Listen to MPR!

Ttomorrow, March 1, 2010, marks what would be Chopin's 200th birthday! How does one celebrate the birthday of a dead composer? I'm glad you asked. It turns out MPR is making things easy by broadcasting two LIVE performances of Chopin's music tomorrow, one at 3 p.m. CST, and the other at 7 p.m. CST. The 7 p.m. performance will be taking place near Warsaw, on Chopin's own piano! Egads! Who wouldn't want to hear that?

Take-home message: Listen to MPR tomorrow. If you're like me and do not currently live in Minnesota, go to MPR's classical website and click on the link on the left-hand side that says "Listen to the Stream." Chopin!

Don't Expect Much

I generally try to avoid useless posts, which is why I haven't written anything in almost 2 weeks. Unfortunately, this one won't be much better than that. A brief synopsis of my life since the cookie mayhem:

I've watched the Olympics.

It snowed.

I read about knees.

The end.

Multiplying the Loaves

...or in my case, Valentine's Day cookies. As has been pointed out previously, I enjoy baking. Cookies are especially fun because they are easy to give away (convenient; I don't want to think how much weight my roommates and I would gain if we were to keep all the stuff that I bake). This week, I was keen on baking Valentine's cut-outs. I decided to verge from the typical sugar cookie cut-outs and instead try my hand at gingerbread. I used the old, reliable Betty Crocker, which stated that I should expect approximately 2 1/2 dozen, 2 1/2-inch cookies. Now, my heart-shaped cookie cutter was smaller, about 2 inches, so I expected maybe 3 1/2 to 4 dozen, max.

Does this look like 4 dozen to you?!

I did not get 4 dozen. I got 11 1/2 dozen. What in the world...? I was dumbfounded. Appropriately, the daily Gospel for Saturday was Mark's account of Jesus feeding the 4,000 with just seven loaves and a few fish. I was pleased to be able to decorate and give away these cookies to my friends (and even announced to an elevator full of my classmates that they were all welcome to stop by my apartment on their way back to their rooms after class to get some cookies), but I'm still astounded with the vast misjudgment of the cookbook (or of me). How in the world did this happen? At any rate, I am still stuck with 2 dozen or so cookies. I'm hoping I can pawn them off on someone tomorrow. We'll see.

At least they look nice...?

Scrubs Day

Anatomy lab. We've been slogging through anatomy since the end of October. We will finally be done -- for good -- in two weeks. Two more weeks of lab, and that's it. Sure, anatomy is supposed to be one of those formative experiences of medical school (and don't get me wrong, it has been), but it doesn't mean we won't be happy when it's done. It's tiring being in the lab four days a week. Changing in and out of our anatomy scrubs four days a week. Smelling like the chemicals that keep our cadavers fresh four days a week. Dressing like a slob (because it's not worth getting dressed up before going to lab) four days a week.

Mercifully, during the last four weeks of the course, we only have lab three days a week. Joy! Unfortunately, the scrubs start smelling after only one lab. At this point, many of us have given up caring about how our scrubs (and our selves) smell; after all, it doesn't matter all that much if the only place you ever wear them is in the lab. However, we hadn't done scrubs laundry since before Christmas break. Even with three different pairs, that's pushing it a bit in terms of smell.

So, I bit the bullet and did scrubs laundry for my lab group. The dryer wasn't quite able to fully dry them, so I had to find creative ways to accomplish that last bit of drying in my room. FYI, lamps work great as drying racks. I'd like to think that the last two weeks of anatomy will be just a little more pleasant with clean scrubs. Now, where's that scalpel...?

Winter White

Today, the Bronx got hit with its first taste of all the blizzards and snowstorms that have been marking their trail across the rest of the country during this past week. Our afternoon classes were cancelled, so we had a chance to play in the snow...

SNOWBALL FIGHT!

Vermontiness

I had an opportunity to get to know more of my classmates better this past weekend: it was the annual Einstein ski trip. Every year, interested first- and second-year students choose a nearby ski resort and spend a weekend away from school, away from the Bronx, away from studying, away from the city, away from the normal grind. This year, we went to Killington, which it one of the biggest resorts in the Northeast, located in central Vermont. The skiing was better (and bigger!) than anything I've ever done before (and also my first time skiing outside of Minnesota), and the opportunities to get to know more of my classmates outside of school was more than welcome. Some highlights from the weekend:

Vermont trees, snow, and mountains

A fun day of skiing with Michelle and Eman

After a long, tiring day of skiing, we had a delicious lasagna dinner...

...and then got "tight and bright" for a party with our classmates.

The second-years had always been telling us that the ski trip would be the highlight of our year. Now I can see why. It was the one time that I've been with classmates and school hasn't come up in our conversations at all. And that was refreshing.

Color and Crunch

Let me just get this out there, in case there was ever any doubt (which is highly doubtful, to say the least): I am a fan of food. Evidence is as follows...

What do you do with a grapefruit, a kiwi (or two), an apple, and a blood orange?

Make a delicious fruit salad!

Mmm...homemade granola

Yes, exams are over (until next month), so I took advantage of my free afternoon to make granola, courtesy of Kate's recipe. It is already half gone.