Dackel Princess

What I Did This Past Weekend

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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It was a busy weekend for us here in New Hampshire. Besides the usual house cleaning and laundry, it was the start of the annual Weirs Beach Motorcycle Week. Each time we go outside, or the TV is off, all we can hear are the hums of motorcycles in our town.

The local Harley Davidson dealer is not too far from our home and we hear every single bike as they go to get their Bike Week Souvenirs!

A few years back Hubby still had his dream BMW Motorcycle and we attempted to actually go to the Weirs to have lunch and soak in the party experience. Easier said then done, as that 6 mile trip kept us locked in with every other motorcycle that wanted to go. So, we eventually turned around and went home.

I went out to the garden this morning and sadly, it really is not doing well. I talked to it, but am thinking that all the hard rain and hail (yes we have had some of that too!) have done it in. Thankfully, the plants in the patio pots are fine and flourishing!

Our weather during the days has been beautiful. In fact this morning when I walked the dackels, I noticed, bright blue skies and not a single cloud!

This coming week finds me going to my doctor for my annual check up, and going to see Mandy and Savannah for some snuggles and love!

Have a great week everyone!

Eggplant Lasagna!

Eggplant Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 medium eggplant peeled, cut into very thin slices lengthwise
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
. 3 links Sweet Turkey Italian Sausage
• 1/2 pound mushrooms sliced
• 6 lasagna noodles
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 8 ounces part skim ricotta cheese
. 1 small egg
• 1 cup shredded part skim Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large skillet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, brown eggplant slices in the oil; set aside. In same skillet add a little more olive oil and heat, cook onion 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until clear and fragrant. Add broken up sausage, mushrooms; cook about 6 to 7 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender, stir frequently.  Cook lasagna noodles according to directions on package. Mix egg with ricotta cheese.  In an 11 x 7 inch baking dish:
Spoon 1/4 cup of sauce.
Arrange alternate layers of 1) noodles, 2) ricotta, 3) mushroom mixture, 4) mozzarella cheese, 5) eggplant slices, 6) sauce, and 7)Parmesan cheese. Bake about 35 to 40 minutes until heated through. Serves 8.

Note: I also added some green pepper and crushed garlic to the onions and mushroom mixture.

5 Guys Burgers & Fries

Recently I went down to the southern part of our state. (Read that, more populated with a wider variety of restaurants, stores, etc!) Up here in Northern New Hampshire, where I live, we have a McDonalds restaurant and a Dunkin’ Donuts! But as far as any other chain restaurants, we simply do not have them.

Oh, I’ve seen Burger King, and I do love Kentucky Fried Chicken, and I have a real love affair going with Krispy Kreme Donuts. I also have eaten at a number of Chinese Restaurants as well as a down home country kitchen type of place where they serve food like Mama used to make!

Anyway, while I was down south waiting for Savannah’s arrival and then seeing her for the first few days, I had a chance to get a meal at a place I had never been to before. In fact, although I vaguely knew of this place, I thought that all the great talk was publicity hype.

I went to 5 Guys Burger & Fries!

When I went in I was greeted by a nice young woman who seemed to guess I was a newbie. She explained the menu, and after I ordered a single patty bacon cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and ketchup, and a small french fry, with a diet coke, handed me a container of peanuts to munch, while I waited.

Well, it just smelled wonderful in there and I laughed, thinking about all the days I’d enjoyed burgers in my life. But nothing prepared me for my first 5 Guys Burger!

Or their equally wonderful french fries!

I had tears in my eyes as I ate this juicy burger and also ate the hand cut fries! Occasionally I stopped to sip my Coke, but oh, my burger was just the best!

I was sitting there, in sheer Heaven, when the cook came over. It was mid afternoon and not too busy, and he wanted to see how I liked my burger.

I found it hard to speak. Somehow I managed to tell him that I had not had such a great burger since my Dad and Uncle George used to grill burgers at Goodwill Park in Falmouth, Massachusetts when I was a kid.

He smiled, and proudly told me that all the meat is top grade, never frozen and delivered daily! He then pointed to sacks of potatoes all over the shop and told me that they make (cut) all their fries! He was very proud. He should be. All those things really do make a big difference and makes “5 Guys Burger and Fries” different from all the rest.

I was really sad when I came to the end of the burger, wiped my mouth, and tossed my paper products into the bin.

5 Guys Burger and Fries is located at 341 Amherst St. Nashua, NH 03063. Definitely a great place to stop when you feel like having the best burger in your life!

***I have not been compensated in any way for this review of 5 Guys Burger and Fries. I am merely sharing my belief that they provide the best burgers ever!***

Friday Fill-Ins

Friday Fill Ins
And…here we go!

1. I knew it was love when…I saw your face for the first time!
2. My heart can be broken but you always enfold it with love.
3. A dog is is not only your best friend and companion, but the one thing that will never let you down!.
4. My how you have changed for the better.
5. Can you see how the years have treated me so gently?.
6. And the end of the week always means I can kick back and relax!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to grilling pork ribs tomorrow my plans include vacuuming the entire house and Sunday, I want to kick back and relax!!

