Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas Eve Part 2: The food, the fam, the gifts . . .

I've been remiss in posting Part 2 of our wonderful Christmas Eve celebration promptly, but I have been a bit distracted with . . . MY BRAND SPANKING NEW KINDLE!!!!!!!!!

I had barely begun warming up to the idea of an e-reader, and voilà!  Santa was listening!  Ho, Ho, Ho to me!


How come no one ever mentioned to me the cool pictures that appear on the cover every time you turn off the Kindle?  It's taking me ten extra minutes staring at the cover before I start reading!  They are so awesome!


Check out this other one . . .


Here's the coolest thing for me so far . . . We've been practicing homeopathy for over 20 years and I'm forever lugging about several reference books to help diagnose symptoms . . . BUT NO MORE!!!!!  I found the books online at a fraction of the cost and weight of the paper versions!


Here it is now!  Right in my very own little Kindle!  Boy, traveling will never be the same again!


Anyway, on to the Christmas Eve menu:
Appetizers
Black Olives
Brie en Croute
Cheddar cheese, fresh fruit
Chicago Flat crackers

Salad of romaine lettuce, cranberries, walnuts and blue cheese crumbles, dressed with a pomegranate-infused balsamic vinaigrette
Roast Pork Shoulder with garlic marinade
Black Bean Soup, Cuban Style
Steamed White Rice
Yuca con Mojo (Casava with garlic-lime marinade)

Dessert
Flan de Leche
Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting (made by my sister-in-law, Kathy)

This menu is for garlic lovers.  Cuban cuisine is not spicy hot, but it makes up for it with the garlic!

No self-respecting Cuban would be caught dead without a rice cooker . . .


Or two . . .  Together they made 15 cups of rice . . .


My godson, Scott, and his wife, Jackie, hadn't been with us for the last two years but called us at the last minute to say they were coming.  I was so happy!  They walked in, smelled the garlic, and Scotty promptly said:  "On our way over, I was telling Jackie:  'Boy, she better be making the Cuban dinner!' "  This confirmed my decision to stick to the tried and true menu above and not experiment with new dishes.  It was so nice to relax and enjoy my family without having to worry about fussing in the kitchen . . .


My brother Al and beautiful sister-in-law, Kathy . . .


My boys, John and David with their Mama . . .


My nephews, Colin and Kevin . . .


The whole gang . . .  My battery died just before this picture was taken, so this one was taken with Jackie's point-and-shoot camera propped up on top of four Harry Potter books . . .


It was such a wonderful  night . . .

4 comments:

Esther said...

Congrats on the Kindle! I think I would be just like you...staring at all the cool pics long enough to not have any time to read. lol. And you have a beautiful family. Looks like a wonderful time had by all. Merry Christmas!

Barb said...

Great pictures of your family. Congrats on the Kindle. I got the Nook. I am so excited and like it very much. Reading is so much easier.

Angela2932 said...

Oh, what a menu! And I remember that flan! Talk about bliss! Congrats on the e-reader, but boo hoo that it's a kindle. Barb and I won't be able to lend our ebooks to you (the nook has that feature, although it's only 1 x for 2 weeks) and you won't be able to borrow books from the library. BUT, it's an E-READER!!!!! Which is wonderful anyway!

Anonymous said...

Yay for the ereader! I hope you love it. I was considering a Nook but I got a hand me down Kindle for free :) It looks like you had a wonderful family gathering!