3 foods

No, I am not reviewing 3 different restaurants. I am talking about something much more serious: the 3 foods you would eat for the rest of your life. As I stated previously, there are 2 questions that tell you a lot about a person - what one animal would you be and this one. It is sort of like the "desert island game" from The Office. Say you were stuck on a desert island. You had anything you wanted to drink (no milkshakes or protein shakes but milk, soda, water...maybe some booze) but could only pick 3 things to eat for the rest of your life. 'Things' here isn't limited to one item. More like little meals. Not 'lobster AND steak AND chicken fingers.' More like ritz crackers and tuna or burger and fries. I mean items that sort of go hand in hand already. I know, I put a lot of rules on this thing, but it is my game. So tough. My 3 foods, in no particular order, are:

-Gang Garee Gai from Linnie's Thai Cuisine in Spokane. I. LOVE. THIS. CURRY. It is hands down my favorite for ever and ever. Why do I love it so much? A) It is yellow curry. You don't see these as often in my opinion. B) The chicken is so incredibly tender to the N-th degree. C) It is so simple yet so tasty. Chicken. Potatoes. Yum. I haven't been able to find this anywhere else actually. I can find similar dishes, but they almost always have onions in them. yeah, I love onions, but it just isn't the same. I can eat this stuff morning, noon, and night. With or without rice. One-star spicy. Four (out of five) star spicy. Just give it to me

-Stacy's pita chips and hummus. Yep. Again, simple. Salty and delicious. I am gonna need something to snack on on the island when I am getting my tan on. Plus, if I end of having drop in guests, it is so easy just to pull this stuff out :D

-Chocolate chip pancakes (no syrup) and peanut butter milkshakes from Arny's in Spokane (which no longer exists). No place does them like Arny's did them. It was part old flat top grill, part recipe, part love. Nothing could beat those pancakes. I make chocolate chip pancakes often; they will never compare to these. And the peanut butter milkshake? Perfectly thick but still drinkable through a straw. Just enough peanut butter. Just enough ice cream. Sadly, none of you will ever get to experience these. I would give...um...$100 for Arny's to open again and make me these things. Regardless, this is a game, and I can still request these. Breakfast - the most important meal of the day on the desert island.

Thoughts? Comments? Your own "3 foods"? Ask this at your next get together. I am sure you will get plenty of fun answers...that you can openly judge

