Balsamic Vinegar

Yum! I used it a lot this past weekend, with great results. Here's a recap:

Saturday, dinner with my friend and bridesmaid Karen, her husband Jake, and their 2-year-old daughter, Lily:

Brushchetta as an appetizer: Tomatoes, diced onion, fresh basil, a splash of good balsamic vinegar, a drizzle of EVOO, and salt and pepper. Serve with a good loaf of bread -- we got a baguette from the Asian grocery store down the street (Vietnamese cuisine has a lot of French influence, remember).

Balsamic-glazed grilled chicken:

Make a marinade using balsamic vinegar, olive oil, some lime or lemon juice, some dried oregano, salt and pepper, and minced garlic. Mix to combine, and pour over chicken parts. Marinate for a couple or few hours. Grill, basting with the marinade.

Cut up some peaches (it's peach season!) and put on the grill. Slice some onions into thick slices (I used yellow onions because I have a bunch of them right now, but red onions or Vidalias would be even better, I'm sure!), give them a swipe of olive oil, and add those to the grill, too. While everything's grilling, mix up a balsamic vinaigrette: good balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, dried oregano, a sprinkle of sugar, and some fresh chopped herbs (I used basil). Whisk while drizzling in extra virgin olive oil, until it reaches the right consistency. I used a bagged mixed greens salad from the grocery store, topped it with tomato wedges from my garden, the grilled peaches and grilled onions, and poured the vinaigrette over the whole thing. Serve alongside the grilled chicken.

For a few reasons, I have started to buy different versions of certain oils and vinegars. For marinating and sauteeing, I use regular olive oil. I save the EVOO for salad dressings, bruschetta, and other preparations in which we'll be eating the oil in its raw and pure form. The regular olive oil is cheaper, and I save the good stuff for when it matters. The same goes for balsamic vinegar -- I use a run-of-the-mill balsamic for marinating and reducing into sauces, and save the sweeter, better, and more expensive balsamic for pure/raw preparations like vinaigrettes and bruschetta. If you're trying to make your dollar stretch farther, this is a great way to do it while still being able to use quality ingredients when it counts.

Sunday, dinner with some friends and an excuse to use up more chicken and peaches:

Same chicken marinated in the same balsamic marinade, but this time, served with a grilled peach and corn salsa, recipe courtesy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. Cut 2-3 peaches in thirds or halves and grill. Also grill a couple ears of corn. Let cool until able to handle, and then cut off the corn kernels and dice up the peaches and put everything into a bowl. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of chopped Thai basil (regular basil or mint would also work well), and half of a jalapeno, finely diced. Squeeze some lime juice into the bowl and season with salt and pepper. Serve warm over the chicken. We've been eating it cold ever since as a salsa with chips, but it was really best warm over the grilled chicken. The spiciness of the jalapeno in the salsa is cut by the lime and Thai basil, and it all goes wonderfully well with the sweetness of the balsamic glaze on the chicken.

To use up the jalapenos and banana peppers I've been growing, we also made jalapeno poppers. To make them, slice your peppers in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and white rinds. Mix shredded cheddar cheese with cream cheese, and spoon into the peppers. Wrap the whole thing with half a strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Grill for a few minutes over semi-direct heat until the bacon is cooked through, and eat warm. Very yummy. I thought about using a more interesting cheese instead of the cheddar, like Monterey Jack or Colby, but decided the heat of the jalapeno would negate any subtle taste differences, and I think I was right. That said, if all I had was Jack cheese, I wouldn't bother going to get cheddar for this recipe. We stuffed ourselves with jalapeno poppers and then ate the chicken with the corn and peach salsa, and it was plenty of food.

One of the things I particularly loved about cooking this weekend was being able to use so many items from my own garden and from the local market. One of my own tomatoes went into the bruschetta; I used my own basil for the bruschetta and Thai basil for the corn and peach salsa. My own jalapenos and banana peppers were the basis for the jalapeno poppers -- I definitely would not normally have made them if I didn't have an abundance of peppers I didn't know what to do with.

And the Italian market is definitely my favorite place to shop. I got 3 pounds of perfectly ripe peaches for $1, which went into the salad on Saturday and the salsa on Sunday; fresh Jersey corn for the salsa; amazing slab bacon -- for much less than the grocery store charges! -- for the poppers; and great whole chicken breasts to go with the dark meat I already had in the refrigerator. The butcher offered to split the breasts for me, but I chose to do it myself; it was a good lesson in chicken anatomy, and it gave me the opportunity to save all the little extra trimmings and bones to freeze and make stock with later. The only downside to the market is that everything closes down around 5 or 5:30 so it's hard for us to get there during the week.

As exhausted as I am from working, I am really enjoying cooking this summer. I hope the weather doesn't cool down anytime soon -- we need to keep grilling!

Less depressing stuff

Last week we had a patient who came into the ER with chest pain. 33 years old, otherwise previously healthy, though with a significant family history of cardiac disease. Chest pain, and in the ER, he went into V-fib, and was shocked back. It doesn't happen all that often, but what made it even more exciting was that because he had no other comorbidities, he was a candidate for our hypothermia protocol. I had never heard of it before, but lo and behold, a day after we dropped his body temperature to 33 degrees Celsius, I saw this article on CNN.com: Cooling is catching on for cardiac arrest patients. (No, I do not generally get my medical news from CNN; however, I was post-call and just doing some fluff reading on the Internet.)

