Christmas in New York City 2014

This year I decided to make the trip to New York City to see the "Tree,"  at Rockefeller Plaza, between Wet 48th and West 51st Streets, and Fifth and Sixth Avenues.

 Of course on the way we passed Macy*s department store at Herald Square, and their wonderful windows on 151 West 34th Street.

 Their windows are always magical.

 This window showed a model of the Thanksgiving Parade!

Where do they store these huge decorations?

 The Christmas balls here were giant!

 In the neighborhood is the NBC studios.

 We grew up watching SNL

 So glad that Jimmy Fallon brought the Tonight show back to NYC.

 The Tree

 People skating on the rink 

with the statue of Prometheus

 These Salvation Army volunteers were really rocking the day away for their charity.

 St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets.

 Lego Store

 Glittering twinkle lights on the trees.

 This wreath was stunning

 All of the birds in these windows at Anthropology in the Plaza were created with papers and fabric

 These "green" windows were by far the most interesting to be seen.

 Adorable green birds handcrafted with recycled materials

 The Great Blue Heron was amazing

 A chap with a Santa hat playing Christmas favorites on a steel drum in the Subway.

 Back to Penn Station

 A great view of the Empire State Building

 This was a display inside the Amtrak level at the station. A great day and an easy trip from Long Island using the LIRR and the Subways.

Stuffing 101 An Essential Roast Turkey Side Dish

This is the recipe for stuffing that my mother,Rose Guglielmino, used to make for the holidays.  Our whole family loved roasted turkey and especially the way she made the stuffing.  The stuffing was always made in a separate pan, not inside the bird.  I guess that Rose was ahead of her time.  She would make an extra large amount to go along with leftovers.

 The ingredients are pretty straight forward, celery, apples, onions, breakfast sausage, parsley, and Pepperidge Farm classic stuffings, Herb Seasoned and Corn Bread, ground sage, butter, chicken bouillon and water.

 The sausage comes in a wrapper which is found in the frozen aisle.   Defrost it a bit to make the wrapper slide off and the pork sausage more easily cut.

 After I cut it into circles then cubes,

I render the sausage in a hot, very large pan, and chop it up with a pancake turner, until brown and crumbly. 

 Set it aside until later.

 Next cut up a large onion.

 Reduce the size of the pieces with a chopper and a wooden bowl, if you have them.

Add several pats of butter to the pan,

 and sauté the onion pieces until tender.

 Select several center stalks of celery, wash, and cut into slices.

 Continue to chop the celery slices into chunks.

Reduce the size of the celery pieces with the chopper.

 Sauté in the pan with the onions.

 Next choose fresh parsley,

 and separate the leaves from the stems.

 Freeze and save half the the leaves in a plastic bag for another soup or casserole.

 Chop the parsley leaves with the chopper, (which is so simple and easy to clean up when the preparation is over.)

 Sauté the parsley with the onions and celery.

 Next peel and cut into chunks Mackintosh  apples.  They will cook up softly and taste great in the stuffing.

Sauté with the other ingredients.

 I used spray butter to coat the baking pan.

 Into boiled water, dissolve several cubes of chicken bouillon.

 Add the rendered sausage,

 Then the bullion, stir.

 Add the dry stuffing

 to the pan.

 Turn the mixture to coat the dry stuffing.

Spoon, then pat the stuffing into the baking dish.

Add pats of butter to the top,

 then a little ground sage if you like.

 Wrap with foil to store overnight in the refrigerator.  The next day bake until the stuffing is browned and crispy, but not too crispy.  You can add more chicken bouillon, if the stuffing is a bit dry.  This is a great side to bring if you are having dinner at a friend's house, and you can serve it in the white glass baking dish.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Jarvis House