Bear Down Bears!!

that's me pretending that i care... but GO BEARS!!! i've lived in chicago for 5 years and this really does feel pretty homey (not as homey as California but hey, it wouldn't be fair to compare) so i should be excited for the Bears. Oh, but I'm working on Super Bowl Sunday.

i've tried a couple new restaurants recently.

Coobah
I had really great tamales and plantain chips. I had churros with chocolate dip for dessert and I must say, the churros were quite phallic looking. I wish I had my camera with me! Overall, great place. (though the mojito was average)

socca
On Mondays, they have their prix-fix for $20, except that you can't choose anything off the menu. Basically, you can have some boring pasta dish. So after getting over the initial disappointment, I went for the pork chop with winter greens and cheese pancake. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM. The pancake was amazing. Socca is a chickpea flour crepe-like pancake, and thank goodness for restaurants like this! I thought the pork chop was tender but a little too peppery. I finished with the croissant banana bread pudding which was WONDERFUL. I'm a big fan of good bread pudding in general and it's so hard to find places that do it well. Socca has it down.

Tonight, we had cheese fondue at Sam's place. Good company and good food. Who can ask for more?

my first polish meal

I regret not having taken a picture of the food last night. We ate at The Red Apple, a polish buffet. I had pierogis, potato pancakes, apple pancakes, sausage, schnitzel, and other things that I don't remember. :) But almost everything was good, although the pierogis and the pancakes were the BEST. Another great thing was the price. I paid a total of $13 for an all-you-can-eat buffet, a diet coke, tax, and tip. Yay.

One the way back, I saw this sign: It's a little hard to read but it says: Make your Valentines reservations today. This is White Castle. A really cheap greasy hamburger chain, where I will never eat. Especially not on Valentines Day. :)

Speaking of Valentines Day. I have to work on Valentines Day this year in the ER. This is why they pay me the Big Bucks.

what a tearjerker!

i cried like 5 times watching Grey's Anatomy tonight!!! what is up with that show?!?

London in the springtime

I booked my tickets! I'm flying to London, March 27th-April 8th. I'm so excited, I can hardly control myself. :)

England brings back such happy memories of my junior year of college- quite possibly one of the best years of my life. Compared to the first two years of college, which were rather painful, it was a reprieve. I finally felt happy and had an amazing group of international friends, with whom I still keep in touch with. Natalia born in Spain, hailed from Portugal. Fabio from Italy. Andy, the sole American who was actually getting his undergrad degree there, from Hawaii. They are brilliant, collectively speak like 10 languages, and I learned from such a different perspective during my year there. I really truly believe that every college student should have this experience.

That spring, I travelled around Europe with my friends and sister, for the second time- the first time around Europe being with my family when I was in 9th grade. Then because I can never get enough, I went back to Spain during spring break of my senior year to roadtrip around Spain with Naty and Andy. That was a riot. We had some pretty crazy adventures, including almost getting into a car wreck and tumbling down the side of a cliff, and spending a night in the car as there were no hostels or hotels in Valencia because it was during Fallas (a springtime festival during which they have these giant paper-mache figures on display all over the city, fireworks every night, etc.)

So that was the last time I was in Europe. This time, we won't be spending much time in London, but rather, we're going to Oxford, my old stomping ground, and hitting all my favorite spots for clotted cream and paninis and cookies. :)

and then taking the Chunnel to Paris, and visiting Normandy, where I've never been. It was hard to decide where to spend the second week because between the two of us, there aren't very many cities we haven't been to already... but Normandy sounds exciting. Or maybe Tuscany?? Though the chunnel is probably cheaper.

Anyone who can come, should join us!! Naty already said she might be able to! :)

how i'm doing with last year's resolutions

last year, i wrote that my resolutions were:

"cook more often
save money
be happy
go to the gym
learn about Bolivia
email friends more often
take more pictures
embrace my future"

i do feel like i am cooking more often and not eating out as much, though we still do eat out a fair amount.
i'm putting away almost half of my income every month.
i'm indeed happy.
it's funny that going to the gym was on last year's resolutions too... this is definitely one that hasn't really happened, what with residency and all. but today, i went!
i learned about Bolivia and spent three weeks there. i can't wait to go back.
i escalated the resolution of emailing friends more often to calling them. we'll see how this goes...
i do take a lot of pictures but maybe not enough.
i feel i embraced my future but now i'm not sure what the future holds after residency.

