Cheesemaking

Mom and I attempted the long-anticipated activity of cheesemaking today. We made delicious fresh mozzarella.

This is Mom now. Everything about Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable. Miracle" inspired me to try growing and making things. One thing was cheese. A couple months ago,I purchased Ricki's Cheesemaking Kit, as recommended, read the descriptions and instructions a couple dozen times, and then waited until Melissa could come home and play before actually trying it. So glad I waited; we had so much fun, and it turned out just fine. We made three balls, sampled one till it was gone, and tomorrow we're going to make bruschetta and caprese salad with the two we have left. Mmm-mmm.






Melissa again. I ran into the last of the parmesan cheese tonight as I sprinkled it onto my low-fat microwave popcorn. I asked mom, "If we put our mozzarella cheese in the basement, will it get to be parmesan cheese?" She said we'd need to leave it down there long enough and inject the right culture into it, so I plan to put it in the basement for awhile with a nice symphony playing. Mom is 100% on board.

Dad's Birthday

We had an amazing dinner of delectable salmon, spinach and strawberry salad and rice pilaf.
Of course, Dad ate from the "You are Special" plate.
The Reine de Saba cake was for dessert.

Amy picked out an antique map of the Philippines for Dad.

Other presents Dad got.....a book from me called The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese, a physician who also writes novels, a book from Mom that Dad picked out (historical fiction, I think), a car washing by Jon and Jenn, and some nut clusters.

Reine de Saba Cake

For Dad's birthday, I made a cake Mom told me about called Reine de Saba cake. It's made with chocolate and almonds, flour, sugar, eggs. It was a success with Dad and the rest of the fam. I love French cooking, even though it's often buttery. I guess you can't eat it all day every day, but it's such a lovely way to prepare food. I want to try some more recipes from Julia Child. Here are the pics of the cake process.
The eggs.

The chocolate.





Delicious!

The Giant Desk

This is the kind of desk a person needs in medical school. Enough room to spread out computer, books, pens, flashcards, binder....all of the above at once. I'll have to post later when the desk is in that state and all broken in.

The Kind of Happiness You Can Stand On

Okay, that's not a saying. But.....I found this little (medium-sized, actually) rug being sold by a couple that will be moving to Seattle for residency. They were very nice and had a nice apartment with nice furniture. I brought this rug home and set it up under my coffee table, and have been basking in its glow ever since.


Isn't it lovely? It is supposed to be faux-Persian, but it makes me think of the Southwest desert. In reality it's from Ikea, but whatever it is, it makes my apartment feel more home-y. And I haven't been this happy since, well.....since I bought my vacuum cleaner. (see post: The Kind of Happiness You Can Vacuum With)

P.S. You can see the "before" picture in the Apartment Tour blog.
P.P.S. There isn't really a post: The Kind of Happiness You Can Vacuum With

Proudest Day of Med School

Awhile ago during CFM week, we were learning to do Neuro exams on each other with our supervisor, Dr. Fine. It was at this time that I received some unexpected praise far exceeding anything I have had so far in Med School, or may have yet. Unfortunately, the praise was for something I literally have no control over: my reflexes. I guess it could be argued that a person has some control over muscle tone that might have an impact on the amount of response generated by a reflexive muscular contraction, but my muscle tone would not be considered fantastic, especially in comparison with my 23-year-old classmates'. I thought it was a joke the first time Dr. Fine praised my reflexes, but he continued to do it and to have others practice on me, and he seemed genuinely pleased and fascinated by it.


I still wasn't quite sure of how serious he was about it, as he is a rather subtle man, but later in the day, when we met again, he struck up a conversation with me about my "excellent reflexes," in which he asked me about dance and whether I missed it. I was a little taken aback that, still, he was talking about the reflexes. But for a moment, I felt like my old self again. People who know me outside of a "dance" setting have never related to me as those who know me in it. I don't know why. I took it for granted for a long time, as I had simply made it my place in the world. Then, I left it and felt somehow like a stranger again. Until the neuro exam, when I had a brief taste of what it is like to be that self.

A part of me was sad that the most positive response I've elicited from anyone about anything I've done at med school was a reflex, probably related to a former life. But I couldn't help feeling the positivity and basking in its warmth, like the presence of an old friend I loved but ignored during former days.

It was a bittersweet reunion.

Books

Last book I finished: The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker

Last book I am proud to have finished: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Book I will never finish, despite reading it for the rest of my life: Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease

Book I am reading now: The Tennis Partner by Abraham Verghese

Book I most relate to: Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

Conference Day Lunch

Mom and Dad turned me on to the website LiveStrong.com, where I found this recipe for Stir-fry Mu Shu Vegetable with Chicken. I plan on taking the leftovers for lunch this week.




I took a bite before taking the picture. It was good. I don't know if I recommend the Hoisin sauce. It has a flavor that is strange to me...but, overall it was delicious. You could substitute like a sweet-and-sour sauce if you wanted. Oh, and I also substituted squash for zucchini because that's what I had on hand. Mmmm.

Apartment Tour

A tour of my apartment. These pictures are from when Mom and Dad were here for the white coat ceremony. Mom drove out with me, and Dad flew out a few days later. As you may remember, my landlady is an eighty-year-old woman named Barbara who was climbing out on the roof the first day I met her. She could be a whole other post.


My room is my favorite part of the apartment. I especially like the "French doors."


Dad in my bedroom.


Cute bench in my room. The house is old, and I think a lot of the stuff here (as well as the house) has been handed down through the generations. The furniture is mostly nice antiques, with some couches from the 80's.





The living room. If this couch weren't covered, you would see clearly that it is from the 80's.



My desk that I brought from Utah. This is an old pic. This desk is actually in my room now.


Dad! (In the dining room).


My small kitchen. It works.


A part of my bathroom is pictured here, and is also very small. Picture an airplane bathroom with a tub. Okay, it's slightly bigger than that. Slightly.


The view from the balcony/fire escape in the dining room. Mom, Barbara and some guy talking in the yard. That's Barbara's red truck and the white structure on the right is where I park.

Blogging

This is for all the people in my family whose blogs I enjoy. I am a bit of a hypocrite for telling you all to post more. I love keeping in touch by reading your thoughts, looking at where you live, where you go, what you cook and eat, and the people in your lives. I decided the communication should be mutual. Plus, I want to be part of the twenty-first century and have some way of posting pictures if I want to show you something. I can't promise I will be cute, clever, profound or even interesting, but I think this is arguably one of the more thoughtful modes of regular correspondence of our time, something roughly equivalent to the writing of long letters in the days before computers. But there's also the "log" aspect to it, which functions as a sort of public journal. So, we'll see.

I AM in med school, so if I don't post for months on end, it's because I'm in a vortex of anatomy, physiology, pathology...but I'm looking forward to a chance to organize and communicate my thoughts. Then, I guess I'm not promising it won't sometimes be the ramblings of a confused mind. Maybe it will merely be the record of my slow descent into insanity. But why not live the "examined life?" I love you all!

Love,
Melissa