a history lesson

This is my grandmother on my father's side on the small plot of land they owned in S.Korea and worked for survival. Back then (circa 1950s) everyone in S.Korea was poor. Luckily, my grandparents had the foresight to leave the only country they had ever known, sell all their belongings, and flee to South America on a boat that took them 3 months around the African continent before finally arriving in South America. They thought South America was like North America... Clearly they were mistaken but my dad lived in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil for most of his teen years and so he claims to speak Portuguese and Spanish. Finally they realized they were in the poorer, still developing America, and so they moved to California. It was hard to find a job and get citizenship out there, apparently, and that's how my dad's family ended up in Chicago for a few years. It didn't take them long to figure out that the weather in Chicago pretty much sucks major ass and so they moved back to California, but by then they had become citizens. My dad stayed behind though and went to Southern Illinois University where he met my mother:

This is a picture of my mother when she was also at SIU, getting her masters in education. She finished college in S.Korea (Ewha University) and decided to pursue even higher education in the United States. We found this picture when my family was visiting my parents' college friends in Seattle. I couldn't believe my eyes. Here is my mother, probably around the same age as me... and the rest is history...

Pigging out like the pigs we are

What a nice weekend, this was. I did all my favorite things- shopping on Michigan Ave, eating at good places (M. Henry, Cafe Ba-ba-reeba, The Original House of Pancakes, Oysy, The Melting Pot), went to a free cooking demonstration at The Chopping Block, and saw a bunch of movies (Pride and Prejudice, Walk The Line, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers).

Oh I almost forgot to tell you all about our Thanksgiving Dinner! My sister and I went over to Dan's place around mid-day. He had already been cooking up a storm for a day and a half, brining the turkey, preparing the desserts, etc. Maggie was kind enough to lend us her apartment while she was away so we were able to cook upstairs. The cornbread sausage red pepper stuffing took the longest to make because the cornbread has to be made one day in advance. Plus it just has a lot of ingredients and chopping, but it turned out the best of all the things I made. Then we made the maple glazed cranberry acorn squash. First of all. When I saw this dish being made on NBC's morning show, they didn't warn us that acorn squash is practically impossible to cut up. I thought my hands were going to fall off, trying to cut slices of those damn squash. So that was painful. Then it took a lot longer to cook and I ended up not cooking it long enough and so it wasn't quite as tender as it should have been. My sister made this really delicious cranberry orange chutney which went off without any problems. And then we had a broccoli dish with crunchy toppings. Here are pictures.

Dan made the turkey, apple walnut salad, mashed potatoes (with parsnips and turnips), gravy, sweet potato biscuits, apple strudel, and pumpkin flan. The apple strudel was amazing and even though everyone else liked the pumpkin flan the best, I think the apple strudel was better. :) Though I did like the pumpkin seed praline that took him like 3 hours to make. YUMMY. Pure sugar... let my teeth rot out!

Apparently, all I talk about is food (the world according to Brett) and I guess it's sort of true but this is all I do people... These days, I'm ridiculous. I eat, sleep, play on the computer, watch TV, and eat more. I haven't been in the hospital to do an actual rotation with patients since September. (Pulmonary Function Test Interpretation doesn't count because we didn't see any real patients).

I'll try and come up with something more interesting to talk about, non-food-related, next time... :)

Blessed

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! It's hard to believe that an entire year has passed by and it's already holiday season.

I am thankful for:
my parents and my sister
my extended family, in all their dysfunctional glory
my friends for keeping me sane
my boyfriend for loving me
my good health
my medical school education and where it will take me, wherever that may be
God for giving me all these things to be thankful for.

I hope that we will all keep in our hearts and mind, those who are less fortunate than us on this thankful day, and those who are faraway from friends and family.

It's been a while...

I've somehow managed to be quite busy this past week. Here's a recap.

