tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3076881896128698632024-03-05T23:24:22.941-05:00The Raveled SkeinBeing a chronicle of this knitter's tangled threadsChristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-38490122374772921142009-02-25T18:39:00.009-05:002009-02-25T19:41:40.682-05:00¿Por qué hay palomas gigantes en todas partes?Week three in Guanajuato and we're starting to feel a bit at home here. There are restaurants we're tried twice now, shop owners who recognize us (it's not hard - we're the two gringas browsing the silver shops <em>constantly</em>), people on the street whose faces look familiar. We're also definitely improving our Spanish by leaps and bounds: I can buy a bus ticket, pose questions, chat about the weather, describe what I did yesterday (learning one of the past tenses has been the academic highlight of the week so far - I'm no longer stuck in the present, which is a linguistic relief), and even - with a bit of thought and some referral to my notes - ask someone what medications they take and if they're short of breath or having chest pain, which is honestly much better than I expected after 13 days of classes.<br /><div><div><br /><div>This week has just been beautiful so far - the sky has been this unbelievable clear blue that makes me wish I painted. I've had to settle for taking lots of photos of flowers.</div><div></div><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306899351091360114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx55LtIe3_jHGMS6kDovEtuU8giu2EjDBiFmVvr-5BZ4uMj96laiP06rCqi8-mjZZLnA5bGVyL5p30ewDmvgrlYz30xncd2zJpgRJu2qGdLq-5YMEopme9qie7PbnyGMf1ZTebn2Xn3bo/s320/Feb2009+174_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> <div>Speaking of flowers, I don't think I've mentioned the bourgainvillea that grows like a weed here. I don't think I'd ever known what bougainvillea looked like, before; I seem to associate it with jasmine and the fictional verandas of 19th-century literature set in the tropics. But it grows everywhere here, from little pots on the roof of the school to great vines that cover walls and buildings. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306886845703642466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXlpknPI13PD4gp53JyF6p9S1Vv6OzhnQGwjTvamW_z_3Ixe4e3CP8Gmkc5802ebWKkqcg0a0cfzvXbo1LygtrXpwMDPfztfuOUxyesXBSkCtM_yt4Ea_W6f75xoEZ7Q1vWgOF4ELETsg/s320/Feb2009+184_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></div></div></div><br /><p>This is one of the potted varieties living on the roof of the school - which, like many of the roofs in Guanajuato, is the equivalent to the backyard of an American house or building. The school's thick stone walls of the school are certainly very insulating, so between classes, most of us walk up to the roof to warm ourselves in the sun for a few minutes. (The hibisicus bud, blurry in the foreground, was actually what I was trying to photograph against an out-of-focus bougainvillea background, but my little point-and-shoot camera was not quite up to the task.)</p><p>Yesterday, Kristen and I visited the Museo del Pueblo de Guanajuato, which was another 90 minute endeavor, but was again really interesting. The upper levels of the museum showcased artwork - we think - from all over Guanajuato state, beginning with anonymous pieces of religious artwork from probably c. 16th century (nothing was dated) to painfully postmodern deconstructionist works from the local university students. (There were series of photos of Guanajuato's plazas filled with giant pigeons and men in tutus, a close-up painting of a woman in lithotomy, presumably postpartum from the gore, and (our favorite) a photo of a fork with all but the middle tine bent down, entitled, in English, "Fork You!".)</p><p>The near-modern artwork was the best (including some beautiful stained glass windows either designed by or commemorating Siqueiros , but the museum itself was gorgeous, too, with the typical open-air courtyards:</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306894566851007826" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 246px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMk6e6xBEaPDLBsFfhHOuso21BRWsIBoNGhePtMJwqnJJ_TLuhdRuM6SQw_Mq_Jaq6B9AzV8JkwgTwA9aCaqaR4sxsOaPttKUZhD2jFrJ6hOORlkx8lAzKc7PgyUn5GWD4HEAfczlWPdQ/s320/Feb2009+223_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> (framed here by antique wrought-iron fences):</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306886850957584882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFWEQeHwFoFGN_TPUMtkzFL7DAp_24MIOtgwdU8tMWVh3Jw5QNHW6rNgBEvvQOJLiHB7TSUv01XMgSQXJ7bJ9b1S0OHb-czigeii52kkFqFAoQVZFcv_SY2Od1NIWHJVsMM4CMUwmyXE/s320/Feb2009+201_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>and a chapel, adorned with some omnipresent cacti:</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306886856706119394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizdCc4-STiUZr4y8uhBv_Mek9NvBfASP2YpsiJI0RUvBujfFvYA6ULzl9uxjEdbVTXktNynNzM4At6D7gigMYUFAifKslophV_IbEbpwTShNoy9gvzwAG-17XDHcTbuO6FXUV4AScb8jQ/s320/Feb2009+215_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>The first floor of the museum is dedicated to miniatures, apparently a longstanding artistic tradition in Guanajuato. We saw copper pans and tea kettles that were maybe 6 mm across, all sorts of animals and people less than a centimeter high carved from wood and bone or woven from corn husks, entire dioramas of homes and shops that fit in boxes maybe two inches by three. Some pieces were so small they were displayed in their cases behind microscopes, in order to actually be able to see them.</p><p>Before we went into the museum, though, we wandered up the <em>callejone</em> next to the university, where we saw this truck parked:</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306886852851180594" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieSr4LHQgwy1Chyphenhyphen7ObSBia2dH_ZygTSi-nWvofa9Sakp8rCtpXAwJ2RD4TERr1mAppfCMPQCEtoGChvX4cCJHJzNAcfWlLHwKl82nNi4FCrsxhm8DGICpxtue096mJaWukP5jGtIRjWaQ/s320/Feb2009+192_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>We were amused by the hand-lettering that designated its officiality. We also ran into the <em><a href="http://www.guanajuato.travel/Callejoneadas/Default.aspx">callejonadas</a></em> again last night; they're university students who dress up in period costume and lead tourists around the city, singing. We had been under the impression they only did this on weekend evenings, but they were out in full force last night. It may just be that the burro carrying the wine they give out only accompanies them on the weekends.</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5306894569094398050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 232px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw8eurVuJRJGBoJ5hBQOL6AvgkB2GXUy4QkEiO67dYFysn9kTLV0obzqZYHNSs0qQfMcZ4R2-B4M06VU09zYKFcb7uXqB2ItCpU3refV9r3eM6LiaquRKHfZSv16Dl4HltzNhNxUtA5w8/s320/Feb2009+233_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></p>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-63184589994867863182009-02-21T17:39:00.007-05:002009-02-21T19:31:18.988-05:00Los perros ladran y los gallos cacareanThere's lots more on Mexican cuisine and tourism to relate from this week, but today I thought I'd write a little bit about what it's been like living in Guanajuato. Our slice of Mexico here is truly a sensual experience - last weekend, when I happened to wake up early and snuck down to the second-floor patio to knit and listen to music while waiting for the day to start, I had the odd sensation - one I've never had in the US - that I was cutting myself off from the world the second I placed my headphones in my ears. We've been learning this city by walking its streets, conversing with its inhabitants, enjoying its food, taking in its views, but I hadn't quite realized the depth of <em>sound</em> in Guanajuato until I closed myself off from it. I ended up just sitting at the table in our hostel's indoor courtyard and listening to the sounds of the city instead: the trucks driving by, recorded advertisements blaring, the hum of the water heater, the hammering of construction next door, the roosters crowing.<br /><br />(An aside about the roosters: one of the first things we noticed about Guanajuato - and really, how could we miss it? - was that around 2 or 3 am, the roosters start crowing all over the city and don't finish until well after 9 am. I hadn't seen any chickens anywhere in our travels, but I assumed they were kept in the courtyards or on the roofs of private homes, away from the public eye. One day in coversation class, I mentioned that I was tired because the neighborhood animals had been particularly vocal the evening before, and my teacher, who has been studying at the university and living in Gunanajuato for years, chimed in that the roosters were always their cue to start really cramming for the next day's exam, because they started up like clockwork around 2 am. But furthermore, he added, he had never been able to tell where the roosters lived - he's visited homes of friends who grew up here, has eaten at nearly all of the city's restaurants, and knows the town well, and in his years here, he's never seen a rooster, either. So their exact location is still a mystery, but their presence is daily noticed.)