Our patient did great! He was cooled for 24 hours, then rewarmed slowly. He slowly came to and did well neurologically, and we transferred him from the ICU out to a regular floor bed later that day. The other night I was walking through the floor units and saw him -- sitting in a chair outside his room reading a book. Totally normal. He's definitely shaken by what happened -- imagine waking up in a hospital having no idea why you were there, and being told that not only did you die for a minute, but that your body was then frozen (OK, not really frozen Austin Powers style, but you know...) and rewarmed. Crazy! He'll do fine physically, but I hope he follows through with his emotional/psychological counselling, because boy, will he need it. In any case, I thought you'd enjoy a slightly more happy story from the ICU.

And here's a Can You Believe It story: I have an 87-year-old woman who is on a ventilator because she developed respiratory distress the other night. She's a sick woman, and when it came time to think about intubating her, we needed consent from someone, and since she was unable to give consent due to her respiratory distress, we called her son, who consented over the phone, saying she would want to be intubated. So she was intubated. The next morning, another son contacted us and said he was her healthcare power of attorney and she did NOT want to be intubated. Uh oh! The first son, when approached with that information, maintained that there was a newer document in which HE was named power of attorney, and she DID want to be intubated. And when we told him to go home and get the papers, he came back and said he couldn't find them. Hmmmm. And of course, it turns out the two brothers don't talk to each other. So we scheduled a family meeting and waited. And in the meantime, one of the nurses found out the scoop: The first brother, the one who initially consented to the intubation, is apparently $1.5 MILLION in the hole from gambling debts. And he continues to gamble. He has multiple sclerosis and lives with his mother, and he uses her social security money to continue to gamble! So of COURSE he wants to keep her alive and on the ventilator -- he wants her money! Juicy, juicy.

In the end, papers were found at the lawyer's office, in which the patient had checked off that she did want to be resuscitated and did want to be intubated, so we will continue to treat her. But I can't look at the son the same way anymore. The gall!

And finally, I walked home today via the Italian Market and stopped to pick up a couple lemons and some bread. Dinner plans tonight are for chicken scallopini and bruschetta (home grown tomatoes ripened yesterday!). Sarcone's was sold out as usual (they sell out first thing every morning!), so I walked down to Talluto's, where I've also gotten bread before, about 10 minutes before they closed. Alas, the bread bin was empty, but the woman behind the counter said there was some at the register. I peered into the large brown bag full of rolls and as I asked for a couple short rolls, the woman shoved the whole paper bag into a plastic grocery bag and pushed it toward me. "Oh," I said, a little confused. "How much for the whole bag?" "Have a good day," she replied. And when I looked even more confused, she explained, "We don't sell day-old bread so we won't sell them tomorrow, so you can have them." Wow! What luck! Yay for the Italian Market.

Roses and pot pie

Check out what I scored at Kroger on Monday:

Valentine's Day leftovers for 75% off! First I saw the "Valentine's Day"-specific rose bouquets, and was going to buy 3 roses with some filler for $3.25 (originally $12.99), but then I saw, over by the regular flower display area, that ALL the roses were 75% off, so I got these beautiful terracotta-colored ones for $3.75 for a DOZEN, no filler (originally $14.99). Sweet!

They were kind of cruddy looking, but that's where working at a florist in college comes in handy. With some love, some lukewarm water, sharp scissors, and some floralife, they perked up immediately, and bloomed beautifully. The fact that they were already "past their prime" when I brought them home was OK, because they're all maximally open right now, and I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a long weekend, so I was able to enjoy them to their fullest potential.

And then, check out what I made on my (unexpected) day off yesterday:

Chicken pot pie, inspired by this Real Simple recipe:


The only thing that could have made it better (other than a little more salt; I didn't season it enough) would have been a cute casserole dish like the one in the magazine. I need more pretty baking dishes. NEED. On Sunday when I was cleaning out the refrigerator, I salvaged some almost-bad chicken breasts by poaching them in water, then stuck the cooked chicken back in the fridge (I intended to cook this recipe on Monday after I got the pie crusts, but things got put off...). I wasn't able to salvage the already-bad chicken thighs, so those got tossed. I hate wasting money like that.

Here are some action shots for you:
First step: Sauteeing the mirepoix (the celery was my addition, since I had some; but why would you write a recipe with just onions and carrots and not make it the full mirepoix?).


Last step: Eating! It's a store-bought frozen pie crust (the package came with two and I used them both) and I also added frozen peas, as per the recipe. We discussed pot pie today at work and decided potatoes would also be good in it (although I hardly ever buy white potatoes any more; what do you think of sweet potatoes in a pot pie?). If you added bell peppers you'd have a mirepoix AND a trinity!

As I was cooking it, I realized I was making a "lite" version of a regular white sauce, and I was annoyed I hadn't read the instructions a little more closely before starting to figure out what their method was. No butter?! Give me a break. I have to admit, though, that the pot pie was very good, aside from my too-little-salt error, and WAS very rich-tasting. And then I looked back at the recipe and saw the butter omission was on purpose. They meant for it to be a "lite" pot pie. Oh well. At least now I know that I know the method of making a pot pie sauce the right way -- BUTTER and flour, then some wine and stock and milk :)

Now I have a confession: A mere 24 hours later, that entire 9x13 pan of chicken pot pie is gone. I had it for lunch yesterday immediately after it was cooked, as a snack a little while later because it smelled so good and I'm a pig, for dinner last night while watching Lost (OMG, what happened to Aaron?!?), for lunch today, AND for dinner tonight. If I weren't leaving for 5 days tomorrow morning I might have let it last longer, but really, it was THAT GOOD and I didn't at all mind eating it so many meals in a row. I already said I was a pig, so we're covered there.

