But all I want is a donut...

Well, as promised, this is essentially the long-forgotten dinner diary with a twist. All the recipes are the consistency of watery mashed potatoes. ENJOY!

What is a girl to do??? Chanukkah comes and goes, and I get put on a bloody liquid/puree diet. Great for weight control, terrible for hedonistic enjoyment. I have been scouring the internet for any crumbs (hah!) of hints for foods I will like eating, and came across a wise mom who makes smoothies flavored like pizza, cheeseburgers... etc. You get the idea. She basically incorporates all the ingredients (cooked, purchased, whatever) and serves it in the temperature the muse is meant to be (warm, in the aforementioned examples). I'm not thrilled about her recipes, but I love the ingenuity, and so...

I took this to heart. Mainly because all I've been eating for the past 5 days is thinned out cream of wheat, applesauce, and REALLY thin mashed potatoes and cauliflower.

For the record - THANK GOD FOR CREAM OF WHEAT - it has iron. Which I generally don't have a problem with, as I am a faithful carnivore. HOWEVER, with this mush restriction, it's been a little difficult.

I digress.

I had a craving for a donut. Guess what. DONUTS ARE SOLIDS. who knew? Point is, I wanted one. I needed one. Oh baby , oh baby. (If you can name that movie, I salute you).

This, was my solution.

Donut Milkshake: 

1  texas cinnamon roll (like from a gas station/7-11) I'm pretty sure you could use any pastry esque item you wanted. I was pretty set on the glazed donut type.
2 cups of milk
3 TBS 0% Greek yogurt (for a teeeeny bit of protein)

Blender. GO!
Pour into a large mug and slurp down with glee.

Yayyyyy!

"Foreign Body Reaction"

Somehow, along the timeline that is my life, I managed to swallow a fishbone. Not too large, not too small.... about the size of a sewing pin. Well, in my toddler years, apparently it went through the mouth, passed the throat into the esophagus... and stopped. Couldn't cough it up, couldn't choke it down... and so there it stayed. Eventually, it seems, my body encapsulated it, and moved it back out of the way. Unfortunately, it has since developed a mind of its own, and decided to make a whole lot of trouble for me.

Lately, it tends to become irritated by one thing or another, and then all the tissue surrounding the damn thing becomes edematous (swollen), leading to me having a chronic choking sensation, along with an esophagus with a diameter 1/3 of what it should be. (This is what my GI calls the 'foreign body reaction' within me)

I like to think of it as having the esophagus of a baby bird. Nothing can pass through without me choking, and I can't seem to chew enough times to create a thin enough 'meal' (pardon the pun) to pass through. The last time I had my wonderful stricture dilated, I ended up in the hospital for 8 days, because I had a reactive swelling, that completely closed off my esophagus, and caused me to have immense pain, even with something so simple as swallowing my own saliva .

Sound miserable? IT IS.

Either way, at this point, my GI doc (and a little bit my hero), has put me on a puree / liquid diet ONLY, until  my damn esophagus can be dilated again, but this time in a tertiary care center, in case there are 'complications;' such as a) another swelling reaction or worse: b) a perforation of my esophagus. For those who went through medical school (as I have 3/4 way completed!!! yayyy), that is one of the cardinal 5 sources of chest pain that can kill you.

"In MI, USA, the Aorta dissed PE, and the esophagus ruptured." (that is my mnemonic. (C). )
1. Myocardial Infarction
2. Unstable Angina
3. Aortic Dissection
4. Pulmonary Embolus
5. Esophageal Rupture

Enjoy.

The point is, that I now am stuck eating mush until everyone is sure I can be safely dilated, with professionals in the room who know what they are doing. I.e. after the holidays, when the experienced persons are all back from vacation. Basically - ain't no residents going to be touching this shit... (No offense, future me, and friends).

If any of you have ever been on a 'mush' diet - it's quite unappealing a) to look at and b) to taste. And furthermore, it's REALLY hard to incorporate MEAT! (which, for those of you who DON'T know me that well, is my favorite food group).

