Study Snack!

Lately I've switched to being the student who never goes to class and studies from home.  This is partially due to the fact that my med school FINALLY agreed to camtasia (where they record the powerpoint/smartboard slides with voiceover and post the videos to the internet) all lectures and partially because I've completely lost my ability to pay attention to 3 hours straight of lecture (or more accurately, I never had the ability, and finally recognized that not paying attention in lecture for 2 hours was a waste of 2 hours).

My new system is to watch lectures from home on camtasia.  It takes me a little bit longer because I pause to take notes, go to the bathroom, search Facebook, slam my head into the desk…. but overall I think it's a time saver because I only have to watch/read (via transcription) the lecture once.  Added bonus, my dog is SUPER happy about the situation.

Another bonus of studying from home is I save a ton of money because I don't have to worry about forgetting/not having time to pack my lunch.  I have a pretty fast metabolism, so I usually get hungry around 10:30-11ish and need a snack.  Today I'm trying spin on a recipe I found somewhere on Pinterest- Roasted Chick Peas.  They are super healthy, a great source of protein, and take a minimum amount of time to make.  Plus, in the winter (especially this polar vortex fueled winter from hell) I find myself craving something warm.

Here is the recipe I went with today (The nice thing is when you get tired of one flavor, you can change it up!!):

Roasted Spicy Chick Peas:  Active time: less than 5 minutes
-1 can chick peas drained (I use canned organic chickpeas from TJs)
-Olive oil (just drizzle it all over)
-pinch of salt
-1/2 Teaspoon each of curry powder, cumin, and chili powder
-dash of cayenne pepper

Toss all ingredients in the colander that you drained your chickpeas in (I imagine you could do the same with the can and save a dish)

Throw onto a baking sheet lined with tinfoil (I didn't do the tinfoil this time, but it makes the cleanup even faster)

Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes and VOILA!!

Chow

Something I've realized is how important it has been for me to know how to cook well. If all else is gone to hell, and I haven't showered in days, and have been pulling 12 hour study marathons day in and day out, the least I can do for myself is to have some good healthy food on hand. 

I generally prefer to cook in bulk so I can spend 30mins to an hour on food prep one day and then microwave for the rest of the week. 

This week I picked 2 meats and 2 sides all from Trader Joes. 

Monday: 

-I took my whole chicken out to thaw

-thawed my TJs Alaskan coho salmon the baked it: layers both filets out skin side down on tin foil in a 13x9 baking dish and seasoned with salt and TJ's lemon pepper then did a generous coating of creme fraiche. Baked at 450 for 10 minutes

-cooked 2 cups of TJs multicolored quinoa per package instructions

-made 2 bags of TJs Kale: 3 frozen garlic cubes in pan with olive oil, continuously add kale until it all fits in the big skillet or wok. Add a little bit of water. Cover and steam until salmon is done. 

The salmon lasted Monday night and Monday lunch for both my fiancé and me. 

Wednesday I baked my chicken (seasoning it with the remainder of my cocktail mixing ingredients):

-rinse out chicken and set on roasting pan

-in a bowl combine half a stick of butter, 2 table spoons olive oil, zest from 3 lemons, 2 sprigs rosemary chopped, salt, pepper. Rub the mixture all over the chicken (including under skin and in cavity)

-squeeze juice of 2 lemons over chicken

-slice the remaining lemon into quarters and slice a small onion into chunks- stuff the lemon, onion and one more rosemary sprig into cavity

-Bake at 425until temperature reaches 165 when measured at the thigh. 

-check your chicken after about 30minutes. If it looks pretty brown, cover it with some tin foil. 

The chicken took about 20 minutes of prep time (just long enough to watch modern family). Tomorrow is Friday and we will be at the end of the chicken, Kale, and quinoa. Two people fed dinner and lunch for one week (plus salmon skin for the dog), about an hour of prep time, total cost: $40. Great success. 