And with that, I'm off to Snowmass, for one final year of skiing -- I mean, learning how to be a better student leader. My goal: black diamonds without shaking in my boots! And since I'm a lazy fourth-year medical student with growing senioritis, I hope I DO get snowed in on Tuesday morning and have to stay an extra day... or two!

Done with interviews! Part 3

If you've actually read parts 1 and 2 of this series, congratulations; you're more of a glutton for punishment than I would have thought. But never fear, we're almost to the end!

Date: January 7, 2009
Program: Temple
Social Event: Happy hour at Penang, a Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown. When I was younger and we lived in Princeton, we would go to Edison, NJ, to the original Penang. It's a great restaurant, and I've never been to the Philly one, which opened about 5 or so years ago. But wait! Some quick Googling just now turned up the fact that they are different restaurants, but with very similar logos. This is the one I used to go to in Edison, which also has a location in Princeton and Bethesda. And this is the one in Philly. Regardless, what I actually need to tell you is that I didn't make it to the dinner, because the bad weather in Philly prevented my flight from leaving Chicago on time. I was actually pretty happy, as you might remember, although I was sad to miss out on the Malaysian food.
Breakfast: More pastries, including muffins and donuts.
Lunch: Wraps, potato chips, soda, and delicious brownies. This lunch was notable for the fact that as I was surveying the wraps, the vegetarian one all of a sudden looked extremely delicious, and I chose it. This is notable because, although I love vegetables, I am first and foremost a meat eater, and I always always always reach for meat when I'm out of the house. In the case of sandwiches, I first lean to roast beef, then to turkey. But this time, those grilled zucchini were calling my name, and they were really good. Afterward, I had a turkey wrap to top it off.
Where I stayed: Marjorie's apartment, for the last time of the season. She and her roommate were both gone.
How I got there: Southwest to Philly. I haven't flown Southwest to Philly too much, because from Louisville you have to stop in Chicago (whereas US Air and Continental both go nonstop from Louisville to Philly); I usually save Southwest for flying nonstop to BWI from Louisville. However, this time it was cheaper, and I decided I didn't care that it was going to take me an entire day to get from one city to the next, and it ended up working out for me, since I got stuck in Chicago and missed the social event.
Other notable events: I ran into Matthew, from the Drexel and Sinai interviews, again, and he gave me a ride back to Marjorie's apartment at the end of the day so I wouldn't have to ride the subway and walk in the rain; also, we discovered that we would be interviewing at GW together in two days! I had dinner with Duc at St. Stephen's Green and I had a really good chicken quesadilla that had great spicy poblano peppers in them. That night was notable because I had nothing to do -- no social events or pre-interview dinners -- and got to watch Top Chef and relax. At the end of the night, I got ready to take a shower, and a series of events unfolded that involved my legs suddenly breaking out in crazy hives. I popped some Benadryl, hopped quickly into the shower, and started freaking out because the hives were spreading up and down my legs (but not anywhere else on my body). I couldn't figure out what had caused it, but dug around Marjorie's medicine closet for some Benadryl cream, went to bed still slightly itchy, and woke up totally normal. The pattern made it seem like it was a contact dermatitis, but the only thing that had contacted my legs were my pantyhose from earlier in the day and my jeans, which I had been wearing for hours already by the time the rash started. Two days later, when rehashing it all to Eric yet again, it finally hit me: When I was getting ready to take the shower, I took off my jeans, then started absentmindedly scratching my legs while gathering up my toiletries from around the apartment. I still had poblano residue under my fingernails, so in the five minutes I was scratching, I deposited all that pepper oil onto my skin. The funny thing was, when I finally figured it out, I suddenly flashed back to a memory of me sniffing my fingers before taking a shower, and thinking that they still smelled (in a good way) of quesadilla. So there's a lesson for you: wash your hands before you scratch anything, and always after eating spicy peppers.
Cost of interview: $189, for the flight to Philly, WiFi in Midway Airport (hey, I was bored), and a couple of cab rides.

