Presents to give

I've already made a wish list for presents I want (nothing fun or fancy; I feel kind of weird making up wish lists, to be honest, especially taking into account what someone else might feel comfortable getting for me, and where they might want to go shopping), but here are some things I've come across that I would love to give to people. All of these are from the Pottery Barn website alone!

Pop Color Catchall, $19. A cute and stylish place to stash all your crap at the end of the day.

Also available in handsome leather, and monogrammable, the Colby Leather Catch-All, $20.



Drink Container, $10. I'm not going to lie; I like it because of the water molecule. In the new trendy aluminum, rather than purportedly-cancer-causing BPA.


Colored Glass Cocktail Shakers, $19. A classic gift for the newly-21-year-olds you know.



Monogrammable Beer Pitcher, $15. Oh my god, this is awesome. A groomsman gift, perhaps?


Continuing the alcohol theme, the NFL Glassware line. A pitcher and set of beer mugs or pilsners would be awesome, emblazoned with your favorite team's logo (E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!)


More alcohol-related items. A bulldog or lion beer bottle opener, $12 each. How cool!




For the chic traveler, Pop Color Luggage Tags, $12, or Silver Engravable Luggage Tags, $9.

I love stuff like this. Some of them would be perfect for certain people I know, and others are such good deals that I find myself figuring out who I could give it to, just to give such a great gift!

Great buys

I discovered this week that my local Target now sells wine! In addition to the usual suspects of things I can get at the grocery store, they have (of course), a Target-branded version of boxed wine. Of course, boxed wine has a ... certain reputation, but I've also been hearing over the last couple years that there are some really good boxed wines out there on the market. The advantages are that they stay fresher longer, you can dispense single servings without worrying about the whole bottle going bad, and you save on packaging.

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So my choices in "wine cubes," as Target calls them, were a 1.5L box of 2007 Vintner's Red Blend or White Blend, or a 3L box of pinot grigio or shiraz/cabernet sauvignon blend. Seeing as how it is just me by myself drinking this stuff, I went for the smaller box, red blend, for a whopping $12. To be honest, I didn't have high hopes, but this stuff is good! Now I can have a glass of wine on any night I feel like it, either to wind down after work, or with dinner (when I actually cook), and I have 4 weeks to drink the whole box. That's much less pressure than finishing a traditional bottle by yourself before it goes bad! I may not exercise ever and eat complete crap at the hospital all the time, but I'm happy that now I can have my one glass of red wine a night working for me :)

If you're waiting for an actual review of the wine itself, sorry. I don't have a handle on that vocabulary. But I can tell you that the wine is good, pairing well with both tuna noodle casserole and filet mignon, and going down just fine on its own while straigtening up the bedroom. Don't worry -- I do have enough of a palate to figure out when I don't like wine, and this is definitely one that I like and will buy again. And now you should, too!

The other great buy I had recently was at Ann Taylor last week. I went in looking for pants and came out with some of the best deals of my life. First was a beautiful purple silk blouse, originally $59, marked down to $29.99. Perfect for my interview suit! Next was a black wool sheath dress, originally $158. It had gone down the clearance line, first priced at $69.99, then $39.99, then $29.99, and finally, put on "Final Sale" at $19.88. A great work dress for less than $20! And it has pockets! I wore it to clinic yesterday and it was amazing.

And finally, the piece de resistance, one of the Ann Taylor Celebrations dresses, Flora, a cute strapless, taffeta, tea-length, bridesmaid dress in "espresso," originally $198, marked down to $39.44 and now to $19.88. Are you freaking kidding me?! The only problem: It's one size too big for me. I bought it anyway. For that price, I can either pay to have it altered or sell it on eBay. If I get $40 for it, it's a great business venture. Or if I can find anyone one size larger than me, they're going to be getting an awesome Christmas present.

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The best, best, best part? I had a coupon for 30% off everything. And at the register, I consented to switching my Ann Taylor store credit card to a different version to get an additional 15% off. So the two dresses, originally $158 and $198, were each $12.74. Unbelievable. (And the silk blouse came down to just under $20.) I am an awesome shopper!

A deal that good may have even succeeded in quenching my shopping thirst for a while -- I'll enjoy sitting on my laurels for a while. Although I never did find any pants I like. Anyone have any ideas for a nice pair of tweed pants?

Cooking for one

As anyone who has done it knows, cooking for one can be pretty depressing. The time and effort and supplies needed to cook for one are pretty much the same as are needed to cook for two, which means if you're only going to get one person's food out of it, it can seem like kind of a waste.

Some people would cook for two anyway and eat leftovers the next day, but I can't always predict if I will be able to eat leftovers within a reasonable time, and if you throw away that extra food, well, that's even worse.

Plus, I'm super busy, so I don't really have the energy or time to cook for two to begin with. So I revert back to bachelorette foods. Soup from a can, macaroni and cheese from a box, frozen pizza, frozen dinners, etc. In small doses, they're quite palatable, especially since I hold a special place in my stomach for those sorts of tastes. But sometimes, I want something nicer.

