My Mom's Stuffing

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it's going to be a little different for us this year. Instead of hosting and doing the cooking as I have for the past 30 years, I'll be traveling to New York to spend the day with my daughter and mother-in-law (and to visit with my mom who's in a nursing home.) I won't be doing the cooking this year -- I'm leaving that to Wegmans.

While I'm so happy that despite moving to Massachusetts we are still able to be with family on special days, there is one thing I'm really going to miss -- my mom's turkey stuffing. She made it for as long as I can remember and when I took over the cooking duties many years ago, there was never a question as to what kind of stuffing to make.

I still remember mom telling me that she got the recipe from her good friend, Ruthie Kern, when she was a young bride. The recipe was attributed to Ruthie's Great-Grandma Colgrove and mom told me that while we use regular store bought saltines in it these days, back then they actually made the crackers to put in the stuffing.

I thought that since I won't be making this tomorrow, I should at least share the recipe. (I did buy a turkey today to put in the freezer and was thinking maybe I would make this for Christmas Eve ... so all is not lost!) And my son mentioned to me last week that his wife now makes this stuffing as does her mother and all her aunts ... long live Grandma Colgrove!

Mom's Turkey Stuffing

Single batch (enough for small turkey):

1 loaf fresh Bread
1 stack Saltine Crackers
1 medium Onion
2 cups Milk
2 sticks Margarine
Sage
2 Eggs

Double Batch (enough for large turkey):

1 ¾ loaves fresh Bread
2 stacks Saltine Crackers
1 large Onion
3 cups Milk
2 ½ sticks Margarine
Sage
3 Eggs

Cube bread and crumble crackers. Chop onion. Mix together in large bowl and set aside. Meanwhile, heat milk and margarine over low heat in saucepan until margarine is melted and milk is hot. Pour over bread mixture and let stand for 5 minutes. Add sage to taste.

Beat the eggs until fluffy and fold in. If too soupy, add more crackers. If too dry, add another egg. Salt and pepper to taste.

Stuff turkey. If baking stuffing separately, place in greased casserole and cover. Bake at 325 for about one hour.

Wordless Wednesday -- I'm A Big Kid Now!

So Much Company ...

Since we've just moved to Massachusetts, we've had a lot of company who've come to see our new place and help us to explore Boston and all the other sweet spots close to us. We're getting down into Fall now and the beautiful leaves are gone and it's starting to turn cold. Still, we had friends come visit last weekend and family here with us since Thursday.

It's been wonderful -- despite a plumbing problem last Sunday morning that left us with water pouring through our first floor bathroom ceiling and, subsequently, some frayed nerves as we waited for the plumbers to arrive with the builder on Monday morning (at 7:20 a.m. no less!) All is well now -- there are repairs still to be done and it will mean having someone in to re-paint but the pipes were good to go before the next round of guests arrived.

Yesterday we spent another day in Boston and visited Quincy Market again. We love it there and it's always fun to go. We went to Dick's Last Resort for lunch and were properly insulted.



And we watched as workmen started putting up the Christmas decorations.




This included a 70 foot tall tree brought in from Nova Scotia. Fascinating to watch that going up and a worker climbing up the boughs and cutting the ropes that kept it all pulled together -- and then watching them fall into place. We're hoping to go next week for the lighting of the tree (we hear the Celtics and some of the Patriots are going to be there so it might be fun) so I'll hold off with pictures until then.

Today is an early Thanksgiving dinner. I was up early getting the stuffing made and the turkey in the oven. We're planning for an early dinner and then a trip into Natick Mall so William can cruise the aisles at Toys R Us and give Grandma and Grandpa lots of fun ideas for gifts!

I love having friends and family visit ... but I'm looking forward to getting back to eating healthy and spending some time with Dave and the pups. We are hoping to decorate the house a bit (we didn't even put a tree up last year as we were trying to get ready to move) and we'd like to see what festivities are going on around us that we can enjoy.

For now, I'm off to enjoy some time with my sweet grandson ...

Celebrating the Fourth of July on The Spirit of Boston

Holidays mean long weekends and for us, that brings with it the possibility that family (or friends!) will come visit. Our daughter Bree and her boyfriend Jay decided to come spend the 4th with us and we wanted to do something really fun to celebrate.

We decided to hit Boston for the day ... what a great place to visit in the summertime! We took separate cars as hubby and I wanted to drop Rascal and Daisy off with Kim our wonderful pet sitter first. Bree and Jay ended up in Beacon Hill and Dave and I ended up exploring Quincy Market for a while ... great fun and not nearly as crowded as we had expected. Weather was perfect too -- sunny but not too hot. Great for walking the city streets!