My New Years Resolutions

1. Read/Study more

2. Try not to be so cynical

3. Embrace change

4. Exercise more

5. Figure out how to invest money in a 401K or Roth IRA, etc.

6. Pick up my violin again

7. Improve my Korean and Spanish language skills

8. Call friends and family more often

9. Clean my apartment

10. Figure out what my goals are after residency

making the holidays last...

Joy had the brilliant idea to have a Post New Years Eve New Years Party at her place last weekend. It was brilliant because I never really celebrate New Years Eve with friends. My family rents videos and stays at home snuggled up to the warmth of our family room, in anticipation of New Years Day, during which we indulge ourselves in quite possibly the best Korean meal of the year. (Thanksgiving can't compete because it's not Korean)

I played bartender and mixed Lychee martinis and attempted two other drinks that didn't quite turn out. I was missing the Orange and Angostura bitters for the Raspberry Womanhattan, which I thought were expendable but apparently, they're not. Luckily, there was cranberry juice. :) I also tried to make a Peach Fizz with Mint drink but I should have known that peaches aren't really in season during the winter in Chicago... Oops.

Midnight struck and we all cheered in 2007.

three years

today is the 3 year anniversary of armand and me.
we went to Ambria for dinner. We started out with the scallops which were really tasty, along wiht this weird white salad that we couldn't identify. I had the veal chop and he had the venison. I don't think I've ever had venison... It was pretty raw but very very tender and tasty. My veal was also delicious, with spinach and mushrooms. But the best part of the meal was the SOUFFLE. I had the raspberry souffle and it was just about the best dessert I've ever had, and definitely the best souffle I've ever had. It literally melted away in your mouth, in its warmth and perfectly raspberry flavored-ness. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. I would go back here with friends for dessert.

The earlier part of the day was spent shopping at Carson Pirie Scott because the State St location is CLOSING! Another sad moment for Chicago history, second to the closing of Marshall Fields. But we enjoyed the sale prices and Armand bought like 5 new work outfits.

More to come about our Post New Years Eve New Years Party...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I am apparently "privileged" to have the holiday schedule at my residency program. :) I requested to work during Christmas because Christmas was never a big to-do at my house. We haven't spent Christmas at home in almost 15 years because we're always skiing at Mammoth. But this year... this year, I was in Chicago and everyone else was in Los Angeles. Depressing. I was on call Christmas Eve and I thought it was going to be quiet, but oh no. People still get sick all the time, regardless.

Post-call on Christmas Day, instead of napping, I quickly took a shower and drove down to Homewood to see Armand's family and their family friends. Erin made a wonderful meal of prime rib, potatoes, corn, and salad, followed by peppermint ice cream and a giant platter of delicious desserts. We played To Bean or Not To Bean and normally I'm not a big game-fan, but this was really fun. It's sort of like a card-game version of Monopoly.

I did enjoy 4 straight days off around New Years. I flew home and had a whirlwind visit with family and old friends. I saw two movies, "Babel" and "Blood Diamond." I no longer want a giant diamond ring and I'm afraid to travel to scary foreign countries.

We celebrated the New Year in traditional Korean style, with lots of rice cakes and dumpling soup. There was bowing to the elders and an exchange of envelopes stuffed with money. We then visited both my grandfathers' graves, at two different cemetaries. I can't believe they're both gone. It seems like only yesterday when they were here with us.

This is lil Danny, who is a natural Comedian. He is my mom's cousin's baby. He's two and loves Thomas the Train.

and this is his lil brother, Anthony, who is our newest addition to the family.

Happy New Year, everyone... May 2007 bring you all the love and happiness you deserve.