Its Over,

Thanksgiving is now over, Once more dinner was a total success..... there was mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, rolls with sweet butter, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, a butter pecancake and of course the main attraction, Mr. Tom Turkey....
As I was making the dinner, I thought of past Thanksgivings, the successes and the not so successful ( year I burned my hand with the gravy comes to mind, spent hours in the ER).. I thought of all the family recipes that have been handed down generation to generation.... Case in point is the stuffing recipe... This recipe came from my Nanny, who got it from her Mother... When I was little I would watch as my Nanny made the stuffing for the bird.  The night before she would do all her prep work for the big day. The smell I remember the most was when she would Sauté the onions and celery in butter, she would add salt and pepper and the aroma would fill the house. She would take white bread and tear it into cube sizes, pour the onions, celery, and butter over the bread cubes, then add eggs and mix. It might be a simple recipe but it was so good.   Back then it was OK by their standards to stuff the bird the night before, and sit it in the refrigerator.  Early the next morning Nanny could be heard putting the bird in the oven... She would rub the bird with butter and slow roast it till golden brown.  My Nanny never used a written recipe, She only had one cookbook in the kitchen and I never saw her use it. She would cook and bake from memory... My Mother was the same way, she could make just about anything without a recipe book, I think the only thing my mother made from a recipe book was cookies.  I learned from these wonderful ladies, I learned that some of the best recipes are past on from watching and helping... When my son and step children were little I would take the extra time to have them help me with dinner. Today all the kids know how to cook and bake, thanks to the time they spent by my side... Yesterday my son called me and he was making the turkey for dinner, It was funny as he said he was making my stuffing. No there isn't a written recipe for the stuffing , just a memory of a wonderful family tradition past on from generation to generation... I just hope one day my grand daughter will be making the stuffing and her child will be watching and keeping the tradition going. Take that extra few minutes and let your children help you in the kitchen, remember Memories last forever....

Black Friday,  NO I did not get up before the sun to go and shop, I don't know of anyone who did.  But I know there were crowds at the mall and stores just waiting for the special deal.  I hope all the shoppers got the deals they went for and that this years Black Friday was a safe one for the shopper's and the employees.... After all even the biggest discount isn't worth someone getting hurt for..  As for me, if I want the deals, I might just shop on line, no lines to wait in, no pushing and shoving, just my machine and me....