The highlight of our day however was a dinner cruise on The Spirit of Boston -- and seeing the city from the water. Love, love, LOVED it! Here are a few pics to enjoy from our walk through the city and of the cruise from the upper deck ...

"Arthur" sitting on top of The Children's Museum

Rowe's Wharf

I fell in love with these lights outside One International Place

Outside the famous Quincy Market

And a quick snippet of inside Quincy Market

Boat on the water right in front of the landing strips at Logan

 

Sun beginning to set ...

It all seems so peaceful from the water ...

The Boston Skyline at sunset ...

Wishing everyone a most patriotic and fun-filled 4th of July!

Introducing -- David

otherwise known as the love of my life. Yes, my sweet husband.

We met while I was still in high school and married shortly after I graduated. We'll be celebrating our 31st anniversary in a couple weeks. It seems hard to believe that we've been together this long ... time has surely flown by! But then again, sometimes I feel like we've only just begun {insert strains of Karen Carpenter's beautiful voice singing that memorable wedding song here ...}

We've shared a lot of living together -- we've enjoyed our life in 3 different houses and now find ourselves starting over again in a whole different state, we've raised 3 children and now are so very happy to also include two daughters-in-law and a grandchild to our family, we've said goodbye to our fathers, lived through job changes ... the list is endless. But I can't help but think there's a whole lot more ahead of us.

"Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be ..."  -- Robert Browning

Such sweet words to my ears. I'm certainly praying for many more years together!

So -- when I mention my sweetheart, hubby, husband, David Darling, or Dave ... this is the wonderful guy I'm talking about. I thank God for him every day of my life.

Introducing -- Bree

Please don't read anything into the fact that I introduced my dogs before my husband and kids! They were just conveniently close by and I could easily snap a few pictures of them. I just had to do a little searching in my files for a picture of Bree.

This is my youngest -- Breanna -- who, as you probably guessed, was born in South Korea and was adopted into our family when she was just 4 months old. She is what might be referred to as the icing on the cake, the piece of the Paine family puzzle that was missing until God sent her to us to fill in the empty spot. My baby girl.

Who -- as you can see -- is all grown up now. She decided not to move with us to Massachusetts and stayed in New York to pursue her career as a Licensed Massage Therapist. Not having her come with us has probably been the most difficult part of our move. But, as always, God's timing was perfect. She was ready to strike out on her own when all the move stuff came about. Our decision to leave New York gave her the incentive she needed to find a place of her own and start moving forward with her career.

And with her in this picture is her very sweet boyfriend -- Jay. He's part of the family too :)

They're coming up for the July 4th weekend and we have some fun planned in Boston that we are all excited about ... I'd tell you what it is but it's a surprise for them!

Introducing -- Rascal and Daisy!!

Guess it's time you meet the family!

We (meaning my husband Dave and I) are the happy owners of two adorable, fluffy little white toy cockapoos. They're brother and sister (and not twins as someone recently asked us -- I mean, is it possible for dogs to be twins?) but like most "kids", they're as different in personality as can be.

Rascal is 6 years old and our bundle of nerves. He's a worrier (he could have been the worried dog in the Travelers Insurance commercial.) He senses when we're getting ready to leave and starts to cling OR he runs and hides. He is a snuggler ... he wants to be wherever we are and in our laps if at all possible. He's a sweetie and the calmer quieter of the two.

And let me tell you, he was none too pleased when Daisy joined the family! We drove from New York to Delaware to pick her up and, with his nose a lot little out of joint, made the entire 10 hour drive home with his face tucked into the corner of the back seat and his back towards his little sister. It was almost 3 months before he would even stay in the same room with her. But now -- they're the best of friends.

And this is our Daisy ... also know as Doozer, ZooZoo, and occasionally The Little Stinker. She'll be 3 years old in September and has personality plus. She's the life of the party and doesn't seem to have a care in the world. She keeps watch on everything that goes on in the neighborhood and keeps us on our toes. And she is sweet. She just is about as lovable as a pup can be.

These two have had a bit of a hard time over the past several months. Rascal was a mess with Dave coming and going every week (he was working and living in our new place for about 6 weeks before we joined him.) It got to the point where Rascal got sick when he even saw a suitcase. Daisy is afraid of our stairs here and after 6 weeks of living in the new place, she still won't come down by herself. I gotta tell you -- that's getting old (but providing great exercise! )

Whatever their quirks these two are the loves of our lives. We are dog people and just adore these two little fluff balls to pieces. Maybe a little too much :)

And fair warning -- I talk about them a lot and they somehow manage to find their way into just about every picture I take. Just so you know, the way you can tell them apart is Rascal has a nub and Daisy has a tail. Rascal has a blue collar and Daisy's is purple. That's about it.

Oh -- and can you guess that Daisy is named after my favorite flower? Yeah, I figured you probably caught on to that one ... LOL.