Date: January 9, 2009
Program: George Washington
Social Event: TGI Friday's by GW. Potato skins, crudite, and wings -- the usual. Of note, the program director was at the social, and was very social! I don't think that happened at any other interview dinner.
Breakfast: I grabbed breakfast from the hotel (banana, yogurt, coffee), and grabbed a croissant from the platter of pastries at the interview. Later in the morning, while we were waiting around for our actual interviews, there was another spread put out, including cheese (which I sat right next to), crackers, brownies, cookies, and more crudite. I ate more cheese that morning than I have in a while. But how could I resist -- they had babybels and laughing cow cheese in addition to the usual cheddar and swiss.
Lunch: They bussed us out to INOVA Fairfax hospital, where the residents do a significant number of rotations, and fed us lunch there. Lunch was weird: salad (fine), some sort of mystery meat that looked like stir-fried beef, but nothing else that resembled Chinese food, like rice; then there were some roasted potatoes. It was an odd combo. However, they did have fruit salad and really good cheesecake. On the downside, though: diet sodas only. Seriously, what is up with offering only diet sodas!?!!?? Are you assuming that's the only thing people drink (obviously not true)? Or are you insinuating that I should be drinking it (in which case, I take offense and get huffy!)? I hate hate hate diet soda. Yes, I fully realize that regular soda is full of empty calories, but I don't drink a lot of it, I only drink Coke for the caffeine, and I make up for it by limiting my calories in other ways (not that I've given you any evidence of this...). So that's my gripe about programs that only serve diet soda. Given how good breakfast and the snacks were, it was disappointing that lunch was so bad.
Where I stayed: Residence Inn on Vermont Avenue, just north of the White House. Driving around DC made me remember how much I love DC. Yeah, Philly's nice, but I really really love DC. Sigh. The Residence Inn was nice, although they only had wired, not wireless internet, but they did provide ethernet cords, thank goodness. The bed was really comfortable, but the towels were thin, scratchy, and small. There were tons of choices for breakfast, but I was rushing out and could only grab a banana and yogurt. Of course, the whole point of the Residence Inn is that it's for extended stay guests, so there's a kitchen and all that in the room, but I didn't need any of that. I got a good price for it on Priceline, though!
How I got there: Rented a car from Philly, and drove back to NJ for the night after the interview was over.
Other notable events: This interview was memorable because I didn't know I was going to have it until the last minute. I was supposed to interview at Abington on this day, and for a variety of reasons, I really didn't want to go, but was forcing myself to. GW was the only program I had heard nothing from (at least Hopkins and Pitt were nice enough to let me know I was rejected), and I assumed they were just too rude to inform me of my status. However, two days before Christmas, I got an email from GW inviting me for an interview on January 9! I accepted without hesitation and in the next breath sent an email to Abington to cancel. It was good, because I still had my crappy Temple interview to go to, but I was re-energized for January. (And don't worry, I wrote on my anoymous feedback form that they should tell people who are on the wait list that they are on the wait list so they don't wonder.) At the interview I saw Matthew again, as I knew I would. Saw another girl from Penn State who I had met before at Christiana. Saw another girl from Wayne State who I had met before at Christiana. And saw another girl from a Carribean med school who I had met before at Einstein. And so ended my six degrees of Kevin Bacon interview season experiment. I interviewed with Matthew 4 times, which was the most of anyone. I interviewed with Beth from Jefferson three weeks in a row, which was a lot of fun. I interviewed with Lisa from Penn State three times as well, and with a bunch of people twice. And a lot of people were concentrating in the same area as I did -- a lot of east coasters, and a lot of Philly and DC people. I didn't interview in NY at all, or I would have intersected with another whole set of applicants, I'm sure. I'm really sure I'm going to end up with co-interns who I met on the interview trail, and I'm excited to see who they turn out to be! Everyone I met was, for the most part, really nice and cool and smart. There was only one person I can identify who I would dread working with -- he goes to Johns Hopkins and I ran into him at both Maryland and Pennsy. He's an ass, for sure, but he's the only bad apple I met all season.
Cost of interview: $292, for a rental car to DC, Pricelining the Residence Inn on Vermont Avenue for $80, and the flight back to Louisville.


So there you have it. Ob/Gyn interview season 2008-2009, completed. I can't share my favorites with you yet, because it would be really embarrassing if I didn't match at any of them, but I hope you've enjoyed reading what I can share with you at this point. I'm the first person I know (who's not doing the military match, at least, which already had its match) to be done with interviews -- as of Friday, most people had 1 or 2 more to go. On the down side, I started in mid-October, whereas most people start in mid-November. On the up side, I am now DONE, whereas internal medicine goes well through the rest of January, and ER goes through February.

Now I just need to make my rank list, reconcile it with Eric's rank list, and submit at the end of February. Pretty soon I'll go over the rank algorithm with you -- it's pretty interesting, and mind-boggling to think of a computer running through the algorithm for every residency applicant in the country! For now, it's relaxation time and working -- but not too hard -- on internal medicine.

Done with interviews! Part 2

When we left off, I had completed seven interviews in six weeks. December was going to be much more busy, though.

Date: December 5, 2008
Program: Christiana, Delaware
Social event: The dinner was at the Washington Street Ale House in Wilmington, with a full open bar and great food, including sushi and good hummus. We ate a LOT at this interview dinner, and drank a lot, too.
Breakfast: I grabbed breakfast from the hotel before the interview
Lunch: I don’t really remember lunch too much in detail, other than the fact that there was a lot of food, a crudite platter, a gorgeous fruit display (I ate a lot of strawberries and pineapple), and TONS of desserts. There was a platter of dessert pastries, including cream puffs, of which I had at least two, and there was cherry cheesecake. There was only one guy on our interview, and he claimed he couldn’t eat any cheesecake because he was worried about his figure. And yes, he used the term “figure.” In response, about 5 of us girls goaded him into eating cheesecake and made fun of him for being a sissy. It was an odd role reversal for sure.
Where I stayed: Christiana was notable for being the only program that paid for my hotel room. (Actually, one other program offered to pay, but I ended up canceling that interview.) Eric picked me up from the Philadelphia airport, and we checked into the Fairfield Inn in Newark, Del. After we checked in, we got a call from the front desk – someone had dropped off a welcome package for us! It was like we were attending a wedding. The package was all the information about the program, as well as some candy, which Eric enjoyed.
How I got there: Southwest to Philly; then rented a car to get from Philly to Baltimore for the Sinai interview
Other notable events: Christiana was another interview where spouses and significant others were invited to the social event. After this interview, I decided it would be nice to go to a program that had a lot of money. (That second sentence is unrelated to the first.)
Cost of interview: $358 combined for this interview, Drexel, and Sinai, including plane tickets, car rental, and a couple cab rides