Vacation

<p>&lt;p&gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;I have been gloriously lazing around for the past 3 days and completely loving it. I am lucky to be home in Spokane celebrating my Christmas. Well, other than the snow I seemed to bring with me, there haven't really been any other signs of Christmas. Other than sleeping in and eating too much and watching movies and... It has been amazing. I will have reviews of food and movies when i am at my regulate computer and not just my tablet.&lt;/p&gt;<br>
&lt;p&gt;I have been trying to think of other things to post about other than find. The obvious response would be work since I do spend 65 hours a week there. I am hosting an interview dinner (for internal med resident candidates), Sonic have been reflecting on how to answer questions that may arise. Turns out many people have questions about what I actually "do" everyday. Unlike my siblings :-)...this is an easy question to answer. Below is the timeline of a typical day at Creighton for me&lt;/p&gt;<br>
&lt;p&gt;4:40am - alarms goes off. Stumble out of bed and into workout clothes. Make black tea and put it in my amazing thermos from Costco&lt;br&gt;<br>
5:00am - get to the gym right when it opens. See my "gym people." &lt;br&gt;<br>
6:15am - showered. Pretty. Awake. Drive to work drinking my tea&lt;br&gt;<br>
6:35am - get to work. Put my stuff in my locker. Put my pager on my belt (yes...I am a work and wear it on my belt). Forget something in my locker after having closed it. White coat on and heading upstairs&lt;br&gt;<br>
6:45-7:30am - check how many new patients my team got overnight. Divide them between myself and the other intern. Start working on my notes, collecting vitals and lab results from our online program&lt;br&gt;<br>
7:30-7:40am - get Checkout (overnight team tells us about issues during the night and then summarizes the new ones for us)&lt;br&gt;<br>
7:40-9:00am - "pre-round." Go see my patients. See how they are doing. Finish my notes with my plan for the patient at the end of the note. This plan isn't always extensive. Sometimes it is just a holding pattern for the day. Sometimes it is just "continue antibiotics." Order labs and test for the day and for tomorrow morning<br>
9:00-12:00 - Rounding with the whole team. Attending, supervisor, interns, med students, hangers-on. We go see all the patients on the team. Attending write their notes. We decide on the actual plan for the day. This part involves lots of standing. :-( I dislike standing<br>
12:00-1:30pm - noon conference and daily report. This is our didactics. I will tell you the truth...didactics have never been how I learn best. I learn through doing and reading.<br>
1:30-4:00pm - follow up on labs, imaging results, consults we placed in the morning. Run around discharging (hopefully) several patients, placing more consults, putting out fires about a patient who wants to eat or smoke or leave.<br>
4:00pm - meet with our attending again. We have been admitting patients (usually about 2) all day as well, so we go over the new ones and further discuss the old ones. Often we will go see something or do something that takes longer than I want it to.<br>
5:30 or 6:00pm - finally finish, update our list of patients with all the good info people need to know, and, finally checkout to short call team. They are there til 8pm and will checkout to the night team. We let short call know what needs to be followed overnight - tests, imaging, scary things that might happen with our sicker patients<br>
6:30pm - home, start/eat dinner. Laze about for a minute or 2. Matt usually likes to get out of the house, so we do coffee or go to the mall
8:30-9:30pm - watch tv, read, should study, play on the internet, think about food
9:30-10:00pm - pack my lunch, pack Matt's lunch, get my stuff ready for the morning so that it is easy to simply roll out in the early hours. And finally...go to bed!

And that is my typical day. Typing it out makes it seem not busy, but it is. In July I struggled to see 5 patients in the morning. 5 is much easier now. 7 is still tough. Back to the real world tomorrow :-(

</p>

10 days left

I have 10 working days of UniMed left. I am ecstatic. I worked both of these first two weekends and am ready for a day off, which will come Thursday! I get 2 days of vacation Thursday and Friday, and then I am not working the weekend! Yay! I will be heading back home to Spokane. I haven't been since September and am excited. 

I have greatly benefited from having a wonderful, supportive family whom I love immensely. This may seem to come out of the blue or be a "duh" statement, but it is surprising how much this has helped me take better care of my patients. When I don't feel like doing something because I am tired or feel it will take too much effort, I try to flip it around and say, "What if patient X were my grandma?" How angry would I be if her doctor didn't talk to the surgeon earlier in the day? Or thought that ordering the ultrasound could wait until tomorrow? I would be upset. So to me, I try to think that every patient is my grandma. I would use my parents or siblings in place instead, but the average age of my patients right now is 90...grandma just fits better.

Last night we had a free date night! And by free I mean we used gift cards we had. We had dinner at Fleming's and then saw Contraband at AMC. And in typical form, I ate a whole bag of sour patch kids. Sigh. Some things never change. The movie, according to Matt, was predictable. In my head though, I knew Matt was going to call it that. Ergo, Matt is predictable and the double negative makes the movie not predictable. I won't ruin the movie here, but I am just going to say, of course there is a plot twist! Every movie has a plot twist. Just because it happens, however, doesn't mean the movie is bad. I think Matt just wanted to pretend like he was smart. Don't tell him I said that :D

