A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....07-29 thru 07-31-05....T.G.I.F. at the Finest

[tuliptree76]

Happy Cheesecake Day, Everyone!

Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
1 1/2 Cups (18) Cream filled Cookies, crushed
2 Tbs. Margarine, Melted
32 oz Cream Cheese, Softened
1 1/4 Cup Sugar
3 large Eggs
1 Cup Sour Cream
1 tsp. Vanilla
6 oz Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips, melted
1/3 Cup Raspberry Preserves, Strained
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
Whipping Cream

Combine crumbs and margarine; press onto bottom of 9-inch spring form pan. In a large bowl, combine 24 ounces of cream cheese and sugar, blending with an electric mixer.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in sour cream and vanilla. Pour mixture over crust. Combine remaining cream cheese and melted chocolate, blending well with mixer. Add Red Raspberry preserves; mix well. Drop dollops of chocolate cream cheese batter over plain cream cheese batter, do not swirl. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Loosen cake from pan and cool before removing.

Melt chocolate pieces. Dip a fork in the melted chocolate and go back and forth in a waving motion over cheesecake to make a line design. Chill.

Garnish with whipping cream and fresh raspberries.

Recipe found here.

[tuliptree76]

Ping to Cheesecake Day. :-)

[international american]

What a great story! Thanks for posting it.

[Kitty Mittens]

Thank you both for your Compliments on the Table I Posted of our President Kissing the sweet Granny! Everyone at the Finest is so Kind and Loving, and I'm Sending Saturday Hugs to All as I Pad Through on little Kitty Feet.

(((((((Finest FRiends)))))))

[The Mayor]

Hello Temple Owl, I had a good morning, shortly I will post a pic of what I have been working on..

[The Mayor]

Hi Tulip!

[The Mayor]

Hi all, This is the project I have been working on..

[GailA]

Aquamarine can you work your magic with the music and find this for us?

From my email:

Soldier in Iraq Records Country-Music Hit

By CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - His boots battered, his spirits sinking, Luke Stricklin struggled to explain his experiences in Iraq to his family and friends back home who kept asking him what it was like to fight in Baghdad.

"Time calling home was precious," the soldier said. "That's the last thing you wanted to talk about. Mom always said I wasn't telling her the truth, which I wasn't. I would tell her everything was just fine. Ashley, my wife, couldn't hear me talk about it. We just talked about anything else."

He couldn't speak the words. But he could sing them. He looked at the bottom of his boots one day. The boots he'd worn 12 hours a day for 14 months became the breakthrough. "Bottom of my boots sure are getting worn," the 22-year-old Arkansas National Guardsman wrote. "There's a lot of holes in this faded uniform. Hands are black with dirt and so is my face. Ain't ever been to hell, but it can't be any worse than this place." He kept on writing, entering lines on his laptop computer or jotting them down in a green waterproof Army-issue notebook he was required to carry while on patrols.

The song became "American by God's Amazing Grace," and by the time Stricklin came home from Iraq in March it was on country radio stations from Albuquerque, N.M., to Lima, Ohio, and Lexington, Neb., to Jackson, Tenn.

While writing the lyrics, Stricklin showed them to his Army buddy J.R. Shultz. The two worked out the music and decided to record the song. Stricklin grabbed his $25 guitar. which an Iraqi boy found for him at a Baghdad street market.

"You can't expect much being over there, but it was good enough. I played the heck out of that thing while I was over there," said Stricklin, who, on top of the money spent on the guitar, gave the boy a $25 tip for finding it.

The soldiers shut themselves in Shultz's room in a bombed-out concrete building at their Baghdad camp. They set up the laptop recording software and hooked up a cheap microphone.

"I sat on a five-gallon Igloo water cooler," Stricklin said. "We called them recording stools." With guitar on knee, Stricklin finished the song and e-mailed it home, writing, "Mom, listen to this." His mother, Sheila Harrington, said she was excited to see a note from her son, but didn't expect his creative response to her continuous questions.

"The song started playing and I literally broke down in tears," she said. "It all came together, the whole scenario of it for me."

Harrington quickly forwarded the e-mail onto friends and family, but she thought her son's song deserved a larger audience and she sent a copy to the local Fort Smith radio station. It prompted dozens of requests.

(Stricklin's song follows a rap album, "Live From Iraq," that a few Fort Hood soldiers wrote, recorded and produced while on a one-year deployment in Iraq.)

Upon his return from Iraq four months ago, Stricklin started playing local shows in Fort Smith and before long was on his way to Nashville, Tenn., where he recorded a studio version of the song and his self-titled debut album, due out in September. Before leaving for Iraq, Stricklin worked in an electric motor shop, but now he's trying for a full-time music career. Internet chatrooms buzz with talk of him as a rising country star and "American by God's Amazing Grace" has been released as a single. Stricklin has made appearances on national television and radio shows promoting it.

He hopes for a hit, but his mom is just happy for the lyrics. "I think I know them by heart," she said. "I carried the CD with me everyday and listened to it." ___ On the Net: http://www.lukestricklin.com

USATODAY.com

[Temple Owl]

Hey Gail, thanks for a terrific post. I hope that young soldier becomes an antithesis to the Dixie Chicks.

[dutchess]

Good afternoon finest friends. Just got back from a delightful lunch with JustAmy, Mama_bear, Marrissa and DollyCali. As I type this amy, lori and Marrissa are probably taking off for the "left" coast.

Nan...sounds like you were a "marvelous" "hostess"!

JK...thanks for lending us your lovely wife!

Dolly, thanks for making the treck down. Was great to see you again (and also to meet Wheelbarrow and the adorable Oliver!)

Have a great rest of the weekend all!

[luvie]

YOU'RE HIRED!!!! ;o)

That is going to be a wonderful addition to that home. You're good!

[jkphoto]

I probably left someone off the list and I am truly sorry that I did.

Thank you all for showing Mama_Bear, ScubaChick, JustAmy & Marissa a wonderful time! I understand that she has some stories to tell.

Nan . . . I am looking forward to seeing the photos that you took of her yesterday.

But . . . now it is time . . .

MAMA_BEAR COME HOME!!

[Victoria Delsoul]

Greetings everybody. Just stopping by for a few to say hi.

Mmm mmm, that cheesecake looks delicious, Tulip. Thanks for the recipe - I should try it one of these days.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Howdy Mayor. Wow, I didn't know you knew construction. Good job.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thank you kindly for the update, dutchess. Sounds like you guys had a wonderful time.

[lonestar]

Was I there?

Weinie

[Aquamarine]

Would you believe that I saw Luke interviewed on a news show a few weeks ago and tried to go to his web-site that they mentioned at the end of the show. Only problem is I typed in Luke Strickland instead of Stricklin, now I understand why I couldn't access his web-site. lol

It's a great song.
I used the new web-site address that you gave and found a sample of the song American by God's Amazing Grace. He's very good, sounds like a new rising star.

[Aquamarine]

Can't wait to see the pictures.

Am happy for jkphoto that Mama Bear is coming home!!

[ST.LOUIE1]

MAMA_BEAR COME HOME!!

LOL!

Lonesome, huh? : )

You'd better have the fridge stocked.

Hi, Jeff.

[ST.LOUIE1]

Glad you enjoyed your lunch, ((((dutchess))))...

...thanks for the update about our girls. : )

Sure have missed 'em. : (