Let Me Entertain You

This past Saturday was my 27th birthday.  Because a birthday that falls on a weekend and is not overshadowed by work or impending exam doom is super rare, I thought I should throw a party for myself.  My parents and brother came up to visit, and my best friend from college came early came so I had a ton of help.  I love my fiancé to pieces, but he isn't exactly a planner, nor is he much of a cook, so he wasn't especially helpful in the planning phase.  He was, however, a superstar in the cleanup department before and after the party and did a great job following instructions with food prep. 

When it was all said and done, we had about 20 guests- my family, fiancé's family, some friends from med school, friends from college, and a few of my fiancé's friends.  Because I've been struggling a lot with wedding guest list because there are so many people I "should" invite encroaching on the people I truly want to invite, I was super brutal with my birthday.  I only invited people who I truly enjoyed spending time with and completely, and selfishly, ignored any feelings of should or obligation.  The result?  An amazing diverse group of people who got along splendidly and had a great time.

Since I'm southern, I feel anytime people come to my home I need to feed them.  I was especially proud of my food and cocktail menu, which I cultivated on Pinterest over several weeks:

Food:
-Smoked salmon, creme fraiche, and chive on savory crisp
-Toasted french bread with warm goat cheese and fig butter (huge hit)
- Crudite platter with 3 types of hummus
-Cheese plate: white cheddar, brie, and blue cheese with water crackers and raisin rosemary crisps
-North Carolina pulled pork sliders
-Sweet and spicy chicken wrapped in bacon bites
-prosciutto wrapped melon bites
-spinach artichoke dip

-birthday cake!!

Cocktails
-plain vodka
-gin
-whiskey
-rye

-beer

-wine
-assortment of mixers and garnish: tonic water, seltzer water, cucumber, basil, mint, rosemary simple syrup, mint simple syrup, maraschino cherries, orange, lime, lemon, and sugar cubes.

-I posted 3 ideas for cocktails and encouraged everyone to get creative!! 

I had the food on our dining room table and the bar in the kitchen, which kept people moving in between spaces.  I felt like the fun cocktail mixers provided a fun adult activity for everyone and gave people a common conversation starter. All in all the party was a great success!! 

Here is a picture of the bar set up

The Fall of Snow Days

I live in the Northeast, which means this winter we have experienced snow storm after snow storm.  Because most people (not students, 80-90% of med students live on campus) that don't live at my school must drive to get there, they were pretty liberal with snow days (especially because last year, several students got into car accidents on the way to our biochem mini board).  From what I can tell, the rule of thumb has been: if it is actively snowing, and the roads have snow on them- cancel school.  We get a delay if they think perhaps the extra time will allow the salt to work its magic.  I'm pretty sure the administration (or whoever makes the snow calls) is starting to regret their decision and has thus changed the snow day rules to something along the lines of: "If a four wheel drive vehicle can make it to school, everyone else must suck it up."  I drive a Honda Civic.   

Today it was actively snowing, all major roads had snow on them, and the weather was expected to get better in a couple hours.  Seems like a a 2 hour delay to me.  Right?  WRONG!!  I don't go to class, but we had a Community and Preventative Medicine Exam this morning at 9 so I got up early to study, and hoped that the snow would at least give me a couple more hours at home.  I held out for as long as I possibly could, convinced they would post a delay.  I left for school only when I knew I would have just enough time to de-snow my car and drive to school at a moderate pace (assuming the roads would be decent since we didn't have a delay).  Decent roads what not what greeted me.  I drove my butt to  school in full snow fall, rolling through stop signs on the hills out of fear that my car would not continue to move forward if I came to a complete stop. When I arrived at school (15 minutes late for the exam), I saw a herd of other commuters who were late as well.  You would think they would at least wait 15 minutes before starting the exam right?  NOPE!!  Or perhaps, recognize that the people walking in with snow in their boots and car keys still in hand might need say an extra 15 minutes for the exam (we only had 30 minutes to take the test).  WRONG AGAIN!!  I'm now convinced our CPM course director either lives in his office or teleports to school.

