the wine in cooking, but if you can't figure anything out, just send it here and I'll take care of it for you!

Very nice.

Deanna

Loving the tea towel! I would have to put it away for special times :-)Such a special treasure to have a homemade tea towel.

AnnT's Dessert cookbook! What's not to love about that! You will enjoy that for many many years. I keep Ann's recipes on my computer but to have them in a book would be awesome. Enjoy your goodies because I know I would!

I agree about using that wine to poach pears with! yuuuummmm!

Nice box!

Yay! I am so happy to hear you received your package Rita and that you appear to have liked it. Since we really had never interacted here on the forum before I tried to be thoughtful in what I gave you. As I mentioned in my somewhat windy included letter you posting on Jessy's thread was a major help. Thanks again.

So on the wine it is from Chico, CA which is the closest metropolitan area to the quiet little town of Quincy where we live, in Plumas County. We are in the mountains about three hours northeast of Sacramento, CA. Very peaceful overall. Link for the winery below.

Ann was incredibly gracious in offering her assistance and recipe collections to me to print out and have bound for this swap. This is the one solely for desserts, she also had one that was more comprehensive of all different kinds of grub and then a picture calendar for only desserts that I printed out for myself:) Again thank you Ann.

On the embroidered towel I'm so pleased you liked it. When I was a little girl my grandmother who was truly gifted when it came to sewing taught me how and that is a memory I cherish. Fast forward 30 years later and I still enjoy doing it during winter when the weather often keeps us all stuck indoors. I think one of the main reasons I enjoy it so is it makes me think of and feel close to her even though she's been gone for more than ten years now. And they make fun gifts.

Thank you everyone for your kind words. Made me feel great. Take care Rita and enjoy your loot:)

Kate

Here is a link that might be useful: Winery link

What a nice selections of gifts for this swap! Nicely done, Kate! Enjoy your goodies, Rita!

Teresa

Rita, Kay,
I can just taste that berry wine reduced to a syrup with fresh summer fruit served over ice cream. A perfect summer dessert!

Very lovely work on the tea towel, Kay. I too learned to embroider when I was a young girl, but I haven't done it in years. I still have tea towels I made when I was about 11. It's so nice to have swap gifts to enjoy immediately as well as have as a keepsake.

First off hubby is ok, physically... He fell out of bed and cracked his head on the night stand... I fully expected to grab a handful of brains when I helped him up, yes he hit his head that hard... Other than a small bump and being a bit stunned he seemed to be in complete control of all his facilities... I got him an ice pack, helped him dress and escorted him downstairs...

He seemed fine... He fixed himself a bowl of cereal, we had a normal conversation ( neither of which has happened in more than 4 years )... Then, out of the blue, he says that since he can't take a nap he was going to watch TV for a while ( !!! )... Within a half hour he said his neck hurt and wanted a pain pill ( hasn't ask for one since he had hip surgery! )... That's when I took him to the hospital.

While we were waiting for the results of the MRI hubby became quiet, very quiet... The doctor said there was no sign of another stroke, nothing wrong with his neck, brain, skull or anything in between... Everything was ok... Hubby didn't say a word to the doctor or for the rest of the day... Since then signs of his dementia have intensified, in some ways... Ok, enough on that subject, just wanted to bring everyone up to speed and I had to unload.

Now you know why I didn't have the time to truly express my pleasure with my Swap box... Sorry Kate!

Before I opened the box I cleared off the little table and got my camera out... I wanted to make sure the batteries were charged and everything was ready to go... Good thing I had my handy little coupon cutter handy, Kate really knows how to tape up a package and make sure nothing could possible shift and get broken... LOL

The first thing I opened was the manila envelope with Kate's lovely letter... It's not often that one gets to sit down to read a real letter any more and it was a pure pleasure... She even included a picture of herself and her hubby, ( He kind looks like a young skinny Captain Picard. lol )... I'm still trying to figure out who Kate reminds me of, she does have my Mothers eyes... Oh, I did read the letter twice because I enjoyed it so much.

The next thing I spotted was a big plastic envelope thingy.... It's big, it's heavy and there's no chance I'll be able to open it with my bare hands ( lol )... A few moments with the coupon cutter and out comes AnnT's Cookbook!!!. Needless to say I had to take a quick look at the contents... Well, an hour and a half later I figured I better open everything else... LOL

I'm totally amazed that you took the time to print out all 200 and some odd pages just for me and on such high quality paper too... I mean, that's more than half a ream of paper and if your printer is anything like mine it probably took a couple sets of ink cartages too... Not to mention laminating the cover and having it bound... Thank you, so very much.. The cookbook alone would have been enough... Well maybe the cookbook and the black licorice... Or maybe the tea towel and some licorice... Or maybe just $30. worth of black licorice... LOL

Oops, almost forgot everything else... Loved it all!!!

Oh, the gorgeous embroidered tea towel is going to be framed, under glass, and hung in the kitchen... I'm not taking any chance that hubby might use it, nope, no way!

Hugs,
Rita

P.S. Jessica I can't even count the many times I've used the Le Creuset stoneware, for veggies, cheese cake, braded bread. lots of stuff... And any time I need a quick pick me up I go back and reread the post ,'My wonderful surprise!', to relive every joyous moment I received from your special surprise.

Aw Rita, how lovely of you to come back and further explain your receiving of your gifts. I'm sure Kate appreciates it.

Hugs [wink]

Rita:

Thank you for your informative follow up post. Not necessary but very thoughtful. Glad to hear your husband is alright, that sounds painful and disconcerting for both of you. No need whatsoever for you to apologize to me.

Ha ha about the packing! My husband says that something packed and wrapped up by me could easily survive space travel:) I figure I might as well do it right though, yes? And since it arrived safely all was good. I'm glad you were able to get it open without too much trouble.

On the cookbook that did work out well I thought. In our little burg of Quincy we have one small paper and they were actually kind enough to give me a deal on the printing and binding. They were great about it and aside from looking nice I wanted it to be tough enough to endure being knocked around a kitchen. I'm hard on my cookbooks and hope this one gets used enough that it has some dents and bruises to show for it:)

Now let's talk about that tea towel. By all means, please use it. Those things are tough stuff. They look pretty but really they are great tools in the kitchen. You are incredibly sweet to attach value to it but honestly, dry your hands on the thing. I can always make more.

Take good care Rita and again enjoy the goodies. Its like Christmas in June isn't it? Can't wait to see who my partner is and what's coming.

Kate

Now that is a very lovely swap package. I too love that tea towel, and nobody, but nobody, could go wrong with Ann T's recipes. Lucky, lucky you!
Sherry