A Day of Thanks

Thanksgiving was a little different this year than what I am used to.  Normally, I sleep in without having to go to school or work.  My family is lucky if I get into the shower before sitting down to eat and I eat pumpkin pie while watching football till the sun goes down.  This year I woke up early in order to make it to class in time.  I sat through lectures in neuroscience and physiology and spent the afternoon studying about ACTH and GnRH and Huntington's Disease.  No football, but at least I showered early.  One thing that I enjoy about Thanksgiving was retained however.  I always enjoyed sitting down and eating food with people I care about.  My Grenada friends and I all pitched in and had a wonderful potluck feast.  We had Turkey, two kinds of mashed potatoes, all sorts of fruit salads, delectible desserts, veggies, gourmet salads, and you name it we had it.  We even had authentic Tres Leches!  My stomach hurt so bad, and my heart was so full.  I am very grateful to be in Grenada and in medical school with great friends to have a wonderful thanksgiving with.  I am also grateful that I can go home soon to be with my fiance Kuulei and our families.  Now it is time to get ready for Christmas!

The Milk's Gone Bad! Ah Ah Ah

Today I went to the local market to get some groceries.  It is always a special treat for me to buy two pints of Shenandoah's Pride Chocolate Milk.  They are based in Virginia, but I could not find a site for them.  Anyway, I got home and opened up my first pint and throughly enjoyed it.  I was skyping with Kuulei as I was opening the second pint and gloating at how good it was and that I get to have another one.  I took a large mouthful and...YUCK!!!  It tasted like yeast water!  I immediately ran to the sink and spit out the nastiness.  I checked the expiration date, check.  I checked for any holes or tears in the carton, check.  I did notice that it was awfully easy to open but I dropped it in the store and it didn't spill anywhere.  Somehow my favorite chocolate milk was tainted.  Don't worry Shenandoah I have not lost faith in you!  We all make mistakes.  The lessons I tried to take from this experience was, cry over spilled milk and expiration dates are not fool proof!  

"C" is for "Crappy"

Thank goodness this time I am not describing my grades!  Actually, I am describing the way my cookies have been turning out lately.  I used to make pretty good cookies with my little neat recipe but lately I have only really turned out one semi-decent batch.  I don't know if its because I don't have a good mixer (or a mixer at all for that matter), I don't know if the oven works different than at home, I don't know if I just don't have a good way to accurately measure things (my measuring cup starts at 1 cup and has nothing below that line!), I have no clue.  What I do know is they just haven't been the same and it makes me very sad.  Oh well, I really just like to cook here because it is therapeutic and helps me get my mind off school for a bit.  All I do is go to class and then come home and study.  I get pretty bored so cooking is fun!  Don't get me wrong I still think medicine is the coolest thing on the planet besides Kuulei but too much can kill a man.  At least my lasagna and bread have turned out well this week.  Watch out Food Network!