<br /><br />This richness of sound was particularly apparent today - without a trip planned by the school, we had decided to be a bit lazy and to just wake up without setting any alarm, but the city served as an alarm for us; around 9 this morning, PRI (the formerly ruling political party) began loudly demostrating in the plaza next door, and a few minutes later, the workers who have been fixing the hostel's plumbing all week (we've had a few hours without hot water, but it's so far been a painless experience for us) began the day's work of cutting pipe, smashing walls and hammering brackets. We had fallen asleep the night before only when the positive-feedback loops of the neighborhood dogs barking from their respective rooftops and music of the cover band playing in the bar next door had begun to fade; it's been gradually made clear to us that the city sets the schedule of its inhabitants, and not the other way around.<br /><br />We've actually been enjoying this lapse into the local habits and conceptions of time. We've been eating our main meal at two or three in the afternoon; we've been becoming accustomed to working our errands around the shops' unpredictable hours. It's been pleasant to step away from constantly referring to a clock or a watch and let myself be timed by the bells for classes, by sunset for going out in the evenings, by the brightness of the sun through the windows to wake in the mornings. It's been restful.<br /><br /><div align="center">~</div><br />This week, we had been kept fairly busy by classes, but today, we've been enjoying a slower pace: we breakfasted at the student hang-out across from the university, and slowly wended our way through the opposite side of town - as yet unexplored by us - to visit the Museo de las Momias. The museums here are small, able to be fully appreciated in an hour or two, which we've been enjoying. We visited Diego Rivera's family home nearby the university earlier this week; today we took in the bizarre and morbid entirety of the town's mummy collection inside of two hours. We weren't able to take photos in the Diego Rivera museum, whose collection consisted mostly of his youthful attempts and sketches of famous finished works that hang elsewhere, but there were a few pieces that really stood out, an oil painted entitled The Forge among them, an image of which I can't seem to find online. (In typical fashion, the souvenir shop at the museum was closed - "Tomorrow," the woman who sold our tickets promised, but when we walked by, it was closed the next day, too.)<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.guanajuatocapital.com/ingles/Amomia.htm">Museo de las Momias</a> was fascinating, if a bit gruesome; though visitors are allowed and encourged to take photos, I'm not really sure I want to post them on the blog. (I've uploaded them to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/13128488@N05/sets/72157614193274243">my Flickr pool here</a>, but I just didn't want to have anyone stumble upon them unexpectedly.) Instead, I'll share a photo of the decor of a local bar, which is an excellent example of the Day of the Dead artwork and sculpture that is present everywhere here, even four months after the holiday has occurred. (They even sell bride-and-groom skeleton cake toppers for wedding cakes. You'll all be happy to hear that I passed on that souvenir.) In the setting of this almost celebratory attitude towards death, the museum seemed a little less morbid than it would in the United States.<br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5305396296593516514" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEa-c2AkM6EAE-j6l7uF5Vl8pFxfKIVmk3KwZEmFFPlWU6C0-zyPbnkHCELx7T2qMlQ9-6J3XMsCaMvAQivsrnMwcuVbTtiB1WhwHn0BQy4PXWP1Ns7BOaKbcWPs3lTbUmNrMi0pRVvY/s320/Feb2009+129_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>Museo de las Momias was created when bodies began getting exhumed from the local cemetery to make room for new inhabitants; by Mexican law, all corpses must be buried or interred. (In recent years, as cemetery crowding has become more acute, Guanajuato residents are permitted to remain buried for five years, and if the family cannot afford the subsequent upkeep fees, their bodies are exhumed and cremated.) But in the heat and low humidity of the region, many corpses had simply desiccated, and particularly fine examples of this escape cremation and instead are added to the museum's collection. Many mummies had plaques mounted near them stating their name and age, the date and reason of their death, and pointing out - in an often tongue-in-cheek way - their unique characteristics (blood stains from the fatal stabbing, cyanosis from death by drowning, particularly traditional burial clothing). To close, a direct transcription of one of these plaques (the translations into English, while appreciated, were haphazard at best):</p><p>"I was almost 70 years old when I came to rest at the Santa Paula Cemetery, but on January 20, 1973, I was found as a statue of eternity. I became part of the second group of mummified men, women and children, since before me there were others. I rest in a white and smooth nightgown that accompanies me in this eternal dream."</p>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-75907673288275698602009-02-17T11:07:00.014-05:002009-02-17T22:37:06.235-05:00Estamos aprendiendo a cocinar comida mexicanaFirst off, a tourism update: yesterday, Kristen and I climbed up to visit <a href="http://www.donquijote.org/guanajuato/info.legends2.asp">El Pipila</a>, the statue that overlooks the city, depicting a miner who fought in the first battle for independence. (Click on the link, if you're interested - his story is kind of cool.) Since the statue is at the top of the hill (Guanajuato, you may recall, is built in the valley between two small mountains):<br /><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303970948700702802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgonsSAFEkk0n6VPuidyAXWkQPrlxGu4Qr9XyR6a8x43ypvJv84COFU2Jso-YIEfD8F71vanqD89WbQlH1fZq39cQ7M4lx-uOmBOiBo7ILjctHvtdfjVTWNArhMldamhyphenhyphenmEZ04KrPcwWA8/s320/Feb2009+105_compressed.jpg" border="0" />we had beautiful views of the city, the photos of which really don't do it justice. I was longing for a panoramic lens. But here's a view of the city anyway, where you can see <em>el jardin</em> (green triangle in bottom right corner), the main basilica were we heard Mass on Sunday (big yellow building) and the university (above the church, kind of looks like a castle):<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303970383352780306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMIXQ52CUj_qFXqmA9HUVGPo9LGiUOegY7GxJiyypao89ff3bl2zH0TCRNaPqoec3EOIBBg64e4ADDbwtMaldWIDtfZYKaXcSVSqQ13tUtUrXYZ8677v9NG6-cInkRvrcRcUC_1nYDyu0/s320/Feb2009+103_compressed.jpg" border="0" />It was too close to take a good distance shot of El Pipila, and the sun was kind of back-lighting it anyway, so maybe this weekend, I'll take a picture of the statue from the town: he kind of hovers over the city. But here's what he looks like up close:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303970382017494514" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIN31WY9KngR3uaQTvpicP0Spwctrv3Yir6_POJ9-Fb3tNIPTVqt766gep-jp8KA7X8uo2dWhC7WEFLpCRb-HuoDh_yu4tOEx_hPIzdUNQP003L_lfgymksdUUxsTNZ6mqohB8npoonks/s320/Feb2009+099_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> Yesterday I mentioned that we started taking cooking classes this week. The school runs these classes every week, and last week everything they cooked smelled so good that we just had to sign up. Also, the cooking facilities in our hostel are adequate but limited, and we were getting a little tired of eating out for every lunch and dinner. I'm going to be blogging about these classes this week, partly to share with you all and partly so I have the recipes written down somewhere! We didn't think of photographing our food yesterday (which is a shame, because it looked - and was - delicious), but hopefully we'll remember for the rest of the week.<br /><br />Our instructor, Ana (who also works at the hostel in the mornings) is our instructor, and yesterday we chose four dishes we wanted to make from her list. (You can look forward to descriptions and recipes of enchiladas, gorditas and sopa de chayote (a squash that's very popular here), among other dishes I can't remember now.) Monday's dish was <em>sopes de pollo</em>, thick cornmeal tortillas shaped into little shallow bowls and filled with beans, chicken and cheese, and topped with salsa. We'll be making these when we get back for sure - they were totally fabulous. (Recipes below.)