Fleming's: This was our first time here, and well, we did it spur of the moment without a reservation. That, however, was our only mistake. No table was going to be ready untl 8:15 (we got there at about 5:30), but the bar had open seating and full menu. And...happy hour! They had a decent selection of discount apps and drinks for $6. They even had Widmer Hefe (in the bottle) 2 for $6. I love this beer. LOVE. Always have, always will. This of course won them big points in my book. But they only had one left :( I drank it however. Matt got a martini, and we got the mushroom ravioli to split. The ravioli were only 3 in number but tasty. The sauce and fresh parm were a great touch. They also serve "bar burgers" at the bar only. Matt got the Fleming's Prime Burger (bacon and cheese) ---- for $6!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got the Ahi Tuna burger. It has great flavor and texture and wasn't too big. Each burger came with onion rings that were big and meaty. The chipotle dipping sauce was great as well. My only complaint about my burger was that the bottom bun soaked through by the end of my meal. We got a side of chipotle mac & cheese. I love mac & cheese in a restaurant. Always sooooo good...because it is always so bad for you :) We left very happy and full with a vow to come back (even for food outside the bar). The bartenders were great - very attentive even though extremely busy. The general ambiance of the place is typical steak house - dark woods, good lighting, white tablecloths. They did have nice high ceilings, however, which I liked. In summary:

I will rate on this 0-6 scale:

0 – Never again

1 – If someone else (other that Matt) is paying

2 – If it is a big group and they decide on it

3 – Only on Matt’s request

4 – Oh yeah, I like this place; I will suggest this next month or so

5 – Put it in the rotation!

6 – GET ME THERE NOW!

Service: great. Some people at the bar were throwing attitude, which always surprises me for people in their late 60s.

Cleanliness: good. I didn't check out the bathroom though :)

Ambiance: as I said, perfect. Everyone looks good eating in good lighting

Menu: HH choice is decent, wine selection is HUGE, beer selection is limited, menu isn't fussy though. They seem to know what they do well and stick to it.

OVERALL: 4. I may say 3.5 simply because we can't afford to eat here unless on gift cards. If we had the money however, it would be a 4 for sure.

Brief

Keeping it brief tonight. I am making home made fig newtons, and those obviously take precedence over blogging. Duh. I actually have always loved fig newtons. I don't know what it is. Well, no, I actually do. It is the carbs. I love the carbs.

I worked 70 hours last week. Didn't even blink an eye. Matt may have, but I didn't.

Did I tell you I made home made cheese? Twice!?!?! I made queso fresco and mozzarella. Both were AMAZING. The mozzarella is so incredibly creamy and completely heavenly. I will do it again someday...when I am not working 70 hours a week.

Review time!

Blue Sushi: **Bias warning** We only ever go during happy hour. Just thought I should throw that out there. On to business. Blue has a few locations throughout Omaha. The owners also run Roja, but that is for another day. Matt and I don't go here enough. Now, is there better sushi out there? Probably. Am I the best judge of sushi? Likely not. But what I truly enjoy about Blue is their consistency. Every time our rolls are consistently delicious. They are well wrapped (which is more than I can say for other sushi happy hours we frequent), and the selection is great. Even their happy hour roll selection is great (which again, is more than I can say for others). If you are going, try the "blue balls," but get your mind out of the gutter first. They are delicious little tempura fried balls of flaky tuna. So good! I could seriously go and just get those. But their crunchy rolls are also very appealing. :D My husband loves the "Dirty Blue" martini. Again, get your mind out of the gutter. It is a basic martini with bleu cheese stuffed olives. That man loves blue cheese. Of their 3 locations in Omaha, we frequent the one...6 blocks from our house. The location down town always seems packed but only has HH on certain levels. I have never been to the one out west. If you are going for HH, expect good prices but not great service. It isn't bad service, just not stellar. Alright, in review: 

I will rate on this 0-6 scale

0 - never again

1 - if someone else (Matt doesn't count) is paying

2 - if it is a big group and they decide on it

3 - only on Matt's request

4 - Oh yeah, I like this place, I will suggest this next month or so

5 - put it in the rotation!