Harry Potter. I saw the new movie and was entertained. It's pretty intense and action-filled, given that they had to turn a 700-something page book into a 2.5 hr movie. I didn't read the book so I had no idea that this one was going to be so dark as well as tragic. I won't say more because some of you might not have seen it yet but suffice to say, it's worth seeing, if you at all enjoy Harry Potter. (And I just have to say that I'm not the biggest fan and I think the books are... well, good children's books and so I kind of roll my eyes when adults are so fanatic over them but whatever)

Indie Cafe. This is allllllllllllll the way in Edgewater but totally worth the trip which isn't bad once you get past the downtown traffic. Plus there's parking so it will make up for what you pay in gas. The menu is half Thai and half Japanese, with really cheap sushi!! Actually, the prices in general were the best part of this place. And the food was good too but maybe not as high quality as some of the other Chicago restaurants. I had the spicy tuna roll, chicago crazy roll, and crab rangoon. The portions are also a little bit smaller than you'd expect at say, Sushi Wabi. Oh and they had lettuce in my sushi?? I don't think that's very authentic? But it's still raw fish and I love raw fish.

Last night, my sister arrived in town and so we went out for tapas at Cafe Ba-ba-reeba. I would give you links if I could but for some reason metromix's search engine is temporarily down. Anyway, we had a whole bunch of tapas and desserts and black raspberry sangria and had a lovely evening enjoying the food and laughing at the large table next to us with two girls with the most ridiculous voices I have ever heard. VERY VERY high pitched, nasal-y, whiny, and basically like a 2 year old's voice coming out of adult women. Amusing, indeed.

And this morning, we awoke to a white pre-Thanksgiving! The snow actually stuck. We had our first snowfall last week but it's always amazing when you look outside and everything is white. Beautiful. Until you think about leaving the nice warm apartment. :)

Life is sweet.

Dining with the Mayor of Chicago

Well not quite but still. Armand's cousin-in-law Erik was in town yesterday and so we dined at Frontera Grill. I have been wanting to try this place for literally, years. But it's incredibly hard to get a reservations and it's impossible to have dinner there because of the common 2-hour waits. Last night, we were told our wait was going to be 1 hour, but that slowly turned into almost 2 hours. At first, it was worth it but then it wasn't so amusing anymore as we were starving by the second. Apparently, Mayor Daley was dining there as well and so you know, us commoners had to wait even longer. We also saw the famous chef of the restaurant, Rick Bayless there.

We had a sampler of appetizers and red wine, which were on the house for our excruciating long wait. I ordered the carne asada which was incredibly tender and had this wonderful spicy sauce. The guacamole was the freshest I've ever had and even the beans tasted good!! Overall, it was a great night, enough to make up for the fact that it snowed here yesterday.

and today? a high of 29 fucking degrees.

Extra Virgin

Last night, to celebrate Joy's last day of peds surgery and to celebrate my... ongoing wonderfulness of fourth year, we went to newly opened Extra Virgin. What a nice find, beyond just the awesome name. It has relatively cheap Italian dishes that are savory. We started out with a loooong wait at the bar, while sipping Bellinis, which by the way, may be my new favorite drink. (But maybe it's really tied with a good cosmo) When we were finally seated, we had a friendly funny and good looking waiter who had charm and great menu suggestions. We shared the mushroom and goat cheese bruschetta which was really quite heavy on the mushrooms, in a good way, and not as much goat cheese, which I found slightly disappointing, but overall, it was tasty. Joy had the duck confit over risotto and I had the lasagne but only after finding out that the Maine lobster canelloni was sold out for the night. This is a major pet peeve of mine... when restaurants "sell out" of an item on their menu!! That's just wrong. I hate having made a decision and then having to make another one, on the fly, under pressure. Plus it always makes me want what I can't have, that much more, which is frustrating. and I don't want my dining experience to be frustrating. But this is where our waiter's charm came in handy and he made me feel good about my lasagne, which turned out to be REALLY good. It had lots of eggplant and thin layers of ricotta and sliced tomatoes. Yum. I would say it was one of the best lasagne dishes I have ordered. So, the food took like over an hour to come out; people who came after us were done eating and on their way out, by the time our food came... so the Host and our waiter graciously offered desserts on the house. We were stuffed full but how could we resist? I had the apple tarte, which not only threatened to fall apart on me, but did, and Joy had the flourless chocolate tarte, which was way rich. The desserts were good but not as fantastic as our meals. Or maybe it was because we were way too full. Anyway, it was overall, a fun relaxing night.