<br /><br />Today's dish was not nearly as exciting, although it was very good: we browned chicken pieces in butter and mustard, then added boiled chopped vegetables (broccoli, carrots, chayote (a popular kind of squash here), summer squash and corn) to the dish and simmered it all in a sauce of roma tomatoes, two chicken boullion cubes, some garlic, some salt and some water, blended until pureed. Potatoes are traditionally added to the mix, but one of the women in the class is allergic to potatoes, so we didn't add them today. Definitely comfort food:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303970325611016402" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwlYAjF9vlLt7B0psDY8GaWrRCm9jbDSGv1kfaW0B7yk7IdPp_DSq32y_NP_xpmKBNiWaMckSf5MjH0MGI1oPeT7_prRlJpHrXqE3pzXrhdTHg3RNVrhNB8u3OxRK6fE2kNmBjwV5QKM/s320/Feb2009+113_compressed.jpg" border="0" />Our next culinary adventure is going to be tomorrow's breakfast. After dinner tonight, we finally broke down and bought a jar of <em>cajeta</em>, the goat's milk caramel that everyone seems to love here. We had been told numerous times that <em>cajeta</em> is eaten for breakfast with <em>pan tostado</em>, which I had mentally translated as toasted bread, or just simply toast. When we stopped at a bakery this evening, and inquired as the best bread with which to eat <em>cajeta</em> (and, incidentally, this question was posed and answered entirely in Spanish, which I was really excited about), we were directed to the grocery store next door, in order to buy this:<br /><br /><strong><em><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303970372400996418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf67BgL0g-loHTT-IB60nYeEky6qCwpt9_qYyz654dAf1lZ-vESJO1w4Ms_I0w_OADpPw-s3vtsjjizRsO3hX0tWE0bwd2J_hde7VcqyDT3nbU2c4LH4y4kNFzuAgM8UcYBpExDUd43NQ/s320/Feb2009+114_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></em></strong><br />You may notice two things about this item. One: the brand name is BIMBO, which frankly I'm finding pretty hilarious. Two: it's pre-toasted wonder bread in a bag. We'll let you know how this goes.<br /><strong><em>_________________________________</em></strong><br /><strong><em></em></strong><br /><strong><em>Sopes de pollo</em></strong><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">(not to be confused with <em>sopa de pollo</em>, as almost happened at dinner the other night. Good enunciation, I've found, is key.) </span><br /><br />For the tortillas:<br />Some <strong>finely ground cornmeal</strong> (it looked like maybe half a kilo?) mixed with enough water to form a soft, pliable dough.<br /><br />Take approx 2-3 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball; flatten evenly by hand or with Ana's awesome tortilla press. Cook disks in a dry hot pan until slightly browned on both sides, flipping once, then place over an open flame until they puff up slightly, cooking on both sides. Carefully flatten the tortillas and scrunch the edges up to form a shallow lip, to hold the fillings.<br /><br />Fill the <em>sopes</em> with a <strong>refried beans</strong>, <strong>shredded chicken,</strong> and<strong> shredded lettuce</strong>. Drizzle some <strong>crema</strong> over top, and crumble on some <em><strong>queso ranchero</strong>.</em> Finish with a dollop of either <em>salsa verde</em> or <em>salsa roja</em>.<br /><br /><strong><em>Salsa Roja</em></strong><br /><br />10-12 chiles pullas, dried (there will be some coming home with us; they're at the market for 25 pesos per quarter kilo)<br />2 cloves garlic, peeled<br />8 tomatillos, halved or quartered<br />salt to taste<br />water<br /><br />Toast the dried chiles over an open flame, until lightly browned, about 30 seconds on each side. Pull off the stem and toss into a blender whole. Saute the tomatillos in a touch of oil until fairly well blackened. Add to the blender and throw in the garlic. Add some salt and enough water to cover; blend the salsa until it's very finely minced. Consistency should be very liquid; the salsa should be able to be poured easily.<br /><br /><strong><em>Salsa Verde</em></strong><br />8-10 tomatillos, halved or quartered<br />8 fresh serrano chiles, stems cut off but otherwise whole<br />1/2 bunch fresh cilantro<br />2 cloves garlic, peeled<br />salt<br />water </p><p>Place tomatillos and chiles in a small pot with enough water to cover; boil briskly for several minutes. Roughly chop the cilantro. Place the chiles, tomatillos, cilantro and garlic in a blender and add enough of the cooking water to cover. Blend until a similar consistency as the salsa roja is reached.</p>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-28178288099059512612009-02-16T20:53:00.007-05:002009-02-16T21:21:02.986-05:00Un buen fin de semanaWe’ve been having a lot of fun since my last post here! On Saturday, the school ran an excursion to Dolores Hildalgo, Atotonilco and San Miguel de Allende. Lots of history in these towns, too: Dolores Hildalgo was the small town to which Miguel Hildalgo, revolutionary priest, was banished after he began preaching against the church and against Spain. Instead of quietly living out his life in this tiny mountain town, however, on September 16, 1810, Padre Hildalgo famously delivered his <em>grito</em> (I’m unclear on the etymology, but it was a speech calling for Mexico’s independence from Spain) from the town’s main church and then led his army of farmers and ranchers through the mountains and into Guanajuato, where they fought the first battle of Mexico’s independence. The emancipation from Spain took another ten years, and Hildalgo was killed in the first year of fighting, but he and Ignacio Allende are revered here as the fathers of Mexican independence.<br /><br />Here’s the inside of the church where Hildalgo preached and delivered <em>el grito </em>(my exterior shots are kind of boring):<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303581485343104882" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdImyTFnwfERLyaq3Qx08X-FUaQhd2u7gmbZcefIqzIuUizEmFVF33VIGXCJq74oW1_rYryDuATfU2gqayMaiu9hSjK1Jq01tHig9ybzdyQb3ZbrfziTLg0YkDc4805Hhm3QcNRxt7Pho/s320/Feb2009+012_compressed.jpg" border="0" /><photo><br />Nowadays, Dolores Hildago is perhaps equally well-known for its beautiful pottery (which was started as an industry by Miguel Hildalgo himself):<br /><br /><photo><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303581487514277538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrVaI5ljzVAFlvKKWpMVJFgqyD4LTfey4WDG69MynK7EC0_mkLfuXR68WhSnFhahVUkxfPjW6F9MNRzN5KuhJLKElBBHNnMaNtwnKnyfxjymajmo65_0-ImFge_wFBIYuthIWAuYhp0B8/s320/Feb2009+022_compressed.jpg" border="0" />Gifts may have been purchased. (Sadly, we decided that what we really wanted to buy [the unbelievably beautiful sinks] were just a little too bulky to take back to the States. Also neither of us have a home in which to install an intricately painted sink.)<br /><br />Locally, the town is also famous for producing bizarre flavors of ice cream. Unfortunately, both Kristen and I were so engrossed in trying different flavors that we forgot to take a picture of the carts, but the ice creams are sold from carts off to the side of the main <em>jardin</em> (literally “garden” but here its meaning is closer to “town square”). We sampled many different flavors, among them avocado, pine nut (that was just me), cajeta and coffee; I ended up getting mole and strawberry and Kristen opted for cheese and chocolate.<br /><br />Then we climbed back in our van (driven by Michael, from Texas) and traveled onward to Atotonilco, a very small town whose main claim to fame seems to be an <a href="http://www.experience-san-miguel-de-allende.com/atotonilco.html">18th century church </a>where the priests still practice self-flagellation. (There were souvenir whips for sale at the booths outside. It was a little odd, to say the least.) The church, while in need of restoration, was lovely inside, with numerous frescos and statues of the saints and the Virgin Mary.<br /><br /><photos><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303581491542793730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFPaLdbgYc7zTJvhNxxhICNZGf0xYCEgFseTfPO_Gtwynyb9_Y3A6S1JyKers7mC9Wx6FMrdj_TILYvYlVP0gDv4tkhlMCEp_G1jTg1onIQLE8Od-biNPtAZLsplMqRI_mXc7kKz-LpI/s320/Feb2009+028_compressed.jpg" border="0" />We enjoyed a lunch of pork tacos (grilled pork served family-style by the kilo, with a stack of tortillas on the side) at an outdoor restaurant right down the street from the church, and then continued on to San Miguel de Allende, the birthplace of Mexico’s other father of the revolution, Ignacio Allende.<br /><br />San Miguel was beautiful, if a little dusty, and is home to a thriving artists’ community. The institute de Belles Artes is located in a former monastery and contains the most beautifully tropical monastery garden I’ve ever seen:<br /><br /><photo><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303581491963495778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfDDfm6_b3TlyFmseMfK9m_az5EAbvYmH4DLlmcdBsjCuwJYqn4Z-9VL8z0U_jndKKKOIfYTPGzC38MSKKjoyaOcpgeeli7NOm_Npx6DGEjMVh-RwvNxbddng71hGqxB7ssYjLUGksS0/s320/Feb2009+042_compressed.jpg" border="0" />Mexican artist and revolutionary political activist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Alfaro_Siqueiros">David Siqueiros</a> painted here, and upon his death left a mural unfinished in a ground floor room in the institute, which is preserved today:<br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303583026285607394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZABOibshFQoKMLwF7FQZs7EUOAcODnpHpLSAet_vyj6qOxwn8VpB9vUqNlLFgU4ghahXfKsHlrAfqg9fcUr796aEOxx3KCq8G6IlKCZVUMyK_NQxyNLyjuOjDA7MBU_cc987DM0nRqJ4/s320/Feb2009+044_compressed.jpg" border="0" /><br /><photo>We also visited the city's main church:<br /><br /><photo><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303584232222876546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7rr1j2Xu5Cs11E-roYhvIPE72RwcYDk5zURHq6UU82QGIdClFU1LLthkSgVQaLNIPpjCj8gAELvzOHRatgXLmjkpoj3gRvVxQqIyhN-6lp6Vgh_2rmRThhzblv2xdInIZgQzzDAkInbE/s320/Feb2009+063_compressed2.jpg" border="0" />(where I really liked the floor):<br /><br /><photo><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303584226406070034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtyBCQ7ZcBksyXui-QH2QFvumdD1ckBf7-97I2EbSLqd8_OsGN6YqTh8rIHXzjfFKPPn4oEoWJfqCtTo4IyXk85nfRrwOMRs3UkXWcFI6lqCSqSV_Iu39YCGBuSPlBjQ4roZ86NH98dIc/s320/Feb2009+059_compressed.jpg" border="0" /><br />(and the ceiling, judging from my pictures, but here's a picture of the whole church, more or less):<br /><br /><photo><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303583028713542274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ILZ_hZsyLfIInVkfH9u7SRHFwyGl4Lfw7uXeIoFkZpQVV0iDaOA36yoAQwdyhwU5Cdh52m-LNJ6ZN7gO8vbzSO2W09dBsaa-83sBo15CMXkxpJ6eLBhodP0vlWZmKOCKlyFo9s2qg0E/s320/Feb2009+053_compressed.jpg" border="0" /><br />We wandered through <em>el jardin</em>:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303583017742397730" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6PkfYXapaFzAC3aR0awTql5k9bVj2k2tJXgMT8MyZBectWDOhtzsf9-oO_fWo4QajbR0VTjjCfiYRgdyKU6ZDKmfPLh56Sg5OvZvBT5SJClUrz9W3hpaMpC3FLaDULlz8lWRSZh4R9PU/s320/Feb2009+066_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> And around some of the streets:<br /><br /><p><photo><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303583021238384834" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Si4uHXobbZUq83PFKmv3sZ9hFI__rdEX_TNDiQrT_nihOYORsV_jqSMw5q4H_tqkdCsrQHQsrHFtB_6EWcrhLpjHcqWS0YEZKIBWNcWOqm-VbVdrsZnC1puI5N2q3u918CoTje6RfW8/s320/Feb2009+065_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> But, truth be told, we spent a fair part of the afternoon perusing the stalls at the extensive artists’ markets.