Recommitting to Yoga

Before my med student life, I was a dancer, avid yoga practitioner, and "yoga teacher" (I put this in quotes because while I did get certified and have taught classes, I did not commit to becoming a full time teacher before plunging into the world of medicine.)  Over the last almost two years, my physical activity has gone down the toilet.  Around this time last year, I decided to join a gym as cardio physiology had me convinced I needed to be doing more cardio (I HATE cardio), and I thought "maybe I can try to work up to training for a half marathon again."  Well, the result was spotty at best gym attendance.  I would have a week or two of going multiple times per week followed by a week or two of no attendance due to an encroaching exam followed by a week long shame spiral at the end of  which I finally managed to get my ass back to the gym.  The net gym attendance was about two weeks go consistent gym going followed by three weeks of being sedentary.  The result- my body continued to feel like crap, I went to a series of disappointing gym yoga classes, and I wasted about $70/month on my gym dues.

A couple weeks ago, I was craving a yoga class.  My body felt like ass and I was going stir crazy in my snow prison of an apartment.  Even though I was trained to teach yoga, I generally don't like giving myself yoga class unless I come up with it before hand.  Trying to come up with a sequence that will feel good and then remember the sequence while also practicing takes away from my ability to empty my mind and enjoy the moving meditation that is my yoga practice.  My solution was to turn to youtube.  The first class I found was ok.  It wasn't amazing, but was probably on par with any gym class I would take.  Two weeks later, I've found an iPhone app and a couple youtube channels that are pretty solid.  (I'll post my favorites at a later date).  I've managed to get between 20 minutes to an hour of yoga in each day and feel amazing.  My mind is clear, my body doesn't hurt, and I feel like I carve out a little wedge of me time every day.  I think the best part of rekindling my practice at home is that it sets me up to be more disciplined and conscious for the rest of the day.  I find that I procrastinate on the internet less, I'm more conscious of how I sit while studying, I make better choices in what I eat, and I tend to be in a nicer mood.

Grownup Clothes: On The Waist:Ass Problem and Being Poor

I realized recently that I would need to start stocking up on adult clothes so that by the time third year starts, I'll have more than one pair of work pants.

My problem is this: in all of my previous professions, I've never needed to wear "work" attire.  Let's take a look:
1) Medical assistant- scrubs
2) Yoga instructor- yoga pants (which I have worn as dress pants in a pinch)
3) Dancer- booty shorts, sports bra and tank top + sweat pants
4) Contortionist- whatever combination of costume/body paint/elaborate head piece I was supplied with

The first two years of med school, at least at my school, I could get away with wearing pretty much any of the items listed above (except for the contortion outfit… that would get some looks).  Because as a med student, I'm poor, buying work clothes has been a pretty low priority because they are expensive. If one is wearing business clothes, it's generally assumed that the wearer has a job and is not, in fact, making negative money.

My plan for next year is to buy a bunch of black pants, shirts that work with black pants, and a pair of black Dansko clogs.  This will streamline my ability to get dressed in the morning (which is going to be absolutely necessary during rotations where I'm expected to show up at work before the sun does.)

Yesterday I started this wardrobe mission by purchasing my first and only pair of work-appropriate black pants.  This was easier said than done.  I am thin and tall, but my ass is one size larger than my waist.  The ass problem is a direct result of over a decade of dancing/yogaing, and while I generally like my muscular booty, it hampers my ability to find pants.

I went to Express, Gap, and J.Crew with no luck.  Finally, I went to Banana Republic, defeated, almost ready to go up to the food court and eat my feelings (probably further contributing to the waist/ass ratio problem).  I walked in and told the sales associate what I needed: a pair of pants that would fit both my ass and waist, were a little stretchy, machine washable, and would work with a pair of Danskos.  She knew exactly what I needed: The Sloane Black Trousers.  Technically they are dry clean only, but in looking at the fabric content, I don't see why they can't be washed normally.  Great success!!

Beer O'Clock

It's the night before the night before an exam at about one in the morning.  My brain hurts- you know that feeling when you've been forcing yourself to learn for so long that you start to have a physical sensation inside your skull?  I'm not tired due to the cappuccino I made fore myself around 7.  The sum of this is that I'm too tired to study, but too awake to go to bed.  The solution? Beer.  Beer and maybe one more hour spent learning about the endocrine system is the answer.  Sometimes you just have to know when to indulge.