Date: December 6, 2008
Program: Drexel
Social Event: Dinner at a resident’s apartment. The food was barbecue sandwiches and fried macaroni and cheese. Even though those are totally southern things, I totally associate them with Philly, because I used to eat at a really good barbecue place in Manayunk and gorge myself on fried mac-and-cheese when I lived in Philly.
Breakfast: A full assortment of not only pastries, but also bagels, fruit salad, and food-truck-style breakfast sandwiches. Yum.
Lunch: None; the interview was over by lunchtime.
Where I stayed: At Marjorie’s apartment.
How I got there: Eric dropped me off in Philly the day before, after the Christiana interview.
Other notable events: I saw Lisa from Penn State (and the Jersey Shore interview) again, and met Matthew. I also met a Muslim guy from Elizabethtown, KY -- this was weird, because no one is from E-town, and because we tried to play the "who do we know in common in Louisville game" and it failed. Drexel's program is known for having a lot of male residents, and as a result, they get a lot of male applicants; there were more guys at this interview than I think at any other interview I went to.
Cost of interview: $358, combined with the Christiana and Sinai interviews.

Date: December 7, 2008
Program: Sinai, Baltimore
Social Event: Happy Hour at the Mount Washington Tavern in Baltimore. Crudite, wings, and some unmemorable hors d’oeuvres served during dinner time. But good wine and hard liquor were available!
Breakfast: Bagels and pastries.
Lunch: Sandwiches, chips, fruit salad, and cookies.
Where I stayed: With Paula again.
How I got there: Rented a car and drove down from Philly. I flew back to Louisville out of BWI on Southwest. I think it was this trip that earned me the last of the credits I needed for a Rapid Rewards roundtrip, which I’m using for our Napa honeymoon in May. At least one good thing came of all these interviews!
Other notable events: Only two residents showed up to the social event. It snowed as I got to Baltimore, the first snow I had seen this winter. I unexpectedly saw Jonah at the interview – he rotated at Penn this summer when I was there, and he and I have similar stories, in which our significant other is already in the Philly area and we are trying to join them. I had no idea I was going to see him at this interview, and once we got sick of the social event, we left the private room and went to the bar to get a real dinner and discuss our interview experiences. Of note, he relayed a story that Temple girl #2 had told him when he had met her at another program – I find it endlessly fascinating how you run into the same people on the interview trail! I also unexpectedly saw my friend Osman at this interview. Osman goes to UofL with me, and I had no idea we had both applied to this program, let alone chosen the same interview date! It was really nice to see him, because I hadn’t seen him in months. Finally, both Matthew and the Muslim guy from Drexel were at this interview as well, and in the final play of "six degrees of Kevin Bacon," it turns out that Osman knew the Muslim guy from Elizabethtown. (I need to note, so that I don't come off as completely racist, that I only mention that the E-town guy was Muslim because Osman is, too, and there is a running joke in Louisville that all "brown people" know each other, since the community is so small. The funny thing was, it was true this time!) This interview was held on a Sunday, which was kind of nice for scheduling, but also pretty rare. After the interview, my mom and sister met me and we had dinner together. My mom had just gotten back from Belgium, where she and my dad live, and I hadn’t seen her since March, so the timing was great. Also, right before this round of interviews, I got a notice saying my wedding dress had been delivered to my apartment, and I wasn’t there, so I was pretty anxious to get home and see it.
Cost of interview: $358, combined with the Christiana and Sinai interviews.

Date: December 13, 2008
Program: University of Pennsylvania
Social Event: None
Breakfast: More pastries.
Lunch: A waiter-served banquet lunch at the Inn at Penn – fancy schmancy! We had a mixed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette that was the consistency of dense mousse instead of the consistency of a vinaigrette, and then a chicken breast of some sort with roasted potatoes and sautéed veggies.
Where I stayed: At Eric’s mom’s house in Exton. I arrived in Exton a little before dinner time, helped clean out the basement some, and we ordered Rocco’s pizza again. We eventually found the 1949 version of Little Women, with Elizabeth Taylor, on TV, and I was completely entranced. I need to rent that some time to finish watching it.
How I got there: I drove to Pennsylvania from Louisville since I was now on winter break and would be driving between PA, NJ, and MD over the next three weeks and wanted to have my car with me. It snowed through Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. I brought Moxie and Mojo with me, and they eventually made their way to Eric's apartment in NJ, where they are now and where they will stay until we find a new place to live this summer.
Other notable events: I can’t really think of any…
Cost of interview: $49, for a Red Roof Inn in St. Clairsville, OH (near Wheeling, WV) where I stayed as I drove east. I hate making the drive between Louisville and the east coast by myself, and if I'm doing it myself, I try to break it up over a night. Red Roof Inn is my new favorite on-the-road motel chain, because they accept pets for no additional fee, and the newly renovated ones have very comfortable beds, large towels, and great shower water pressure. I highly recommend them for your next budget motel stay.