<br /><br />We drove back to Guanajuato just in time to see the sun set over the city as we returned.<br /><br />Yesterday was spent mostly lazily, reading, knitting and catching up on our neglected notes. We did have brunch out, where we tried molletas (refried beans and chorizo on toast, a popular breakfast item); afterwards we heard Mass at the city’s main church. (We may have heard Mass, but unfortunately I’m not sure we understood any of it: the priest spoke very fast.)<br /><br />Today was the second week of classes, and we also had our first cooking class, but more on that tomorrow. ¡Hasta luego!<br /><br />P.S. As if this post weren’t long enough, I have one last story to share. Friday night, we wandered around town, got some dinner, drank some margaritas, and watched the university singers, but the highlight of the evening was Kristen asking a gentleman leading several burros (a common method of transporting goods around Guanajuato) if we could take pictures of his burros. Very gravely, he shook his head, then burst out laughing and told us that of course we could. We took our photos and as we were walking away, we realized that our request was probably equivalent to asking a gardener in the United States if we could photograph his wheelbarrow. We enjoyed the laugh at our own expense all evening. And truthfully, we enjoyed the pictures, too:</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303581477555535362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibXpNrqitSEM-ub-YzrM61UOV8eibTm1qVnhfWO3KTTRtERfUf4gJyhvSfR-ejKKxscuEzOBpFZQIWVSiGDgLaG13D6F9s7n6YmObwUvciQdAlM8nmAHvK84ifMrNijs7BT3e4W6O5oQI/s320/Feb2009+007_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></p>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-79145541010668182412009-02-13T13:09:00.002-05:002009-02-13T13:53:12.410-05:00Mañana, vamos a San MiguelGuanajuato continues to be charming. Kristen and I have started to adopt the local meal schedule, as my classes end at 3 pm and we're usually at school from 9 am until then. According to my grammar teacher, Mexicans traditionally eat five meals a day, with the largest being <em>la comida</em> at 3 or 4 pm. Therefore all the local restaurants serve their largest meals around 3 in the afternoon. Yesterday, we tried the prix-fixe menu at one of the restaurants on the main square, which was delicious: green beans <em>criollos </em>(which translates, supposedly, as "creole" but was green beans and scrambled eggs), mushroom and chili soup, grilled chicken and sugared plaintains with rum sauce and ice cream. <em>Muy rico.</em> (We didn't eat again until breakfast this morning!)<br /><br />After <em>la comida</em>, we somehow found the energy to wander over to the Museo de Alhondiga de Granaditas, where we foundered our way through the mostly-Spanish-language plaques describing the history of Guanajuato. The building used to be the seat of Spanish government back in the 19th century, and was the site of the first battle of the Mexican Revolution. It's amazing how little world history I've learned - I had no idea, for example, that Guanajuato was kind of like Boston during the American Revolution: they had lots of money and resources here, from the silver trade, and when the Spanish started taxing their silver exhorbitantly, they revolted. The museum also had examples of pre-colonization artwork, which was beautiful - and clearly still a popular style, as we saw an 800 year old vase that was painted almost identically to the lamp in our hostel, which we found amusing.<br /><br />Since I don't have any new pictures to share today, here's a written bit of local color: there's an old man who sits on the street just down from our hostel, playing his guitar and singing, seemingly all day long - he's there when we walk to school and he's there when we've passed by in the evenings. He seems to prefer American/English-language songs; so far we've heard him singing Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, show tunes and once, I think, a Britney Spears song. But it's pretty clear that he doesn't actually speak English: all the syllables run together into this mix of sound that sort of resembles English. It's a bit of a challenge every morning to identify the song he's singing. I don't usually give money to street performers, but I think before I leave I'll have to send at least a few pesos his way - so far, he's been a good diversion in the mornings.<br /><br />Tomorrow (if more people sign up to meet the minimun group size), the school will running an excursion to San Miguel de Allende, a neighboring town about an hour away known for its artistic community and, I hear, some truly beautiful hot springs. We'll also be visiting Dolores Hilalgo, which ostensibly has some sort of historical significance but, by the comments of our teachers and other students, is mainly memorable for the odd flavors of ice cream produced there, such as avocado, tequila, cactus and pork-skin. I'm not sure I'm adventurous enough to brave the pork-skin ice cream, but if the trip happens, I'm sure I'll manage to bring back a report about one of the other flavors.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-42678025978293591212009-02-11T13:12:00.007-05:002009-02-11T13:38:47.071-05:00La ciudad es muy divertidaJust wanted to share a few pictures of some buildings around Guanajuato - last night's post was getting a little long! This is the street our school is on (it's the yellow building on the right):<br /><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301606166849678306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBHRLhs7qSq4HObshvAtnqNMYX6yWMxhanlXfAZo07jLFNaQUpU7N0G2ndOkxAQHLCoQndUyPEErwYNad7KGkCe3k6t14caYnmsBMQhB0oPyevp07g66eikPLeOghfZLHXEHEHGKmcOck/s320/Jan2009+027%C2%AD_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> </p><p>This is one of the many plazas in Guanajuato, Plaza de la Paz:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301606166856670354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS01fmbqxb0CLjqwOp-Kccum6D4e2O0Nx2_g4m4GxzQg3-fg72OoAEDJAEmvs9eCtjWuIuV-3WPzey1owmzJ86lcRcRGXARqFQ3_437Bbfax2NqWoQgo7_KmxeDtTBlCgMGaB6xG-1xoA/s320/Jan2009+045_compressed.jpg" border="0" /><br />The basilica of Guanajuato is on this square:</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301607726418946466" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbAngSEjaFNxxXo976jNDrW00j_7wWjswiAvT_HIBsAXcDv-lgWnw7quTEhrlr_3jL-AHUtB44k0-I5iAtRTz0GCQsMkSXGd0BvwmG6p9oj9FWhnfaInPXY2A4KMrCWddLTteK1mepPtU/s320/Jan2009+046_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> As is the little place we ate lunch on Monday:</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301607728468885090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyTZRMTL_7fa_8iamSQKdN-gWwFcGjM10guR88G0RSNOK1WAggciE7Qs0GiiRtK9JbuvQok3j_HOKsCNdx5YYk37aAaSJCpN0BtTsA-QmDbAC3Gb6OoV-NdnFi_1VVJ-a5Gl72aKNV72g/s320/Jan2009+049_compressed.jpg" border="0" /><br /></p><p>We're going out tonight to watch the Mexico vs USA football game at a restaurant with some other people from the school, which should be a lot of fun. (We had to promise to cheer for Mexico, but since I don't even know who plays for the US, I felt okay about that.)</p><p>The main adventure this morning was the yogurt I had bought last night for breakfast: piña-apio-nopal. I knew "piña" was pineapple, and thought, "How bad could the rest be?" After tasting the bright-green yogurt, the dictionary came out, and I discovered that my breakfast was pineapple-celery-cactus yogurt. Not quite as bad as it sounds, as it turns out, but certainly a unique flavor, to say the least.</p><p>We're also getting used to the sound of roosters crowing every morning, and all the dogs in the city (and there seem to be lots of them!) barking every night.</p><p>¡Hasta manaña!</p>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-18542625318182495122009-02-10T13:16:00.015-05:002009-02-10T22:42:08.172-05:00¡Hola! Me llamo Christina y soy de Estados Unidos<div><div><div><div><div>So, I'm not going to even attempt to catch up in any meaningful way from the last time I posted here (residency interviews: done; NaNoWriMo: epic fail, but I'm okay with that; knitted: two sweaters, a shawl, most of a pair of socks; holidays: amazing; current educational state: ready to graduate; wedding: mostly planned). However, I do want to start posting again, in order to chronicle this next month.