DineLA II part II

I was still going strong at the end of week 1 of Jan 2012 DineLA with only 3 restaurants under my belt, literally.  I started off the second week on a bright note with Sunday dinner at Spago with 2 fellow first year MSTPers.  We got there early enough to start things off on a good note.

The cocktail menu apparently changes once per month.

DineLA II part I

Be prepared for pictures and ranting...and no excuses for how long this took to post (nearly two months!).  And yes, this DineLA round is long enough to warrant two posts.  This is week 1.

CNS innervation of proximal and peripheral muscles

So, we recently had our winter formal.  It was a night of classy and not-so-classy dancing and socializing.  To make my night more fun, I decided that I should mix a little pain with my pleasure.  Cooking and heels are clearly dangerous enough on their own, so I promise to never never mix them.  Good news is that I remembered to test my finger for response to touch, pain, and temperature: No permanent damage noted.  As for my leg, damage did not extend deeper than the upper subepithelium, so yay!

Apparently, chestnuts wiggle when you try to cut them.

Third time is the charm: two harmless episodes of tripping down the stairs while running off to the formal, one not-so-harmless.

Recent kitchen improvements

Did some improvement of my own kitchen skills in preparation for DineLA.

Baked salmon with tomatoes and onions.

Blueberry flan: came out perfectly unbroken!

Holiday Ski Trip

After a Christmas with minimal flurries only in special parts of Boston, I went on a family trip in search of snow.  There, I played some aggressive cards to make up for the last half of a year.  Some skiing on slushy snow happened followed by skiing on icy snow on day 2 (big dip in temperature).  Of course, few posts of mine are ever complete without mentioning food, so there is the obligatory picture of the delicious hot-pot dinner that we had on day 2.

Some snow on the ground.  Some snow from the sky.

Boston Foods

As wonderful as the food is in LA, I have mentally been compiling a list of foods that I missed eating ever since I left Boston.

My first stop was at Japonaise, the French-Japanese patisserie, in Brookline. How I have missed the butter rolls, the custard pudding, and the Japonaise (green tea mousse cake), as clearly evidenced by the inability to resist taking a bite prior to pictures.  The green latte has also been missed, although I do make it for myself many mornings.  However, I use 2% milk at home, so the occasional whole milk version is quite an indulgence (for my taste buds).  I am not sure that my pancreas agrees (more lipase please!), but I just think of it like a challenge.  I am no longer that drawn to the mochi ice cream since I know that I can order them directly from the same factory. 

Do you hear the food angels singing in praise?  If not, maybe you need a Rinne test.

NYC is The City

After a quick stopover in DC to see Grandma, it was time to hit the city, New York City.  This trip was my first time riding Megabus, which gets a plus for free WiFi and a minus for a pretty horrible bathroom.

Upon arrival, my cousin and two of her friends took me to ABC Kitchen, which is interestingly enough part of the ABC furniture store in both a financial and a physical sense.  The decor is has a Gothic theme but is spacious enough that it was not tacky.

Block 2 Exams

The lead up to these exams were much smoother than Block 1.  I have been studying using flashcards throughout the block.  However, the block exam is, as foretold, much more case-based than Block 1 exams.  I didn't discover this wonder until a week prior to exams, so that was a bit unfortunate.  I think next block, as opposed to reviewing lectures and key physiology in our weekly Friday afternoon group session, taking cases from this book will be more useful.

So much lost time...