I'm not talking protein, like undercooked eggs, or powder, or tofu (ugh), I'm talking RED MEAT FRESH FROM THE COW.

Anyway. the next few posts will be the strange, delicious, or failed recipes that I've managed to create in order to satisfy my picky picky picky taste buds (and iron deficiency).

Love and best dishes, from our kitchen, to yours - pretend that was Paula Deen - that's how I meant it.

The beginning of a new era: the dinner diary

couscous with fresh spinach salad

1 box (near east) couscous
water
1 clove garlic
1 Tbs olive oil
coarse salt
black pepper
1 6oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 tomato
1 cucumber
6 oz. baby spinach
3 heart of palm spears
Craisins (c)

Mince the garlic and add to the water, oil and pinch of salt in a small pan as directed on couscous box - once water is boiling, add the couscous, stir, cover, remove from heat - let stand for 5 minutes.

Dice the tomato, cucumber, and heart of palm. Pour the jar of artichoke hearts, and marinade over the chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Add coarse salt and pepper to taste, Craisins, and 1 tsp lemon juice to the salad, and mix. Toss the baby spinach into the dressed salad.

To serve:
plate couscous in a wide, shallow mound, and serve the salad, and ample dressing, on top. Mix as you eat, and enjoy!

For those of you who are separators... it's o.k. if you don't want to mess up your plate. Just eat the couscous on the side. :-)

From the 'hood to NYC

So - eventful weekend all around - catching up with old friends, re-visiting high school years in all their glory, celebrating an engagement, and oh, witnessing a robbery at gunpoint.

Yes. You read correctly. Sid, Shifra and I were walking up the block after skipping stones and sunning on the Hudson, when we noticed a sign for a clock, christmas and gift shop.

Thinking of checking it out - we see two high school age guys talking on the path into the store (which was lined with wind chimes. Very quaint).  The boys look at us, one kneels on the ground and starts theatrically weeping and bawling. Ok - so we figure they're just kidding around... and then the other boy takes a quick look at us and  BOLTS off. Within seconds a cop is out of his  cruiser, running after him, gun in hand shouting to stop and drop the weapon. WEAPON!? We definitely didn't notice the gun at the time, but it all suddenly makes sense.

THEN - the kid who was crying, runs over to a minivan that screeched to a stop, jumps in, and they take off. Very strange.

So - it all ended well, I suppose - they have the suspect in custody, and as witnesses, we stuck around and provided statements and contact info to the NYPD.

The best part? I mention I'm from out of town, and this is the coolest thing to happen to me - and the cop says, welcome to NY, where are you from? I say - oh downtown Baltimore - he looks at me in surprise and says, gee - it's much worse down there! I'm surprised this is the first you've seen!

Crazy. Welcome to Baltimore. Where the NYPD would rather not be posted.

http://www.hickorydock.com/

I concur

This letter was sent to me via a large e-mail - and I thought it was so true and important to be sent around. 


This pilot 'hit the nail' right on the head in his open letter.
The paper stated that some Muslim doctor is saying we are profiling him because he has been checked three times while getting on an airplane
The following is a letter from a pilot. This well spoken man, who is a pilot with American Airlines, says what is in his heart, beautifully....
Read, absorb and pass this on. 
'YOU WORRY ME!'  By American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco
 I've been trying to say this since 9/11, but you worry me.  I wish you didn't.  I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country.  But you don't blend in anymore.  I notice you, and it worries me. 

I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now.  I don't fully understand their grievances and hate, but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks. 

On September 11, ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country.  They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers. 
The Palestinians celebrated, the Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world.  So, I notice you now. I don't want to be worried.  I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists  But I need your help.  As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist. 

How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim Americans and the Arab/Muslim terrorists in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children? 