<br /><br />I'm currently in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanajuato,_Guanajuato">Guanajuato, Mexico</a>, studying Spanish with my friend Kristen (from med school) at <a href="http://www.escuelamexicana.com/">Escuela Mexicana</a>. We arrived on Sunday, and have already gotten a feel for the city. There are about 150,000 residents, and the city is full of plazas, churches and open-air restaurants. There's actually no car traffic in the historic center of the city; instead, all car traffic is diverted to underground tunnels that run beneath the city. </div><br /><br /><div></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301378407028180178" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRFODCznlPOhL8WfTB7Hb1yqn_vFXHhE52aazMD3mj9CnKWJk4PmVkFVI0kT3bxxRoxjvHk_iIkYlGwtnAZKt4eDn4SGH62GsCqH9QHQlCvhn0rgfEeeyVC5YwU-2rUM31RYvrHrwahyY/s320/Jan2009+043_compressed.jpg" border="0" />Beneath those tunnels, <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8lC3mlw5iN7QSuUIT49MSz9LPH1CTRu90ieyVM5ceuyWT-hslHyk3otRGiC0iEjbEl9zuMHHZs77TxfJhXtY-YqBQkafpiMLxYto-vYsP9aRupE3oEjxLO64eknvOzuet5GVLaFp4Dc/s1600-h/Jan2009+029_compressed.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301377601807214290" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8lC3mlw5iN7QSuUIT49MSz9LPH1CTRu90ieyVM5ceuyWT-hslHyk3otRGiC0iEjbEl9zuMHHZs77TxfJhXtY-YqBQkafpiMLxYto-vYsP9aRupE3oEjxLO64eknvOzuet5GVLaFp4Dc/s320/Jan2009+029_compressed.jpg" border="0" /></a>our tour guide told us yesterday, are drainage tunnels, as Guanajuato is built in a valley. The surrounding homes and businesses tower over the central city, which is gorgeous<strong>, </strong>but apparently the city had quite the problems with flooding until around the 1920s, when the drainage tunnels were constructed.<br /><br />But so far we have mostly seen our hostel (Casa Mexicana) and the school. The school is a large building off a small side street open to pedestrian travel only, and there are several stories of classrooms. It's really a beautiful building - here's the foyer: </div><div><br /><br /></div><photo><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301378397317975314" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGfw7T3aKBSch-0HLJg_i2WfqtdYZIh_M0Kbs1PoOqOI3njDpc1R2JSQbDGqBLVZvddeBLgsFH0_PvMUdeOzgxq28WNf-SfEH-TYTkNpeLAxVFPSJeVYmUFErDb9UqJlTVTSJ-crvnYcU/s320/Jan2009+031%C2%AD_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> Just off to the right of the foyer is a large room with tables, chairs and (all importantly) wireless internet access; this will be where most of my posts are made from.<br /><br />The best part of the school, however, is the roof:<br /><br /><photos><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301378398414726946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzKnBV0gALHUM_YwgobIcDkNl7oAXQ8bJ6MxUCdSUmHhDKigA0ivfhtimckuWxBKNi8JdIma7HHxsxR167aS8Yesq9g9K58NZJkofNBco8l4iOphKFb1PLvcRew8vPID0ARPSEWRs1_vs/s320/Jan2009+030_compressed.jpg" border="0" /> The buildings here are neither heated nor cooled, but constructed to hold heat in winter and keep cool in summer. They are certainly good at keeping cool, at least, and this morning I very much appreciated being able to duck up onto the roof between classes to warm up in the sun!<br /><br />We're staying at a hostel run by the school, so all the people staying there are also taking classes. The women who run the hostel are very lovely, but they speak no English, and, between the two of us, Kristen and I speak very little Spanish, so we've been mostly miming our interactions. It's been working out so far.<br /><br />Our room is actually very lovely (if also a bit chilly):<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301378401968428210" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidkIrhMMHutXO9JPeojUuMtQXPvTprqhK0e4vkdMSzeGAS68dUXYVadYzOPAwh_WRlMwCd-ibdKO-1BIzta7giOv_-hDfsvcxoBLAdFCor933G2Zo0wQloCWdQqXWv_ZOxz4sU2ut5lFw/s320/Jan2009+032_compressed.jpg" border="0" />We have a beautiful window overlooking the interior courtyard of the hostel: </div><div> </div><div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301379475086659058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZjaRFtgdalYogqT_rzHRnfrHj6n2N15yp-V8exU-CgDfsdCzeh_9cViQczDddPoOcKCvQRXI02hlgoX4ejLHxOp5xUiGiE4V5KSvjByJcJYpuab5xlQcr3tGOOQbhCHhS1HEWQAhaZtE/s320/Jan2009+035_compressed.jpg" border="0" /><br />And our bathroom, while spartan with regards to light fixtures, is large and equipped with running water that is (so far) consistently warm, so overall, I'm very happy with our accommodations. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301379471948182450" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlx6hJDsCIWQZMfL8AfLkbcm4nh3Txd3cevtqPaWVMaqR-ENL_OoGYO9arB9d2W7bmRFqLipBYny5VthiECRpCr27kATDSgJeIG5Bac8tZ_maugHDK9X9Gv2DmYDWIFEtjHHbrWfP-rEw/s320/Jan2009+036_compressed.jpg" border="0" /><photo>As for classes, I've already learned the alphabet, how to order in a restaurant, some words for food, some regular verbs and how to tell time, so we're keeping pretty busy "academically." And speaking of classes, I do have some <em>tarea</em> to complete tonight, so I will just say <em>¡buenas noches y hasta manana!</em></div></div></div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-68396240558955004972008-11-06T00:11:00.008-05:002008-11-06T00:27:24.140-05:00don't be shy, don't shut your eyesGot distracted by the HISTORIC, AMAZING ELECTION (ahem), but did manage to write over 1700 words today, so I'm just barely under pace, even with two days of no writing at all. A huge shout-out to Ben for very sweetly nudging me to get back to it.<br /><br />I've "finished" an essay on why primary care is still important in our sub-sub-specialist era of medicine, and started one reflecting on the challenges and the crystalline moments in palliative care. ("Finished" in quotations because it's terribly rough and needs tons of editing, but I have to keep reminding myself that that's what December is for.)<br /><br />Also, I cast off both the Luna Moth shawl and the Adamas shawl today, so ... good day all around, I think. (And I got that second widget working in the sidebar, finally. Plea to web designers: Please don't post sample code with a punctuation error in it. Thanks.) Tomorrow's goals: block at least one of the shawls and write 2500 words. But first, a cozy nap. :)<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WL-6u9mrEM">Be Like Water</a>," by Sarah Fimm. </span></em>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-74556976324412593582008-11-05T01:29:00.004-05:002008-11-05T15:52:03.520-05:00YES WE CAN<i>“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.” </i><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">- Barack Obama, presidential acceptance speech, November 4, 2008.</span>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-50138008665753293472008-11-02T23:58:00.003-05:002008-11-03T01:30:10.324-05:00half accidental, half painful instrumentalThe NaNo website and associated widgets are not behaving, but ... 5,039 words. I'm almost done with my first essay. That ... was easier than I thought it was be.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MZRLxYtoDY">Half-Jack</a>" by the Dresden Dolls. Because somehow goth-grunge-trip-hop-punk is what my writing music turns out to be.</span></em>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-26919278463428066632008-10-31T17:15:00.005-04:002008-10-31T17:37:47.620-04:00i wish i was a writer who sees what's yet unseenSo when the only elective I could register for was another two weeks of radiology, I decided that I didn't have any more excuses, so I'm going to try and do NaNo. Ten essays, 5,000 words apiece, 30 days - piece of cake, right? I am going to try and write more than the average word count I'd need in these first two weeks, because the end of November will be interviews and Thanksgiving and less free time, probably, even though I'll technically be taking two weeks of vacation.<br /><br />So, there's a new widget on my sidebar so you can see how I'm going, word-count-wise, and I'll try and post here with updates - public failure to finish might help motivate me. I decided to post my notes, thus far - my scribbled thoughts may not make much sense, but I have a few ideas for topics, at least. Anything not on the list that you'd like to see me write about?<br /><br /><br />- primary care and how it will save the world. (ha. not really.) Radiologist wanted ENT to look at his infected ear, woman d/c from hospital not on warfarin --> in ED two months later c PE. People need to expect more from their doctors. The trap of the specialist perspective. Common sense.<br /><br />- On bodies, body modesty, viewing people (self included) as bodies, too, not just brains. Looking at their insides, "eww, gross." Body "modesty" as contributing factor to sedentary lifestyle, obesity.<br /><br />- palliative care, pain control, end-of-life. the guy I'll never forget from research experience. why doctors hate it and why I don't, really. how is this influenced by my own life experiences (or lack thereof). grief. psychiatrist who couldn't treat grieving pt.<br /><br />- obstetrics in the inner city. frustration, difficulties, "i just keep getting pregnant and i don't know why." troubles with contraception: "i don't want anything up there." delaying own child-bearing.