So recently, I've been making a lot of chicken fajitas.

Ingredient #1: Pre-cooked, frozen, grilled chicken strips.
These particular ones are actually kind of gross. They smell very strongly of a fake grilled scent, like someone added too much liquid smoke. Nonetheless, they warm up easily in the microwave, and salsa can cover up a lot of problems. Next time, I'll buy a different brand.










Other ingredients:

Flour tortillas, a block of cheddar cheese, an avocado, fresh cilantro, fresh chopped tomato (remnants on the cutting mat) and the aforementioned salsa. Apple and beer are extraneous players in this picture. Although beer would, of course, go very well with a chicken fajita.







And the final result:
Yum!

This version is missing the grilled peppers and onions, but sometimes I add them. I buy them frozen and saute as needed. Such are the sacrifices you sometimes have to make when you cook for one.

My friend Shea goes to a Kroger with a fresh salad bar, and buys pre-cut produce in small quantities by weight. It makes a lot of sense. He can buy just a tiny bit of chopped onion if he's going to make some chili, or a small container of shredded lettuce for sandwiches.

I'm too lazy to drive to his Kroger. Actually typing that sentence out made me realize how stupid it sounds, so maybe I'll start driving to his Kroger.

And the other quick dinner-for-one I've resorted to lately:

I blame Lea. I haven't eaten a hot dog outside of a baseball stadium in FOREVER, but when I went to visit her back in May, she frequently had a cut up hot dog for lunch, and damn if it didn't smell good.

You'll notice I buy the turkey version. It's somehow better for me. Yes, it is.

It heats up in a minute in the microwave, along with a serving of sauerkraut, the bun takes only a minute longer to toast, and the whole thing tastes delicious with ketchup.


Don't feel sorry for me. I'm not sad. I like these foods. And don't worry, I change things up pretty often: Tonight I made a single-serving filet mignon with a red wine reduction and sauteed baby spinach. Whole thing took 10 minutes.

And guess what's even better: Thanksgiving is this week! Eric is driving out to Louisville and we're having some friends over and I'm cooking the whole meal: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole. Other people are bringing dessert, but I can't promise that I'm not going to add cookies or brownies or an apple galette to my list on Wednesday or Thursday (we're having Thanksgiving on Friday). I can't wait!

How to tell your job isn't the healthiest

You pee at 5 am at the start of your day, then don't need to go again until 10 pm.

Not that I had to pee and had to hold it yesterday -- which has happened before during long surgeries -- but that I didn't have even the slightest urge.

Despite a cup of coffee and a cup of water in the morning, 2-3 cups of Coke at lunch, and another 1-2 cups of water in the afternoon. And 2 migraine pills that had caffeine in them. It wasn't until I was having another Coke with dinner around 9:30 that the urge kind of sort of even appeared. It's pretty impressive that my dehydration was so great that it overcame the diuretic effect of all that caffeine.

The funny thing? If I were a patient and I hadn't voided all day, people would be running around ordering fluid boluses left and right. Have to maintain a urine output of 0.5 cc/kg/hr or else!

An observation

When you wear a Phillies shirt while flying to Philadelphia via Cleveland on the day after the Phillies have won the World Series, you get a lot of good attention. So much so that it doesn't matter that you've only gotten two hours of sleep and are traveling halfway across the country falling asleep at every down moment -- it ends up being a good day anyway.

When you try to fly out of Philadelphia on the day of the celebratory parade, however, and the whole city is in a public transportation panic, things are not as fun. Not even if you are wearing a Phillies shirt.

When the buses forsake you and never show, despite the SEPTA website saying everything is hunky-dory, when the line to get on a regional rail train is over 3 hours long, and when the few cabs that drive down JFK are already full, you start to panic. You take out $100 from the ATM, thinking that this might be the day that cash can do some talking for you. You flag down every cab you can, and you agree to share one -- if it stops -- with two very drunk men from Downingtown, as long as they will let you go to the airport first. You start wondering how much you would be willing to pay a cab to take you to the airport. When someone tells you they heard that cabs aren't allowed to stop for anyone on the street, and that they are only picking people up from 30th Street Station, where the line is 2+ hours long, you start to worry. Is this what the end of the world feels like?

And then you hail a cab, it pauses long enough for you to yell, "Airport!" and pulls over for you at the next corner, and you share a ride with another woman going to the airport, and it only costs you $25 each (instead of the normal flat-rate of $28.50) and you miraculously make it to the airport in plenty of time, when 10 minutes previously you thought all was lost. It turns out the cab driver was attracted by your suitcase, and was looking for an excuse to get the hell out of Center City because he didn't like the mob scene. Thank goodness.

And then you see the curly haired, Phillies-sweatshirt-wearing dude at your gate, the same one you saw the day before, and you realize he flew into town from Cleveland just for the parade, and he smiles at you and recognizes you wearing your (same) Phillies shirt, and asks how your job interview went, and everything is happy again.

Go Phillies!