Date: December 17, 2008
Program: Lankenau, Pennsylvania
Social Event: A real, sit-down dinner at Yang Ming, a Chinese restaurant in Bryn Mawr. The restaurant claims to be both authentic Chinese and fusion Chinese, but I found it to be not very good of either. Nevertheless, the food was pretty good, and it was completely free. We ordered appetizers, soup, entrees, and dessert -- the only thing that wasn't covered was alcohol, but that was OK because the dinner was so generous, and I didn't want a cocktail anyway.
Breakfast: We sat through grand rounds before breakfast was served, but luckily I had coffee with me. Breakfast was bagels and pastries, the usual. I think there was fruit salad, too.
Lunch: Pasta and chicken and hot roast beef that was meant for making sandwiches with but that I ate as an entree. There was a salad that had cheese on it and one of the residents asked if I would mind identifying it as either goat or feta for her. It was goat. She apparently doesn't eat feta. Oh yeah, there were also really good rolls (I eat hardly any bread usually, but when there are good rolls at a restaurant I tend to go nuts) and chocolate-covered pretzels and cookies for dessert.
Where I stayed: At Marjorie's apartment.
How I got there: Drove from Eric's place in NJ.
Other notable events: I saw a girl who I had met at Einstein, way back on October 31. I gave her a ride to 30th Street Station after the interview, and she took my email address. I hope she emails me; she was really fun.
Cost of interview: $0

Date: December 18, 2008
Program: Thomas Jefferson
Social Event: Happy Hour at Dr. Watson's Pub, near Jefferson. It was really crowded, and at first I had a little bit of trouble figuring out who was a resident and who was an applicant, but it was OK. The only food was a crudite platter and a dish of buffalo wings and mozzarella sticks. The mozzarella sticks ran out quickly, and it's hard to eat wings while standing up and trying to hold a cocktail plate, so I mostly stayed hungry while I tried to socialize, while not drinking too much beer. A full 30 minutes before the scheduled end of the event, the people from the bar told us we needed to clear out for five minutes so they could set up for the live band that was coming in next. Instead of waiting, Ananda, who I had met at Washington Hospital Center, and I left and grabbed a slice of pizza in the gayborhood. (By the way, I just want to say that I think it's awesome that GoPhila.com has totally embraced the term "gayborhood.")
Breakfast: You know, bagles and pastries.
Lunch: Wraps and diet-only sodas. Grr.
Where I stayed: At Marjorie's apartment.
How I got there: SEPTA to Center City, then walked a few blocks to the hospital.
Other notable events: Jefferson did not validate our parking, and does not give free parking to its residents. Saw the aforementioned Ananda, from the Washington Hospital Center interview; saw Welles, who I met at UofL and who goes to Jefferson; saw a girl from Cincinnatti who I met at UofL; saw two girls from VCU, one of whom I had met at Maryland, and one of whom I had met at Christiana. The program gave us a Big Bus Tour of Philly after the interview, which was quite enjoyable. Granted, I've done that exact tour before, but I had nothing better to do for the afternoon, and it was fun to see all the historic stuff again. After the tour, I dropped off our Save the Dates at the post office!
Cost of interview: A couple bucks for SEPTA tokens and a few bucks for a pay lot downtown for the happy hour.

Date: December 19, 2008
Program: Pennsylvania Hospital
Social Event: Dinner at the hospital the night before the interview. More Italian food -- lasagna and eggplant parm and salad. Beer and wine and soda and water.
Breakfast: Pastries and yogurt.
Lunch: Hot food. I don't remember what the entree was, but I know I had rice and steamed veggies and the food was good.
Where I stayed: With Marjorie again.
How I got there: Since Pennsy validated my parking and the hospital is a little farther south of Market than Jefferson, making traveling by SEPTA just the tiniest bit more annoying, I drove to the interview.
Other notable events: A bunch of people from the Jefferson interview the day before were at Pennsy, including Welles, the guy from Jefferson, and the girl from VCU who I had met at UMD. Lisa, the girl from Penn State, was there, and so was my friend Jonah, unexpectedly. The hospital is cool because it is the "Nation's First Hospital," with the first surgical ampitheater, the first Ob/Gyn residency program, was home to the nation's first intern, and has the oldest medical library in the country. It has a wall containing plaques of the names of every intern who has ever trained there. For history dorks like me, it was a really fun tour. The evening of this interview, Marjorie and I drove up to Princeton to have dinner with our friend Chris from high school, and the next day we met up with our friend Karen, and the three of us went bridesmaid dress shopping, which was a huge success - both Marjorie and Karen found dresses!
Cost of interview: $0

That concluded the second part of my interview season: 7 interviews in 3 weeks, including two sets of three-in-a-row. EXHAUSTING. It was over these weeks that I complained to Eric the most about how tired I was of interviewing, and how much I couldn't stand the thought of doing two more interviews in January. I talked to numerous people about how much I didn't want to keep my January interviews and wondered if it would be legit to cancel them (it wasn't; they were legit from a geographic standpoint, and it would have been really unfair to Eric to cancel them just because I didn't want to go anymore).

Done with interviews!

I can’t believe it – I’m done with interviews! It is a huge relief and feels wonderful. I’ll share with you my synopsis of the last 3 months, leaving the information about the actual programs out, just so I don’t play all my cards yet. What I can share, however, is what the interview days were like from a mostly food perspective. That’s the most important part after all, right?