<br /><br />- how medicine changed me, how I thought it might and how it did. Decisiveness, callousness, comfort level with people not my own.<br /><br />- how people view their doctors. trust. responsibility. "are you in high school?" how doctors don't have the doctor-patient relationship any more. "who thinks their doctor is above average?" fraternity of mutual silence, united front. self-policing. double standards: our own drug use, etc, vs our patients' drug use.<br /><br />- why abortion, what people do and don't get about abortion, looking at it from the inside vs looking at it from the outside. S. L. MSFC. Bunker mentality.<br /><br />- difficult patients. what makes a patient difficult. M. J. why difficult patients get better and worse care.<br /><br />- pediatrics vs adult medicine: EMLA, murals, art therapy, etc. why do we care for children differently? their fault vs someone else's. pressure (self-imposed) to get it right; disability matters less to us at fifty than at five. integrating consideration for life and life factors into care: teachers, unlimited visiting hours, mental health care.<br /><br />- CPR, resuscitation, "saving lives," what actually saves lives and what medicine looks like on TV. how TV medicine shapes patients' expectations. how it shapes doctors' expectations.<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-renW1TQu8">Wish (Komm Zu Mir)</a>" by Franka Potente, from the movie "Run Lola Run." My favorite techno-German song. Mostly because I don't know any others, but if you've got some to share, I'd be interested for sure. I'm still trying to figure out what the song was that played on German MTV incessantly in 2004, with the video of creepy monster-kids' birthday party - one of those artistic endeavors that was just so bizarre you had to love it. </span></em>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-11888545994414434282008-10-29T18:28:00.013-04:002008-11-02T12:19:07.847-05:00that time of year when we push ourselves ahead*deep breath*<br /><br />So, it's been, um, a while since I was here. Things that happened/were accomplished since July:<br />- I've applied for residencies (in family medicine, of course) and scheduled my interviews. So that feels good. I'm really looking forward to the interview thing, actually, even though it's going to be tiring and all that, but I'm excited to meet the people I'll be working with for the next 3-4 years, whomever they are. (For the record, in case anyone is interested, I applied to UH here in Cleveland; Montefiore, Beth Israel and Columbia in NYC' Tufts, Boston Univ Medical Center and Lawrence in the greater Boston area; Brown in Rhode Island; and Middlesex and UCONN in Connecticut.)<br />- Did rotations in emergency medicine and geriatrics, did my acting internship in pediatrics, and am now chilling in musculoskeletal radiology. And kind of scrambling to figure out what rotation I'm doing for the next two weeks, but that's another story.<br />- Took Step 2 CS! Our clinical skills exam, part of our licensing boards, is a big pain in the butt (expensive, offered in only 5 cities, long and tiring) but I took it in Houston on Monday and now I am done with standardized testing! <span style="font-size:78%;">Until Step 3 in, like, a year or two, but whatever. </span><br />- Attended some lovely weddings of family (my cousin Lisa) and friends (my childhood friend Christine). Discovered that yes, it is possible to drive to Connecticut and back to Ohio for a weekend. Thanked God and good fortune that I have a life partner willing to actually <em>do</em> all that driving, so all I had to do was sit and knit and be conversational and not get a DVT.<br />- I've also been knitting a <em>ton</em>, although, as Ben is quick to point out, I haven't actually finished a project since, like, May or something. However, I believe firmly in the utility of parallel knitting projects and many of them are nearing completion, so stay tuned. I've been working on:<br /><blockquote>- a shawl of my own design (ran out of (discontinued) yarn on the edging, need to devote some time to emailing Ravelers to see if they'll part with a skein)<br />- a scarf for my mom's birthday (in May) that I, um, still haven't finished. (There's beading. It's driving me crazy. It will be done by the time I go home in November.)<br />- a Pi shawl that may or may not be wedding material (halfway through the edging, it started to get not-fun; I'll be picking it up again soon when I'm ready for more finicky knitting)<br />- a pair of socks that exist solely for portable knitting, which I started during the AAFP conference in August. They'll get finished while I'm interviewing.<br />- the <a href="http://www.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=208024">Luna Moth shawl </a>(ran out of yarn <em>doing the bind-off</em>. This was even more annoying as I purchased three skeins of this yarn, but could not find the third skein anywhere in the house. Since it's only $2.99 a skein, KnitPicks got an emergency order from me.)<br />- another shawl (noticing a trend?) that may be a gift so I'm not going to say more about it. But I got a lot done while I flew to Houston and back earlier this week, with connections both ways.</blockquote>However, as it gets colder (and these projects get finished), I think I'm going to transitioning to winter knitting. I appreciate a lapful of wool in November in a way that's just not possible in August. I have yarn and patterns for the <a href="http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2006/04/urban-aran-cardigan.html">Urban Aran</a>, cardigan version (Cascade Ecological Wool in beige) and the <a href="http://www.knitpicks.com/Sayuri+Sweater+Pullover+Pattern_PD31019222.html">Sayuri sweater</a> (Rowan RYC Soft Lux in amethyst or green - I lost it a little when I found it for $1.99/skein, so I bought two sweaters' worth. This is how that excessive stash thing starts, isn't it?), so those will probably be my next projects.<br /><br />In other news, I'm thinking very seriously about doing <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a>. (Since their site has been very slow, the short version: November, National Novel Writing Month, write 50,000 words in 30 days. Go.) Except I think I'm going to skip the "novel" business and just try to write 50,000 words of more-or-less non-fictional essays. I've had a few medically-related essays percolating for a while, and this might be a good way to actually get them down on paper. And interview season might be just the right time to reflect on the practice of medicine. And writing ten 5,000 word essays seems a lot more possible at this point than 50,000 words of plot. So we'll see.<br /><br />Tangentially, I'm loving Genius, iTunes' version of Pandora: you pick a song, and it builds a playlist from your library based on that song. I've been actually listening to music again, and enjoying a lot of the stuff I'd forgotten I had. (If I end up doing the NaNoWriMo thing, I have a feeling it will come in handy.)<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "<a href="http://darwilliams.net/music/audiofiles/EOTSclips/eots.mp3">The End of Summer</a>" by Dar Williams. Because it's snowing here today. </span></em>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-34490054475899985782008-07-28T23:07:00.010-04:002008-07-28T23:48:59.317-04:00drive-by postingHi! I know, it's been forever. And I'm not even really here (because how do I get caught up on two months?!) except for how I didn't want July to go by (like June almost did) without posting so... hi! How's it going? Here's what's been occupying me lately:<br /><br /><strong>Things that Are Awesome:</strong><br />- <em>Manhattan.</em> Seriously. I had my doubts about living in NYC but I had a great month when I was there at a fantastic hospital that is basically exactly what I want out of a residency, and I'm getting pretty excited about this next-stage-of-our-careers business.<br />- <em>The beach.</em> Specifically the beach in Westerly, RI, where Ben and I passed a lovely week with my family and Anna earlier this month. Speaking of...<br />- <em>Family and friends.</em> A lot of this online silence has been because I've been visiting and hanging out with all the people I love in person, which has been delightful.<br />- <em>Weddings, other people's.</em> Specified as such because of how you just get to buy presents and show up looking pretty and eat cake and enjoy how much they're enjoying their day. And also because of how we've been to a few lovely ones recently. Planning ours is lots of fun, too, but... see below.<br />- <em>Being done with Step 2.</em> I think this is self-explanatory.<br />- <em>Knitting!</em><br /><em>-</em> (and, similarly)<em> Reading!</em> (I have actual books to talk about soon!)<br /><br /><strong>Things that Are Hilarious:</strong><br />- How the Cleveland Clinic <em>starches </em>the <em>scrubs</em>. I always forget this, and then I pull on a weirdly-crisp set of scrubs, and I think about how much better my real clothes would look if someone else tended to them.<br />- That was actually it, really. Starch! On what are essentially pajamas! I don't even know how (or to be perfectly honest, why) to starch real clothes!<br />- (The back half of season 3 of Entourage was pretty fantastically hilarious, though, now that I think about it. Highly recommended.)