Before we arrived at Extra Virgin, however, (I'm telling this story backwards) we tried to go to Carnivale. We were pleasantly surprised that the valet cost only $5 but then when we got inside and found out about the TWO HOUR wait for dinner, (it was 9pm) we weren't that excited. But the valet guys were jerks and still made us pay for parking our car for literally 3 minutes. BOO. So, it seems like Carnivale might be a little overrated but I still want to check it out and see what all the hype is about. Who waits for 2 hours and has dinner at 11pm?!? Crazy people, that's who.

Coldness!

Last night we had a belated birthday celebration for two friends at Twin Anchors. Ribs are so tasty!! I never order them when we're eating out because I can't stand the mess but I'm so glad I did yesterday. I got the special zesty sauce which turned out not to be that zesty and just right.

Funny sighting of the day: Big guy coming out of the gym, on crutches, and with a half quart of milk.

I looked on weather.com this morning before I left for the gym and do you know what it said? It said 34 degrees. wha?!?

My favorite tv shows

I wouldn't say I watch a lot of TV necessarily but I do have a few shows that I rather obsess over. Thank goodness for DVR because otherwise, I fear my social life would suffer because I'd have to be home at a certain hour in the evening.

Sundays, 9pm Grey's Anatomy.
I thought this show was dumb at first, especially because it came out at around the same time as House MD, did, and it just seemed like all these "medical" shows insulted my intelligence and my almost-four years of medical school education. On Grey's Anatomy, the surgery residents do everything from neurosurgery to obstetrics to handling anesthesia emergencies. This is not Real Life. General surgery residents handle the bowels, neurosurgery residents handle the brain, and anesthesiology residents (not surgery residents mind you) handle the anesthesia. Everything today is ultra-specialized. However, I'm over it. I'm over the un-realistic nature of this show and have come to really like it. Why? Because I think the one part it does well is the emotional/mental aspects of residency and working in the hospital in general. Or maybe I'm just an emotional mess because I tear up in every episode and outright cry during a few. I mean, how do you deal with caring for a patient so much that you will stay up all night, not eat, and run around like a chicken with its head cut off ordering tests and labs and begging the radiology people to please let your patient get that imaging study done today, and then have that patient die? The patient that you were supposed to save? Or how do you watch little babies coming into the intensive care unit day after day because they have been sexually, physically, and mentally abused, such that they now have old and new bleeds in their brain? So that's why I like Grey's Anatomy- because it speaks to that part of medicine that we try and ignore so much of the time.

Tuesdays, 9pm Nip/Tuck
This show on FX is SO AWESOME and totally out of control. It's about two plastic surgeons in Florida who take on the most ridiculous outrageous impossible cases that you cannot even begin to imagine the creativity of their writers. Seriously, this is quality, people. Drama filled with sex, violence, gory surgeries, but let's not forget family, friendship, and love. It's incredible how you love and hate all the characters at the same time.

Thursdays, 7pm The O.C.
I can't believe this show had reruns for almost an entire month. But it's back now and I'm very excited to see the episode I taped last week. I think I'm obsessed with this show because it takes place in southern california, the beautiful shots of the ocean, the mansions that I want to live in one day! (yea right...) and the high school experience that I never really had because I went to an all girls middle school and high school.

So those are the three shows I watch religiously. I encourage everyone else to as well so we can talk about them! :)

Being the doctor my parents wanted me to marry

I have a tshirt from the time when I was co-president of our chapter of the American Medical Womens Association (AMWA) that says "Be The Doctor Your Parents Wanted You To Marry." I dug it out from the bottom of my dresser this morning and thought about that line... After 6 years of education at an all-girls institution known as Marlborough, followed by another 4 years at an all-womens college fondly referred to as Swellesley, I call myself a feminist. Though I must say that my parents never raised me to be otherwise and they actually never raised me to "marry a doctor." I was always encouraged to have larger-than-life dreams and supported to go far away from home in search of the best education possible.

