Navidades!

I hope you had an excellent Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever holiday you celebrate this season!  I had a fun week full of family and delicious food, and now I'm just enjoying a few quiet days before heading back to school.

I was in class until the 20th, when we had our Cell Path exam and histology practical...adding another completed syllabus to the stack!!  To the right is a picture of all the syllabi and books I've accumulated in the first semester of medical school!  Classes start again on Jan 2, when we'll begin the pathology portion of the Cell Path course.  Then Immunology and Microbiology, all before spring break!  Looks like I have my work cut out for me...

My grandfather (we call him Abuelote) came up from Florida for the week of Christmas, and he got to meet his two newest great-grandchildren!  The two older kids remembered him, so they were happy to see him too.  We had a full house on the 22nd, just like on Thanksgiving!  We exchanged presents with my brother and his family, since they were leaving the next day, and ate a wonderful Italian dinner - turkey sausage and homemade meatballs in Ina's marinara sauce.  We also celebrated Abuelote's 85th birthday with a big chocolate cake!  I also spent a good amount of time playing and cuddling with the kiddos :)

Pork on pork! Mmmmmm

My sister and her family came down for Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) to do presents and dinner.  I got a lot of kitchen stuff, which I am super excited to try out!!  I have a lot of Crockpot recipes pinned on Pinterest, so I'm looking forward to trying them out on the weekends.  Nochebuena dinner is always pork and black beans over white rice - Cuban tradition!  The pork was marinated with a mustard/honey/garlic mixture and covered in BACON.  Oh yes.  Delicious.  My sister made the black beans from scratch, and they were wonderful as always!

Among my kitchen-related gifts were a new cute cupcake apron from my sister, an Ina Garten cookbook autographed by Ina herself (!!!), a mandoline for thinly slicing food (and for making better potato chips), and the Crock Pot.

All the girls got aprons!

Ina Garten touched my cookbook!

Mandoline!

Sooo excited to try some new recipes!