Date: October 16, 2008
Program: Jersey Shore Medical Center
Social event: None
Breakfast: A platter of pastries and plenty of coffee and tea
Lunch: Subs and Snapple – the subs were notable for being delicious, Jersey-Italian-style subs, with tons of oregano, oil and vinegar and thinly sliced deli meats. Often imitated (especially by the Penn Station Subs chains in Louisville), but nothing beats an authentic one. I also remember eating a really delicious brownie.
Where I stayed: With Eric in Ocean City, NJ
How I got there: US Air to Philly, rental car
Other notable events: I forgot to bring my EZ Pass on this trip, and was using a rental car, so I had to grab a handful of change from the Ocean City house in order to navigate the Garden State Parkway. It was here that I met Lisa, who goes to Penn State.
Cost of interview: $349, including $75 to rent a car from Cincinnati to Louisville because I misread my flight confirmation, missed my flight from Philadelphia back to Louisville, and flew standby to Cincy instead. Stupid mistake.
*Note: the reported cost of these interviews does not include eating during the trip, since I didn’t feel like keeping receipts from all the random airport places I got food from. It also, for the most part, doesn’t include SEPTA (Philly) or Metro (DC) tickets, and doesn’t include tolls.

Date: October 23, 2008
Program: Washington Hospital Center
Social event: I missed the pre-interview dinner because my sister, who was picking me up from BWI, and I completely missed each other at the airport. She was waiting inside at baggage claim, and I walked out to the sidewalk. She left her phone in her car, and I called her for 45 minutes straight frantically, wondering why she wasn’t answering. By the time she realized she didn’t have her phone, went back to the car and got it, found me, and we reached DC, I had missed the entire dinner. I was worried because it was the first one I had had, I had been told how important they were from my point of view, and how important they might be from the program’s point of view, but it all turned out OK.
Breakfast: Breakfast the next morning was bagels and fruit and coffee and juice.
Lunch: Lunch was amazing – salad, baked chicken breasts, roasted potatoes, and some amazing desserts. I definitely stuffed myself that day.
Where I stayed: I stayed with my sister in her College Park house for this interview, and slept on a couch in the basement curled hesitantly on a college house basement couch amid fears of spickets (officially called camel crickets, but we call them spider+cricket=spickets in our house) jumping on me in the middle of the night.
How I got there: Southwest to BWI; Metro from College Park to the hospital
Other notable events: After the interview, I took the metro back to College Park and realized, after taking Shuttle UM to the campus, that I had left my cell phone on the metro. It was an adventure getting it back, but miraculously, I got it back! At this interview I met Gayatri, who goes to Temple, and Ananda, who goes to University of Vermont.
Cost of interview: $213 plus minor cost of Metro card

Date: October 31, 2008
Program: Albert Einstein, Philadelphia
Social event: None
Breakfast: Breakfast was unmemorable, but probably coffee and pastries again.
Lunch: Lunch was pretty unremarkable as well – some sort of sandwiches, I presume. I remember eating something that I thought was prepared weirdly or badly… like chicken salad that needed seasoning or something like that.
Where I stayed: At my friend Marjorie’s apartment in Philadelphia. She gave me a copy of her key on long-term loan since I would be staying at her place so often over the ensuing months.
How I got there: Continental to Philly
Other notable events: I was in Philly on the day of the World Series parade, but unfortunately couldn’t really attend – as soon as I was done with the interview, it was time to make my way to the airport, and in all of the parade madness, I almost didn’t make it. At Einstein I met Beth, from Thomas Jefferson, and we discovered that we would be interviewing at Cooper together the following week.
Cost of interview: $235

Date: November 6, 2008
Program: University of Louisville
Social event: The interview dinner was held that night, for both my group and the next day’s group. Dinner was pasta catered from somewhere local, bottles of wine, and a cooler of beer and sodas held at a resident’s house. It was a fun event and a nice, casual vibe. Spouses and significant others were expressly invited, but since Eric was in NJ, he didn’t come.
Breakfast: None; this was an afternoon interview, starting at 11:30 am.
Lunch: Lunch was sandwiches, a large bowl of kettle-cooked chips, and cookies. The sodas were all of the diet variety, and the iced tea was Nestea, which I don’t like, so I had bottled water. I hate diet soda. Also of note, the lunch was sponsored by a local bank, and it was made very clear that the lunch was sponsored, which I found odd. Can’t the department afford to pay for lunch for its interviewees?
Where I stayed: My own apartment
How I got there: Walked.
Other notable events: Along those financial lines, parking for the day was not reimbursed, not that it mattered to me personally, since I just walked to school like I normally do. But still, I found it really annoying, and thought it was a poor reflection of the financial stability of the department. At this interview I met Welles, who also goes to Jefferson and knows Beth.
Cost of interview: $0