But I was a bit shocked when I came here for medical school, not because there were suddenly males in my class, but because all my professors were men! Don't you know there are studies showing that women learn better from other women? Literally, I can think of only two women professors during my entire first-year. One was old and didn't know how to work a computer... I distinctly remember her waving the mouse, which had become disconnected from the computer, and her asking "Why isn't this working? Does anyone know how to work this?" The second female professor was clearly lesbian and she was mean. She'd roll her eyes at stupid questions and threaten us when we wanted to leave lab early because it was so unorganized and unhelpful.

Where are all my women role models?!? I had taken them for granted until they were gone. Why is that such a big deal, one might ask? Because women are still discriminated against, because even though we are better at pretending that we have established some modicum of equality, we still live in a "man's world." Though today, there are more women in medical school than men, if you look at the demographics of practicing physicians, there ratio of men: women is more like 3:1. That's not accounted for by the incredibly long process that is called "medical education." It's because women must bear children and take time off from their careers, while men don't need to do a damn thing. It's because women are discouraged from having children during residency because it will fuck up everyone else's schedule. It's because women have a hard time finding fulfilling positions that allow them to be part-time.

In fact, while we're demanding equality, I like Margaret Cho's approach of women being entitled to more rights than men because hey, the day that a baby can pop out of a man's penis, is the day men and women deserve equal rights.

Enough ranting... Here's a good article for your enjoyment.

My Last Fall

I recently realized that this may very well be my last Fall in Chicago. In fact, this may be my last fall not-in-California. I'm going to miss the changing autumn leaves, the reds, oranges, and yellows. Back home, when fall comes, the leaves just dry up and die. Here autumn is the most beautiful season of the year. Not that this is necessarily worth the bitter cold winters but still.

It has taken me almost four years to admit, but I am really in love with Chicago. It's such a wonderful city. Downtown has a beautiful skyline with so much architecture and history. I drive by the Lake several times a week and each time, it never fails to captivate me. There are so many great restaurants and wine bars and lounges, that I will never have enough time or money to experience them all. Is it bad that this makes me really sad, more than being excited?

Who knows. Maybe come Match Day, I'll find out that I'll be staying here for residency. Then I'll get to complain for three more years about how much I hate the cold! :)

My stomach problems in all its glory detail

I try to not speak medical jargon but if I do, I'm glad to clarify. I've mentioned my GI problems a couple times by now. GI is gastrointestinal and I likely have the diagnosis of IBS, which stands for Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Here's a nice website describing IBS. I haven't been healthy (GI-wise) since I went to Ecuador, summer of 2003. When I was there I came down with some kind of food poisoning and ever since then, I just haven't been the same. I had all the regular tests done, looking for ova and parasites; I made sure there was no occult blood in my stool; I had a barium swallow test to visualize the upper part of my GI tract; I even had an ultrasound of my liver and gallbladder. Everything has come back normal. Yet, my "IBS" bothers me almost every single day. I usually have crampy abdominal pain, which occurs right after meals. Usually, I can endure it for a while, but sometimes the pain is rather severe. People are probably wondering why don't you just go to the bathroom? But sometimes it's relieved with going to the bathroom and sometimes it's not. Oh and I get incredibly massively bloated, like you wouldn't even believe.

I said all of that just to say, I have alternating bouts of diarrhea and constipation. I didn't mention the constipation- I've been constipated for like 6 days. It's horrible. Anyway, so I'm going to meet a GI specialist later this month to make sure I really do have IBS and not some other disease. Because the thing about IBS is that there is no cure. Sucks.

To end on a happier note. The baby panda is sooo cute!!

Trimming my waist

I just ate a bowl of Grape Nuts cereal with skim milk. blech!! I have never liked Grape Nuts, even though it has whole grain and would probably do wonders for my fucked up GI system. However, I am on a mission to lose 10 pounds. On the back of the box, it says that if you substitute Grape Nuts for two meals a day, you can lose 10 pounds in 12 weeks. I don't think I can do it that long, but hey, I might as well finish off the box at least. (Which I bought to make the Cat Poop Cookies)

I also need to work out more than just once a week. I have absolutely no excuse. I know I'm bad. I'm the most hypocritical (future) doctor you'll ever meet. At least I don't smoke, I'm not promiscuous, and I don't drink *that* much. So maybe not the most hypocritical, but hypocritical nonetheless.