Thursday Thirteen

I never thought anything could possibly come close to being as amazing as having my own children, until, I saw my daughter with her daughter!
Amanda is a natural mother. Watching her with Savannah, warms my heart.
I wish she could have had a regular birth, because the c-section has taken a lot out of her.
However, I have to say, she hardly ever complains!
It was so hard to leave and come home.
But my doggies and Hubby were so happy to see me.
I spent the first day home trying to catch up with laundry and cleaning.
I’m still hopelessly behind!
Lost 1 and a half pounds at Weight Watchers. Finally getting back on track!
I had to replant some cucumbers and tomatoes out in the garden, as the little chipmunks have eaten almost all of my plants!
I may have to get more cucumber plants.
I did get more Basil and planted that.
So far, the garden is doing really badly, but the patio potted plants are doing great!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. How many students were in your high school graduating class? Did you know most, if not all of them?

Two hundred something and yes, I knew almost all. Not on a really personal level, but I knew names and faces.

2. What was the last thing you photographed?

My granddaughter, Savannah Rose and her Mom, my daughter, Amanda!

3. Pickles-love ’em or loathe ’em? If its love what’s something you eat that needs a pickle?

Like ’em. I do like a nice kosher dill, but I am not a big pickle person. This is strange because I make pickles!

4. What’s a stereotype you seem to perpetuate without meaning to?

Not really sure. If I was blond, then it would be the dumb blond thing, but honestly, I can’t think of anything.

5. Ever been horse back riding? If so is it something you enjoy? If not, do you have any interest? Did you watch the Kentucky Derby? Will you be watching the last leg of the Triple Crown this weekend?

I love to watch the races and I have been riding, back when I was a child. I’ve always loved horses!

6. What’s your favorite ‘wedding’ movie?

“27 Dresses”! I loved that. I thought it was very funny. “Bridesmaids” was funny too, but a little too dark for me.

7. What is one ‘tourist attraction’ in the USA that you’d like to see in person?

Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii. I am fortunate enough to have visited many other of the USA’s tourist attractions! But look forward to this…Someday!

8. Insert your own random thought here.

This has been such a wonderful week for me. Watching my daughter become a mother was absolutely the best thing ever. I remember the day she was born, and it doesn’t seem so long ago. Now here she is, a new mother, herself. How wonderful this is! I was looking at pictures and I noticed that Mandy and her daughter look very much alike. It just made me smile. What do you think?

Mandy and me on the left and Miss Savannah Rose on the right.

Sleep

Yesterday, I was exhausted! I got everything done that I need to do, re:laundry, cleaning, getting my car in to the shop, and getting Hubby to fix my GPS. I made dinner, and after cleaning it up, collapsed into my chair and before I knew it I was ready for bed.

I slept for almost 12 hours!

I know I needed the sleep and now I am feeling so much better! Even if I forgot to write today’s post!

I’ll be back to my usual self soon, so please be patient!

A Weekend Of Mixed Emotions

Our host is Gattina. Come join us and tell us what YOU did this past weekend! After all, you never know when you will need an alibi!

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The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even for ever more.

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My weekend was full with a wide variety of things both marvelously happy and heartbreakingly sad.

With the birth of dearest Savannah, our world is now full of a sweet bright light! She is a gentle soul, a good sleeper, and the apple of her parent’s eyes, as well as her grandparent’s! Mandy is a natural mother and so good and calm with the baby. Matt is a good Papa Bear and very protective. I think the most heart warming thing was watching Mandy’s grandmother hold her only great-grandchild in her arms! That was true beauty!

Everyone is so happy to see her that we have banded together to fill her world with love! It’s a wonderful thing!

But just as our Savannah entered the world, our friends called to let us know that their 48 year old daughter has died from ovarian cancer. A wonderful young woman, with two small children, and a church filled with loving family and friends to say farewell.

I saw the face of her mother, my friend, and my heart broke for her. Her father, also looked terribly stricken as he tried to keep the family together, and my heart ached for him as well.

You see, this week and weekend was the best of times and some quite sad times too.

Bye-Bye

I’ve heard it said that grandchildren are the very best. That it is different from having your own children, but in so many ways, even better.

How is it possible, to open ones eyes one day and see a little bundle of joy, your daughter’s child, and absolutely, positively, fall in love!

Savannah Rose is an amazing, beautiful, sweet, perfect little girl! I look into her eyes and see the start of a wonderful life for her, and for her parents! Also for us, her grandparents.

Of course, all too soon, it was time for me to drive home, and get back to Hubby and to my puppy dogs. I must say, they were all happy to see me and this also made me feel good. However, I admit to feeling a real twinge of unhappiness when I had to say my good-byes to Mandy and Savannah.

The Day After

Today I spent the day with my daughter and her daughter! Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it? Mandy is a natural. I know that she is still a bit under the weather from her c-section, but I am so proud of her! She just knew everything she needed to do, and didn’t need anyone telling her what to do.

I loved watching them, and oh, I tried so hard to be quiet and just watch, but I’m afraid I took too many pictures!

I couldn’t help myself! She is a real beauty and I just wanted to document her beauty!

By the end of the day, both Mandy and Savannah were exhausted. Looking back, I think they both could have used a good long nap in the late morning or early afternoon. Tomorrow is my last visit, and I will keep it brief. But I sure will miss both of them and Matt!