Date: November 7, 2008
Program: UMDNJ – Cooper University Hospital, Camden
Social event: The social event was held that same evening at Bahama Breeze at the Cherry Hill Mall. Eric joined us for the social (again, spouses and significant others had been specifically invited), where everyone got two drink tickets for beer or wine, and the servers brought out tons of orders of appetizers, including quesadillas, jerk chicken wings, coconut shrimp, flatbread pizzas, and spinach dip.
Breakfast: This was another afternoon interview.
Lunch: Lunch was lasagna, a chicken-and-broccoli pasta dish, and buffalo wings (a weird addition) with garlic breadsticks and salad. Notably, the plates were paper, which meant all the pasta sauce leaked through onto the tables, and there weren’t enough serving utensils for the food. Also, it’s difficult to eat buffalo wings neatly while wearing an interview suit.
Where I stayed: Early the morning of Nov. 7 I flew Continental to Philadelphia, was picked up at the airport by Eric, and we drove to the hotel I had Pricelined for the night before. He stayed at the hotel the night before just for fun since I had booked it, and I got there with just enough time before checkout to take a shower and get ready for the interview. At the last minute, we decided I would “accidentally miss” my flight that night and we would Priceline another hotel, which was a great decision.
How I got there: Continental to Philadelphia
Other notable events: The first hotel I Pricelined was a Hyatt Place, and it seemed pretty nice – the shower was good, anyway. The night of the interview, we Pricelined a Wingate by Wyndham, which was comparable to the Hyatt Place but with better toiletries. Of note, they provided robes in the bathroom, so we pretended we were in a luxury spa and wore robes all night. I had a little bit of trouble getting my flight rebooked for the next day, but in the end I did it without any fees. I saw my new friend Beth from Jefferson and Gayatri from Temple again, and met another girl who goes to Temple (we’ll refer to her as Temple #2 because I can’t remember her name). Gayatri and I ended up coordinating a switch of our Jefferson interviews in December, which worked out perfectly for both of us.
Cost of interview: $255

Date: November 14, 2008
Program: University of Maryland
Social event: Was held at Lucy’s Irish Pub in Baltimore. The pub food was pretty good, your standard wings, spinach dip, etc. In typical fashion, it was appetizers-only, even though it was in the middle of the dinner hour.
Breakfast: Breakfast the next morning was more pastries and coffee
Lunch: Lunch was sandwiches and cookies. I remember the desks we were eating at (old-school elementary school-type desks, where the desk portion swings up to let you get in and out of the chair) were slanted, so you couldn’t put your drink on the desk lest it slide toward you and spill. I also remember I stole an extra Coke for the road before leaving.
Where I stayed: For this interview, I stayed at my friend Paula’s house near Arundel Mills (she’s a resident at UMD), and we went out that night to celebrate her sister’s birthday with Chinese food and bowling.
How I got there: Southwest to BWI, rental car to the interview
Other notable events: This interview was on a Friday, and I flew into BWI on Thursday. On Wednesday I was on call on pediatric surgery and met a visiting fourth medical student from North Carolina who was rotating with the pediatric and adolescent gynecologist (which I’m going to do in February). We got to talking, and it turned out she was also interviewing at Maryland on Friday, and we were taking the same Southwest flight the next day! What a small world. We shared the experience of having our plane in Louisville develop mechanical problems, at which point the Southwest crew deplaned us and reboarded us on the next available plane extremely smoothly and easily. Have I mentioned yet that I love Southwest? At the pre-interview dinner, I saw Beth again unexpectedly – we interviewed together 3 Fridays in a row! I also saw Temple girl #2 at this interview.
Cost of interview: $364

Date: November 21, 2008
Program: UMDNJ – Robert Wood Johnson, New Brunswick
Social event: The pre-interview dinner was at an intern’s apartment, and they brought in lasagna and delicious gourmet pizza and Yellow Tail wine.
Breakfast: I had breakfast at the hotel (oatmeal, hardboiled egg, fresh orange juice, and coffee) just in case the interview breakfast wasn’t very good (I’m not a pastry person, really), and it was a good thing, because breakfast was scrambled eggs and pancakes. Definitely not what I want to be eating before an interview – the risk of ketchup and syrup getting all over me is just too big!
Lunch: Lunch was great – pasta, chicken, antipasta, and baked desserts. I definitely like north and central Jersey for the Italian-American cooking.
Where I stayed: I Pricelined a room at the Staybridge Suites, which is an extended-stay place, and it was really nice.
How I got there: US Air to Philly, rental car to New Brunswick
Other notable events: On the way back to Philly, I took a detour and picked up Hoagie Haven in Princeton. YUM. It’s been so long since I’ve had the pleasure of devouring a Hoagie Haven chicken parm, and they had avgolemono soup to boot. I met Eric and his mom in Exton and we ordered Rocco’s pizza and went to Quizzo in Phoenixville, where we got second place, which is a $50 gift certificate (we often get first place, which is $100 cash).
Cost of interview: $339

That was the first seven interviews, over the course of six weeks. One interview a week for six weeks (plus the extra thrown in on week 4) was very tiring. For my first interview, I was coming off of night float, and that was my first day back on a daytime schedule in a month, which made the interview pretty exhausting. For the rest of the interviews in October and November, I was on pediatric surgery and, in order to comply with my attendance requirements, would take call two days before an interview, stay up all night, then fly to the pre-interview event on my post-call day and try to sleep on the plane. It was quite exhausting. After Robert Wood Johnson, I got a week off for Thanksgiving, and Eric came to visit me in Louisville. After Thanksgiving, it started back up again, with even more intensity…

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.

source

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!

Yum

I made these last night. You should make them tonight.

Parmesan-crusted pork chops

Sorry, no pictures. We ate them all.

I grated real parmesan cheese and everything. I even made my own bread crumbs -- amazing how much time I'm willing to waste just to not go out to the grocery store for a can of bread crumbs.