Juliette's First Solid Food

Thanksgiving 2013 morning

 It is 6:30 in the morning. The house smells so good.  Mom had just made the sausage quiche cups, sprinkled with green onions. Yum!

This is sitting in the cold room.  I wish we can start eating now.

 The cranberry cake is smelling so good, I was tempted to cut out a piece to try it.  I will never hear the end of it from Mom, so I better not.

 There are two crock pots here.  One is a pork soup Mom made for the diner later today.  The other is the hot Apple and cranberry drink for this morning.  Mom changed the formula for the drink.  It is mostly apple juice, with a small juice box of cranberry juice added, so it won't be too tart.











I made the garlic toasts last night.  I have not tried it yet, but this time I loaded it with garlic, so watch out!  We will have to brush out teeth after we eat these bad boys.

The vegetable dressing is here again, on Mom's request.  We used Bell's breading this year.  I find them a bit salty.  I won't buy this next year.

This picture is a bit dark, but smells heavenly none the less.  I am roasting some potatoes with garlic and olive oil in the oven.  Yummy.  It is browning up nicely.

Matthew Peter deSouza's Christening

Sunday November 10, 2013.

We (Paula, Babcie and I) went to Matthew Peter Souza's christening ceremony this day. The event was celebrated at the St. Mary's church (need to verify) in Lowell.  This is the church in which Amy and Mike were married.

We arrived at the church about five minutes before 10 AM.

Babcie's new chair

November 9, 2013,

 Paula ordered a mechanical lift chair for Babcie.  This chair has three positions: recline, upright, and lift up.  This is all controlled by a up/down switch (see here in Babcie's left hand.)

The chair came during the week, Wednesday.  I was mildly annoyed.  I had instructed the shipping company to inform me when they deliver, so that I can be there to open the door.  I know Babcie plays card every weekday, so she may not be home when the chair is delivered, and I don't want the delivery men to leave the chair outside, in case it rains.

When the chair was delivered, it happened that Babcie was home. She insisted that the delivery men bring the chair into the house.  At first they said no, but Babcie insisted.  Finally they relented and brought it in.  Just a case in point - people who need to use lift chairs are in no position to carry these chair inside by themselves.  I have to write to the seller about this point.

 Another point that irked me was that on the web site, there was no mention about "assembly required."   From Paula's description of the chair, it came in many pieces and a big bag of wires and electrical stuffs.  For the next couple of days, I hate dreams and nightmares about the chair.  On Saturday, I brought a box of all my tools to Babcie's house.  I have hammer, monkey wrench, screwdrivers, Allen wrench, nail clippers in case I want to clip my finger nails, gloves, and what-nots.

 Come to find out, the assembly was not that difficult.  The chair came in two big pieces - the base and the seat back.  The seat back clip into two clips coming out of the chair base.  The remote control plugs into the base. Another wire plugs into the base, then connect to a transformer and then to the wall plug.  So that was done within ten, or fifteen minutes.  Babcie tested the chair, and allowed it to lift her to knee straight position, where she can just walk out of the chair with a little push on the handles.
We both thought the chair was very comfortable and cushy.

The chair can also decline. When it does, the foot rest comes up from the vertical position, to horizontal.  It now becomes a nice bed.  All in all, this chair is like an airline business class seat, and more, because it does lift you up as well.

Babcie tried all the chair positions, and was very pleased.  She will be spending some time watching TV in this chair.

Stef's Halloween Party

Saturday, October 26, 2013. Stef threw a Halloween party.  Here is just a bunch of random pictures. Babcie, Paula, and I arrived around 5 PM.  Everyone was already there.  When we went in, the condo door outside was open because a carpet cleaning truck left the door open so they can have to vacuum hose go from the truck to a condo inside.  So we all walked in without ringing the door.
Paula and Babcie went in first while I parked the car.

 To my surprise, everyone was in the hallway greeting each other. Everyone.  I said "Are we having the party in the hallway?", because we might as well. Just bring out the food and drink.

Anyway, here are, from left: Kelly, Paula, Joanie, and back to us is Grabrielle.  The big round circle on the window is the Great Pumpkin.

 I brought a big bottle of Yellow Tail's Sweet Red Roo.  Everyone seemed to like it.  Babcie is enjoying a glass of the red wine.

 Stef made some pastry with phillo dough and cream cheese with chives.  It is very flaky, light, and delicious.

 Stef has some nice Halloween plates. "From the Pottery Barn.", I think she said.  Here are some scarecrow plates.

We went batty with these plates.

I served mom and Joanie something with these plates, and Joanie said "Ah, call me a witch, eh".

Well, at least I didn't use these devil plates. They are all so Halloween-y.

Mike and Aunty Ann discussing world affirs.

while Stef pushed her phillo dough puffs.  Babcie really like them.

Rebecca and Kelly took the commuter rail to Franklin. Very good effort.

Julio left work early and joined us at the party. She was wearing  kitty cat ears.  Very festive.

Gabrielle, Ann, and Joanie caught up on world affairs.

Mike brought back Lasagna, salad, and bread sticks from Olive Garden.

The salad and bread sticks.

For dessert, Stef made this Strawberry cheesecake.  It is similar to the Blueberry cheesecake, except with, you know, strawberries.

and she also served this upside down pumpkin pie.  The pumpkin crust is made from butter and crumbs. It is supposed to be very delicious.

The salad comes with a bottle of the usual Olive Garden salad dressing.  It was very good, except the red onion was super powerful.  I took one tiny nip on one tiny piece, and right away feel my mouth swell up with the onion flavor.  Of course we cannot do anything to this one, but I read somewhere, if you create your own salad, the red onions can be slice up before serving, soak in water with a bit of salt and refrigerate.  When you are ready to serve, drain, and rinse, and dab dry. This will take out the sting.

We all had a very nice time at the party and were sad to leave at the end of the night.  Thanks, Stef.






Foot note:  I have a couple of pictures taken with an Epson camera.  Here they are:

 Paula wore black today, because she just came back from Mr. Dawicki's funeral.  She is wearing boots, which signifies cold weather.

Below are Rebecca and Julio. I wish the light can be more diffused. The flash appears to be too strong. The funny thing is the power in the camera gave out as soon as this picture was taken.