hosting my first Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Yesterday, we had a great time. I hosted my first Thanksgiving!

I had worked the night shift Wednesday night and luckily, gotten a couple hours of sleep. I rushed home by 7:45am, took a quick shower, and started cooking. I made most of the same things as last year since they turned out well. I popped the green onion cheese puffs I had prepared the day before into the oven, while I started on the roasted green beans with walnuts. By the time the cheese puffs were ready to come out, the green beans were ready to go in. I was running ahead of schedule, so I decided to go ahead and make my favorite walnut and pumpkin bread, even though I had thought against it before since we were going to have way too much food.

Davey came over at around 11am with alllll the equipment for the turkey, and an organically raised bird (whatever that means) from Whole Foods. I was his sous chef for the rest of the day, as we cleaned the turkey, picked out the gross parts, squeezed in sage butter underneath the skin (a harder process than you'd think!), stuffed the empty inside with onions and parsley, lined the pan with potatoes and onions, salted/peppered, and finally stuck the whole thing into the oven. We basted with maple syrup and water every TWENTY minutes. Halfway through, we put on a lil bacon hat and wrapped the legs with foil.

Davey brought over this game he discovered in New Zealand called Hive. It's a two-player game so we played this for like THREE HOURS, while the turkey was baking. I lost all but two times, but I'm addicted! I want this game... for Christmas, please? It's a combination of chess and dominoes, sort of.

I had just enough time to finish my broccoli with gruyere cheese, by the time everyone else showed up around 4pm, which included Armand, his cousin Rob, and our friend Phil.

Here's a picture of our turkey, with its bacon hat and all:
we thought that next time, we should put more bacon on, as it sort of became crisp and candied...
A couple of my favorite dishes from 2007: Armand made the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. I think his secret ingredient was ginger and nutmeg. I don't know how he did it but it was really good!

I love Trader Joe's spinach and artichoke dip. It comes frozen and all you need to do is microwave it. This was my breakfast and lunch, while we were making all the food.

After dinner, we had warm apple cider and played more games. We started out with Bohnanza, the bean game, which is also one of my favorites. Then went to Jenga, and then ended with Hive again.

I'll write another post of all the things that I'm thankful for this year... I woke up at 2:30pm today!!! That's how exhausted I've been, doing this night float rotation. I don't think I've really slept more than 3-4 hours in a row during the past 2 weeks, until last night! Plus, I get to sleep in again tomorrow, since I'm not working until tomorrow night. Yay!

coolness

many people are familiar with michelle's blog.
i like to say (because i'm proud) that i went to college with her. she was a 4th year when i was a young 1st year living in Beebe. in fact, she was my peer premed advisor and to this day, i distinctly remember how cool her dorm room was decorated... with lights and fabric wall-hangings. she is now in the process of writing a book!

now it's confession time... i've always had a secret dream of writing a book. maybe it's a common dream amongst those of us in the medical profession because we encounter so many STORIES every single day while doing our job. and it's such a different life (and lifestyle) than most other jobs (what i refer to as "normal jobs"), that i feel compelled to want to write something one day and try to convey what this is like, being a doctor and all. not because it's a glorious job, but because it's actually not always that glorious at all!

i have a minor in english and i used to be able to write half-way decently. i also used to read a lot. it makes me sad that these are all things that i USED to do.

top on my list of things i need to pick up again... reading, writing, and playing the violin!

Colorado to California

I just got back from a wonderful 2.5 week vacation. I first flew to Denver, Colorado to visit Armand's family. This picture was taken at the Garden of the Gods, where there are tons of red rocks, with the mountains as a backdrop. It was beautiful. Apparently, "Colorado" means "red rock" in spanish? Who knew...

Then I was in L.A. for 1.5 weeks, visiting friends and family. It was great to see everyone again. We of course had almost-perfect weather. There is this new phenomenon in L.A. called Pinkberry. It's a place that sells only frozen yogurt. But it's not just ANY frozen yogurt. It's this tangy, sweet frozen yogurt that comes in two flavors, regular and green tea. Then they have all sorts of fresh fruit toppings, along with fun Capn Crunch, Cookies and Cream, Mochi, etc. IT. IS. SO. GOOD. Why doesn't Chicago have a place like this? There are also many knock-offs, called Kiwiberry, Cantaloop, Red Mango (though this is reputed to be the original from S.Korea). mmm. I miss it already!

I'm back now... I have a family friend visiting from out of town who is interviewing at the medical school tomorrow, so it's been fun going on and on about the virtues of Chicago (despite the lack of pinkberry) and the University. I start "night float" for 2 weeks which means I'll be working 7pm-7am, alternating with one other resident. I'm kind of terrified of it because I ultimately have responsibility for all the patients on the general floors, at night... but but. I don't feel like I'm prepared! Scary. Hopefully, it will be okay. Everyone will survive. Including my poor new-ish interns! :)

I think I'll be hosting Thanksgiving at my place this year! Another first!