Stuffed Figs.

From my upcoming cookbook entitled, "Stuffed Stuff."

dried figs stuffed with chocolate cream cheese

by Pam Russell-Hennings

Serves 6.
Ingredients

1 pkg. cream cheese, room temperature

1 lb. fresh, soft, dried calimyrna figs, whole (about 12)
(Trader Joe's kind, if you can find them)

1T sesame seeds

1t poppy seeds

1T fresh ginger, grated very fine

1C chocolate chips, melted

2T Godiva white chocolate liquor

Hershey's chocolate syrup (optional)

2tsp cinnamon, 2T superfine or confectioner's sugar and 3T cocoa powder, mixed

Microwave chocolate chips in medium glass bowl, low setting, in 20-second increments, stirring and reheating as necessary until melted. Add cream cheese in 2oz chunks, stirring well and dashing with splashes of Godiva white chocolate liqueur as you go to help stir until smooth. Smash in ginger and seeds, mix until well blended. Set aside. Carefully slit bottoms and sides of figs and make like a hot dog bun, not all the way through keeping tip intact. Gently push seeds aside to make space for about 1 T of stuffing then stuff, re-seal, arrange on plate, sift with cinnamon/sugar/cocoa mix, drizzle with designs of Hershey's chocolate syrup, and serve.

Abundant Blessings.

The rest of the whole wide world is never going to love us as much as our parents do, so our parents instinctively love us more than they do the rest of the whole wide world. My parents love me that much, and I love my children that much. It is the circle of love.

Off to Cabo.

Leaving for beautiful Baja California soon, to incredible Cabo San Lucas. My first blue-water vacation ever. I did go to Bali once, but was drawn to the artistic inner cities of Ubud and only hit the beach for a day, mostly to sit in the sunset along a long line of beach restaurants at Jamboran nibbling on barbecued fish.


In Cabo, I will probably snorkel, but I am not parasailing. I saw those American Home Videos.

Another Frustrated Musician.

Okay. I got the Finale Songwriter software, the midi cable and my little Yamaha and am ready to write in real time. But no! Precluded by glitches. Help! Terry! Steve! Anybody!? Nah. It's always the routine. No, I know myself. I will keep working at it until I figure it out. So far I have been doing simple writing by clicking notes on the staff, but you need a really great mouse and a really smooth mousepad for it to go well, and I possess neither at the moment. More fruitful days are soon ahead. Wish me luck. Mozart laughs.

Moving On.

I'm all right now, sorry for the flame on SBC the other day. Time to count our blessings. The company is having a successful year and appears to be planning to expand to New York; the birds are singing; flowers are in bloom; the sun is shining (after 40 days and 40 nights of rain); we had a beautiful, wonderful Easter with my family; and, my vacation is just 12 short days away. I am so totally excited.

Rainy Night for Writing.

Good. I am composing a song about dogs and it's coming out beautifully so far, like it should: with rhyme, humor, a simple tune, and an outpouring of love. Don't be fooled, it takes much coaxing before lyrics finally become finally finalized. Maybe it's karmic. Maybe I did a few good turns today. Good karma, I need. Keep them coming.

Thanks, CDBaby. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Thanks to the wonderful people at CDBaby.com, I have acquired listeners around the world. I just mailed a promo copy of Roses and Bone to a Miss G.O. Fridlund of Sweden, a freelance journalist who writes about country, folk and blues for an online magazine, hallandsposten.se. She emailed me to ask if CDBaby has Scandanavian distribution when she happened to stop in for a visit. (I would like to believe CDBaby is currently working on obtaining Scandanavian distribution but in the meantime, I didn't hesitate to send her a promo!)

On the new music front, I spent time recently in yet another session at Bones & Knives Studios laying basic tracks on a new song. I have about seven or eight more works milling 'round in my head ready to record and publish. And, I will be improving this website to be something more than a blog.

Thanks and praises be to my beautiful, sweet, loving parents, Bob and Gladys, for instilling me with musical genes and recognizing some talent and my penchant for playing keyboards (read: they couldn't tear me away from one without a grandiose tantrum when I was but a wee toddler). This is all, of course, great fun and I am proud and happy to see things finally moving in the direction of my dreams...and to me, success means more than money (although money is nice). It is more about delivering the goods that I carry in my heart to the rest of this music hungry world. And by the way, Britney, Madonna and Shakira, I SING BETTER THAN YOU.
Peace and Love,
Pam