<br /><br /><strong>Things that Will Never Be Done, OMG <span style="font-size:85%;">(even though they totally will be, of course):</span></strong><br />- Ordering wedding invitations. Seriously, people: April 25th, 2009. Come hang out. It'll be fun. (I have to think about cardstock weights and ink colors for this?)<br />- Importing my CV into ERAS* one line at a time. Bah.<br />- Laundry. Bah again.<br />- Getting my car to e-check. Mostly because it is so low on my internal list of priorities, I keep forgetting it's, you know, something I have to do.<br />- Wading through my back-logged email.<br /><br /><strong>Things I'm Looking Forward to:</strong><br />- <em>AAFP** conference</em>: on Wednesday! (If anyone knows of some crazy-cool hotspots in Kansas City, let me know.) (I'm serious.)<br />- <em>International Blog Against Racism Week:</em> I talked about this briefly <a href="http://theraveledskein.blogspot.com/2007/09/international-blog-against-racism-week.html">last year</a>, but this is a really interesting (and, for me, a knock-me-out-of-my-comfort-zone) event, and I'll probably be linking around to different posts that I find intriguing. If I manage to blog more regularly.<br />- <em>Emergency med rotation:</em> So this technically started today, but I enjoyed it <em>a lot</em> and I'm looking forward to the rest of this month. (Which you should all remind me about when I'm cranky from having my circadian rhythms completely disrupted.)<br />- <em>Being done with ERAS</em>: which is a long way off (see above) but I've got my eyes on the prize, people. Or something.<br /><br />So, that's ... wow, about all I've done for the last two months. I've been so computer-shy recently that not only have I not been blogging, I haven't been reading at all. So... how've you been?<br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">* ... Electronic Residency Application System? Too lazy to look it up, but you get the gist.</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">**American Academy of Family Physicians (i.e. my future tribe) (!)</span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Edited to add: I can't believe it's been <em>19 days</em> since I've listened to music on this computer! That's... really sad.</span>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-90311888343576531732008-06-04T23:40:00.003-04:002008-06-05T10:13:35.450-04:00what he said<em>America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for this country that we love.</em><br /><br /><em>The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs for the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This was the moment — this was the time — when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves, and our highest ideals.</em><br /><br /><br />- Barack Obama's speech on June 4, 2008, St. Paul, MN (excerpted from transcript <a href="http://www.donkeydish.com/2008/06/barack-obama-victory-speech-clinches-democratic-nomination/">here</a>, video available <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=bKk42xjq9iM">here</a>.) If you're so moved, click to donate to <a href="https://pol.moveon.org/give/obama2.html?id=12777-6784262-52T1zY&t=3">Obama's campaign</a> or to <a href="https://pol.moveon.org/give/obama2.html?id=12777-6784262-52T1zY&t=3">MoveOn</a>.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-40261624824305194622008-06-04T21:31:00.005-04:002008-06-05T00:22:10.553-04:00I have nothing relevant to put here todayBelatedly, the answers to a meme that <a href="http://sarahrettger.blogspot.com/">Sarah</a> tagged me for (and then <a href="http://twinset.us/">Ellen</a> tagged me, too, with a slightly different variant, and so I really had to get my act together):<br /><br /><em>What were you doing ten years ago?</em><br /><br />Finishing my freshman year of high school. So... getting ready to go to Girl Scout astronomy camp - correctly termed a Wider Opportunity (I kid you not) - for three weeks (the first time I flew on an airplane without my parents!) and reading unholy amounts of classic SF - that was pretty much The Summer of Asimov. Just starting to think about being an adult. Crushing on increasingly nerdy boys. Starting to question how much of the Nicene Creed I really believed. (And re-reading <em>Contact</em> over and over. These were not entirely unrelated activities.) Probably talking on the telephone a lot - which was maybe by that point cordless. No cell phones! I used my dad's email address! Uphill both ways!<br /><br /><em>What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order):</em><br /><br />Um, the day is mostly over, so getting to bed at a reasonable hour is the only one on the list, really (and I'm here blogging, so.... that should tell you how well that's going). Things that were on the agenda today were attending my respirator training and fit-testing, which was about as exciting as it sounds. Spending some money at the Union Square Greenmarket because I like supporting these kinds of things - but the rhubarb lady from Monday was not there today, so I only bought a few apples. Registering (finally!) for Step 2 CS and CK, which I did. And, you know, getting up on time, which I did <em>not</em> accomplish, as my cell phone alarm entirely failed to go off. Luckily, Fran woke me up, but, man, I haven't moved that fast in the morning in a while: it was literally ten minutes from bed to subway, people. (I've been showering at night, so that helped.)<br /><br /><em>What are three of your bad habits?</em><br /><br />Oh, my. Just three? Procrastination, although I like to think of it as relaxation time management. Talking before I think (mostly evidenced by me asking you over and over what you're doing this weekend, etc). And my perennial messiness, which I think may count as at least two bad habits - the making of piles (papers, clothes, whatever) and the real lack of attention I give tub, toilet, etc.<br /><br /><em>What are five places where you have lived?</em><br /><br />Um. I totally fail this one. Ridgefield, Connecticut. Cleveland, Ohio. Aix-en-Provence, France. And I guess you could count Queens, New York, although I only lived there until I was two and the only thing I remember is the dog from next door. I've visited D.C. a lot? And, oh, I guess you can count Manhattan now, too, although I've only been here three days. But I'll be here for two months out of the next six, so that's something.<br /><br /><em>What are five jobs you have had?</em><br /><br />Jobs I worked for monetary compensation, in temporal order: Cashier. Biophysics research assistant. College tour guide. Protein crystallography research assistant. Undergraduate admissions interviewer. And that's it, really, unless you count my med school research. Oh, and babysitting, I guess. (Let me tell you about the time I applied for a job at the mall and all I could put on my resume was biophysics research jobs, etc. No, really. I failed to land a job selling cheap jewelry to fourteen-year-olds - it was right around that point that I realized I had better stay in academia until I had enough letters after my name to be employable, because I had absolutely no real-life skills.)<br /><br /><em>Snacks I enjoy:</em><br /><br />Cheese, oil-cured olives, apples, dried fruit and nuts, hummus, chocolate and coffee. And almost any baked good known to humankind.<br /><br /><em>Things I would do if I were a billionaire:</em><br /><br />Probably I'd buy lots of yarn, let's be honest. When I got that out of my system: fund some research into women's and reproductive health issues, because Lord knows the government's not paying to study women's reproductive health choices. Set up one of those Millenium-type prizes for working out a practical method of clean energy production. Maybe fund development of private space travel, mostly because it would be awesome. In terms of philantropy, I'd probably do something like <a href="http://www.kiva.org/">Kiva</a>, to fund microloans (and maybe macroloans, I'm no economist) to entrepreneurs in the developing world, because I think it's really the best solution we've found yet for effectively getting money from the developed into the developing world. And I'd give <a href="http://www.gregmortenson.com/welcome.php">Greg Mortenson</a> a substantial budget to work with. (I think I'm imagining myself as a multibillionaire, here with this list.)<br /><br />--------------------------<br /><br />I have lots to say about NYC, but it's getting late so... suffice it to say that so far it's been great and I'm getting very excited about graduating.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-59490226303233193542008-06-01T22:52:00.005-04:002008-06-01T23:12:32.413-04:00always getting curious and leaving townSo here I am, posting from New York City! (Thank you, ELWIN, whoever you are, for your unsecured wireless network.) The drive out from Cleveland yesterday was surprisingly enjoyable - I turned on an audiobook and settled in for eight glorious hours where no one's BP meds needed to be held, nobody needed a little something to help them sleep, and no one needed a gold form or a social work consult or a dressing change. I'm not sure what it says when driving aross the boring part of Pennsylvania is a pleasant change of pace, but there was no traffic, no bad weather, no speeding tickets and I got to listen to the entirety of a scifi novel plus a few mix albums of new-to-me music I had downloaded from somewhere or other, and it was really quite a lovely time.