I'm in the middle of cooking. My butternut squash is roasting in the oven along with my stuffed mushrooms (receipe at the bottom). I've made 2 pumpkin pies and am also making shitake mushrooms with peas. My sister is cooking the turkey, lasagna, and that stringbean dish that nobody eats but it's a capital offense if you don't make it. I made 2 apple pies yesterday and in a little while will take some to my Mother who's in a Nursing Home and unable to join us for dinner. We eat late because my sister and brother-in-law have grocery store and stay open until about 7 on Holidays to accomodate those people who tend to have forgotten something and need to get it at the local Mom & Pop grocery store.

I'm relaxing before we bring the pie to our Mother and had to share with with you.

I work in the Garment District. The company next to our Showroom manufactures and sells uniform outerwear, you know, coats, jackets pants and skirts. They're moving in January to another building and have a lot of coats and pant samples that they decided they didn't want to bring with them to their new location. In this day when so many people have very little, when you see homeless people on every street what were they doing, they were throwing them away and had them in a dumpster by my office! Having had Tuesday off I didn't know what was in that dumpster until Tyler from my office (a Giuliani Republican who cares about people and who I'm trying to convert) told me what was there and it was a disgrace that they were throwing these coats and jackets away. We then went to the dumpster and together got 10 shopping bags of coats and jackets which we'll bring to Midtown North (2 blocks from our office) next week. I was so angry that they were throwing these items away that I had to say something so I stopped their Controller and let him know this. He told me that the owners couldn't be bothered and I let him know that we did. These coats and jackets are in good condition although some may need cleaning, were being thrown into a dumpster. He went to the President of the company a let him know what I said and now they're going to call us when they're throwing away more this coming week.

December 1st starts the New York Cares Coat Drive so if you have a coat or jacket you no longer wear, please bring it to your local Police Station. They take coats in any condition and believe me they will get used and you'll get a good feeling helping those who can't help themselves.

Now for my stuffed mushrooms: Peel the skin off the mushrooms and remove the stems. Take the stems and cut off the ends which tend to be tough. Put them in a food chopper or processor along with breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, a good grated Italian cheese (you select your favorite)and drizzle olive oil (good quality but not heavy). Make this into a fairly loose paste and stuff the mushrooms with this filling. The mushroom caps should be drizzled on the outside with olive oil also so they don't stick/burn. Bake in a 325 oven for about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes depending on the size of the mushroom caps. They should be warm when you eat them so if you bake them in advance you should heat them up before enjoying them.

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