The events of September 11th changed the answer.  It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults.  It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me. 
I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know, whether or not you love America .  Do you pledge allegiance to its flag?  Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car?  Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it?  Or do you pray that Allah will destroy it in one of your Jihad's? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords?  A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country?  Are you willing to preserve this freedom by also paying the ultimate sacrifice?  Do you love America ?  If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it. 

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America .  Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you.  I am not interested in any more sympathy.  I am only interested in action.  What will you do for America - our great country - at this time of crisis, at this time of war? 

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets.  I want to hear you chanting 'Allah Bless America '  I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.  

The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize right now in Muslim communities.  You know them. 
You know where they are.  Hand them over to us, now!  But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action.  Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter.  You have disappeared from the streets.  You have posted armed security guards at your facilities.  You have threatened lawsuits.  You have screamed for protection from reprisals. 

The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating.  They seemed more concerned with making sure that the  United States proves who was responsible before taking action.  They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing 'leaders' like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat.   

If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up.  What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good, and pure, and true, when your 'leaders' are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance?  It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if huge numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion.  A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again.  A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide.  A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world.  A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air.  A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth.  A form whose rules are so twisted, that their travelling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam. 

We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us:  Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world.  I want to know where every Arab Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it.  A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. 
I am pleading with you to let me know.  I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance, and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand. Until then.
'YOU WORRY  ME!'  

What's for dinner?

I'd like to start with a GIGANTIC shout-out to my friends Andy and Dalia Dukatz, who hosted a huge Friday night meal and then had so many leftovers they didn't know what to do with them. Being the gracious friend, neighbor, and poor student I am, I helped take some of it off their hands. WELL - long story short - I've been eating a LOT of chicken and rice, and gazpacho (plus some AWESOME cake).

Tonight, I saw someone mention BBQ on their profile page... and needless to say, I got really hungry. I mentioned this to my brother online - and HE said - I am too - I'm ordering Chinese. And then I got even more ravenous. Thus, my search for a sweet and sour sauce recipe began.

Now keep in mind, I kind of fudge measurements, but thanks to the following recipe: I will never pay for Chinese food again. It tastes the same. YUM.

1/3 c. vinegar (apple cider, white, rice... whatever)
3 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs honey
---mix in microwave - safe dish

4 tsp. flour
8 tsp. water
---mix in separate container until smooth

combine the two mixes in the microwave container and zap for 1 minute. Stir, another minute in the microwave, stir again. (you get the picture) Basically... by the time you're done... it looks like you just squeezed out a bunch of clear sweet and sour sauce packets with a panda bear wrapper.

I also added some hot sauce separately on the plate - super delish.
*This makes about 1/2 C. of sauce, thick, awesome for pouring, dipping, glazing, or making 'duck sauce chicken'

On a related note - I am now stuffed to the gills with the cheapest Chinese food I've ever had.

"Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day"

http://www.medicalalumni.org/bulletin/spring_2009/lead2.html

This morning I woke up, checked my e-mail and was planning on rolling out of bed and signing into small groups.  The first subject that caught my eye was "sad news" from a woman in the administrative offices at the school. I figured it would be sad, but I never expected what she had written.

Dr. Larry Anderson - my first medical school professor - passed away this weekend. I am still mostly in shock, and can't fully appreciate what is going on. All I can think is - I had a conversation with him on the corner outside Taylor lecture hall on Friday at 3:45... and I'm so glad that I did.

He was telling me that he was just in Michigan, and I joked - did you get a bell's palsy? Which was one of the first subjects that he spoke to us about, in reference to his home state of Michigan. I continued by telling him I was hoping to incorporate a large part of our class' time together in anatomy lab into my freshman follies skit. When I told him what I had planned, he laughed heartily, and I went on my way to see my preceptor. He
called down the street "have a good weekend!" Excited that I would be able to share my  comedic skit with him the next Thursday, I called back " you too!"

On Saturday, I finalized my sketch, and already had in mind that it would be dedicated to Dr. Anderson - and now I can only mean it more. I hope he'll be watching and laughing up in heaven at his last first year medical class... but by no means the last class to learn from him.