6 - GET ME THERE NOW

**AGAIN, happy hour only bias here**

Service: par, pretty typical for most places in West-O

Cleanliness: modern decor makes it at least seem super clean

Ambiance: you better like the color blue, but very mellow

Menu: great variety of HH menu, plenty of rolls and apps

OVERALL: 4. Simply because I can never make day time happy hour and can wait til 1030pm to eat

6 months later

This is Becky. This is Becky on UniMed. While I am busier than I have been for a long time, UniMed is a little different this time around, 6 months after my first month of it. 6 months under my belt. 6 months of nurses calls, of writing orders, of discharging patients. Speaking of which, I have already discharged 5 patients in 2 days. That is a lot of dictations to do :D


There are 2 types of interns out there (at least in our program): those who throw attitude at nurses and those who don't. I will admit, we all get frustrated with nurses from time to time, but that is no different than any job. Some, however, let that show. They talk down, they ignore, they back-talk. The problem is, nurses are our friends. Without them, my job would be impossible. They do more than a million things that I could never do (read, changing adult diapers, doing foley cares, etc). And they can make an interns life living hell with constant pages. I take a "kill them with kindness" approach. I use "please" and "thank you" a lot. I smile. I ask nicely. I smile some more. It usually works. I am not saying I charm them by any means, but I don't think I get on their bad side like some others do.


That's it. That's all I have. Sorry for being boring. Maybe this weekend will be more exciting? I am on call Saturday, so seems...likely? Unlikely?

Resolutions & Survival

I strongly dislike when people say, "I am not going to make a resolution because I am just going to break it anyway (insert laugh)." Why not set a better goal for yourself? Or why not hold yourself to it? While in the big picture of life, January 1st isn't truly that different from June 1st or October 1st. Just the flip of another calendar page. That doesn't mean, however, that you can't embrace the "season" and vow to enrich or strengthen yourself. I will admit that my prior resolutions have often been trivial, and I often do break them. I am pretty sure the past couple of years it has been - to floss more often (daughter of a dentist but flossing motivation impaired). While I will chalk that one up on my board yet again, I have 2 others that I publicly (if you consider this public) vow to now in front of you, my 2 readers.


1) Read more books. No not just food blogs. Or facebooks. I need to read more and not do it to study (trust me, I don't do that enough either). To kick me off, my wonderful husband bought me Stiff. I have heard a lot about it but couldn't summarize anything I have heard about it even if my life depended on it. I would like to get 12 books in this year. Suggestions welcome


2) Live in the present. While this may seem counter to all this "change" people vow to make, I find I often live in the future. Yes, there are things that need planning - plane tickets, moving, etc. Too frequently, however, I plan too much. And then I get stressed when plans change. Living in the moment! My uncle would be proud


Moving on!


I survived! And when I was on cross cover, I never had to transfer anyone to the ICU! That speaks much more to the day interns' abilities than mine, but that still feels good. Tomorrow morning, I will hit the ground running with UniMed (general floor/ward medicine). The last time I did this at Creighton was July. Any intern can speak to the craziness that is July. I am hoping (and expecting) this month of UniMed to go much better. Sigh. Here we go!

One. More. Night.

Yep. That's it. One more night of night float. If you have been following me, it may seem as if it has been all lollipops and rainbows. While I have enjoyed time off during the day time to, well, bake & cook, I am ready to be home, in my own bed (nearly) every night. I am ready to not be awoken at 3am. I am ready to not be constantly worried that something bad is going to happen. Sometime I wonder what all this stress does to us...

For the past 3.5 years, every month has brought change, which, at least with me, brings with it a considerable amount of stress. M2 year it was a new systems based class every month. M3&M4 it was a new rotation - how were the attendings going to be? Were the residents going to make us stay til 8pm? Intern year is it also a new rotation but with a lot more weight on my shoulders. On Wednesday I will return to the land of real pants and dress shoes, and I can feel those slight tinges of stress in my body. Like my other siblings, I grind my teeth and hold my stress in my jaw. The past few days have resulted in a very sore jaw needless to say. The sad(?) part is, this will go on for another 3.5 years until the end of residency. I am fairly good at finding outlets for my stress (baking, working out), so at least I have that going for me?

I am making gumbo for dinner, and my friend Sarah is coming over. I half this recipe, yet it still makes approx 1 butt load of gumbo. Ergo, I will be eating gumbo til the cows come home. I am actually really only making this so that I have something with which to serve beer bread. I am usually always thinking about carbs. Sigh. 

I am hoping that I keep updating this much once I start UniMed on Wednesday :( Also, there have been very few restaurant reviews this past week, because, well, without Matt, I don't eat out that much