<br /><br />Of course, the down side was that I had to leave town on Ben's birthday yesterday, which really couldn't have worked out worse in terms of timing. I did get to celebrate a little in the morning with some birthday French toast (which I <em>completely forgot</em> to garnish with the birthday candles I had bought and then hid so well I didn't see them, so Ben, imagine there were birthday candles. I'm sorry, hon).<br /><br />So, now I'm here in New York and I've got orientation at Beth Israel tomorrow at 8:15. I'm going to try and post much more frequently this month, since I know I won't be able to keep up nearly the correspondance I'd like with everyone while I'm gone, so... I'll let you know how things go. Hope everyone had a good weekend!<br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "La Familia" by Mirah, which I've already used but whatever, a little more peppy pop music can never hurt</span></em>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-2581364107808001552008-05-20T21:20:00.000-04:002008-12-13T02:08:10.673-05:00it's back to sleep to re-dream meI actually have a couple of hours free tonight, and I am <em>too tired to knit</em>. Even surfing Ravelry is making me feel exhausted. Send help. Or possibly caffeine.<br /><br />Recent happy-making things have been:<br /><br />- Attending my sister Katherine's college graduation this weekend! Spent less than 24 hours in Rhode Island, but I was able to celebrate with her and my family the night before and see her all dressed up in cap and gown. (Sadly, I had to drive back to catch my plane before she walked, but I was able to wave at her during the procession.) (I'm not sure she reads this at all, but if you're reading, Katherine, congratulations again!)<br /><br />- Less life-changing, but Ben and I have excavated the office closet and set up a workable desk situation for me. No more laptop at the dining room table! And I got to page through all my old college notes before recycling them, and let me tell you, not only was my handwriting neater and my notes far more carefully taken, I was a lot smarter four years ago. At the very least, I knew far more calculus. (However, I also apparently thought jokes about safer math through parenthesis usage were funny enough to scrawl in the margins of my notes<em>.</em> So it maybe evens out.)<br /><br />- We also made a <em>lot</em> of pesto and I managed to document the process before returning Jen's camera. (Incidentally ... expect a lot of text here until I find someone who can fix a digital camera for less than $200.) But for now, pictures!<br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202627210228048914" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQSjp0wXbYL38P7-lSgmVu7RHLu2szfQN8hCbFhEeeR3rs3qbALKb1Nn77YDKYgXlxtOMCD1MXdvV5rCnh7c-fA7qe7lCmwxssjQzfPkeY7be9GVR-9JYAmPmRqgzY2uZjCG6RYIHGoeA/s320/May2008+010.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>This is just under half of the basil we went through - the other half is already stripped off the stems and soaking in the other sink. </p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202627214523016226" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZc9MonHBlZJjqIrp36RuukLJVweua3pnnrGOOpfpPx4XRPaXvEEnM84_P95B_Qdf6TtqxIrqwXEakf_iB5TAFgQBvtODQHWg7E7L1YHuOAwV2emMnHE9rNfjVZWTw05DEUzduBhWZqzY/s320/May2008+013.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>One finished batch with more basil leaves and cheese waiting behind it. (I think I minced something like 20 cloves of garlic that day as well. Our pesto is not particularly subtle.)</p><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202627218817983538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc1n_Nlb8wzb5X04OzC8VGOVK-YfqZI7RrvyjUpV_4uJrcV08tjn6ol3e91GZr6UKu-JeCqz317bYEBZ5beYVkP8O6zpkb3XoakgZfUKkTv2roxoQe1u6o-A-hV-JZvNsBtfO5mWzYapU/s320/May2008+016.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>The fruits of our labors. As we manage to do <em>every time</em>, we vastly under-oiled it, so the effective volume of this batch is far greater, since we're adding oil to it as we use it. (We've finally figured out it's because the pesto heats up in the processor and we go by texture - which is obviously much firmer once it sits in the fridge for a while. We're learning.)</p><p>- Also, we went to see "Prince Caspian" last night and, people, it was excellent! I didn't love the first Narnia movie, actually - I thought the effects were simultaneously overdone and not very good, and the pacing was a bit off, but this one is fantastic. (Also, I am completely envious of Susan's badass-ness and amazing outfits, although where I'd be able to wear a cut-on-the-bias chain mail shirt and leather bustier is ... probably no place I'd want to be, come to think of it. She looked great, though, and I am completely smitten by her archery skills.) The rest of the cast was very good, too, although Caspian's accent was a bit irritating at times (mostly the times it faded in and out during the same scene). It was good enough that I broke out our omnibus edition of <em>The Chronicles of Narnia</em> last night and re-read a bit of <em>The Lion...</em> last night before bed. (I seem to recall <em>Prince Caspian</em> being not that good, and I didn't want to spoil the movie experience.) At any rate, I'm excited that the summer movies are starting to come out, although I'm not even sure what else is on the horizon.</p><p>- And it's off to bed with me - when I left tonight, we were four patients <em>over</em> our cap. I don't think tomorrow's going to be any better - we've already got a number of patients waiting in the internal medicine wings for as soon as we discharge our current patients. Wish me luck.</p><p><em><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l_EV5U2PR8&feature=related">Wake Up Exhausted</a>" by Tegan and Sara. Yes, it's a link to a Grey's Anatomy fan vid. I can't help where these girls got their big break. (Have liked them for years! Since they toured with Ben Folds! God, I'm so curmudgeonly some days.)</span></em></p>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-19337999802212507992008-05-07T21:55:00.010-04:002008-05-07T22:36:38.093-04:00to break the still of dayJust popping in here to say that I'm loving family medicine. The patients come into the hospital, they get more or less fixed up, and then the <em>same person</em> follows up with them after their inpatient stay. And, you know, addresses the issues that landed them in the hospital in the first place. Love it. (Additionally, we're only calling consults when we <em>have an actual question</em> for the consultant. My consultant calls are going like this: "We've got a patient who's still having blood in his urine 4 days after his traumatic Foley placement and we've worked him up, done these labs, gotten this imaging and we're thinking it's 60/40 for Diagnosis A vs Diagnosis B but we'd like your input and additionally some recommendations on the current best treatment modalities for either diagnosis" vs "This patient has diabetes and we need endocrine on board. Just because." Incredible.)<br /><br />I really don't have much else to say, and I'm off to bed in about 5 minutes, but just - *happy sigh* When do I get to go do this full-time for real again?<br /><br />Also, totally stolen from Ben: go check out <a href="http://www.pandora.com/">Pandora</a> - it's this fantastically fun music streaming site where you enter in one or two of your favorite artists and it builds you a radio station. I've already found 3 new artists whose stuff I love.<br /><br /><em>title from "Of Angels and Angles," The Decemberists.</em>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-73365512014428847702008-05-04T11:35:00.005-04:002008-05-04T13:06:10.860-04:00here's wishing you the bluest skyBook log time! Since the things I'm knitting are a) gifts or b) maybe possibly going to be submitted to Knitty one day. And I haven't cooked anything blog-worthy all week. <br /><br /><strong><em>Knitter's Almanac</em>, Elizabeth Zimmerman, 1974</strong>. I don't usually claim to have "read" knitting books, as I don't really count a pattern book as "reading" but this delightful little volume is really more like a journal with some knitting thrown in than a pattern book. It's the first EZ book I've owned, and I can see why she has such a following in the knitting community: she's smart, funny (in that wry, transplanted-Brit sort of way) and completely on your side. I enjoyed her little asides directed towards the reader and how she simultaneously elevates the craft of knitting to art and emphasizes that it's art anyone can produce. I'm trying to curtail the knitting-related spending, but when I give myself a knitting budget again, I think I'm going to be hunting down a few more of her books.<br /><br /><strong><em>Worlds of Exile and Illusion</em>, Ursula K. LeGuin, 1964-1967</strong>. Three novels in one volume, I read this both to expand my exposure to LeGuin's work and as preparation for writing again. I love how LeGuin has such a sense of the vastness and the continuity of history, how she can link events separated both by hundreds of years and light-years and show you the connectivity among the events, without beating you over the head with it. She's great at world-building, but her characters - like many seem to be in SF - are not particularly well-fleshed out. I was reading this with more of a critical eye than I usually do with fiction, and so I noticed the lack of <em>vivacity</em> her characters have - the reader has a good sense of their motivations, but maybe not for what lies beneath their motivation. Definitely an entertaining and thought-provoking set of stories, but I think LeGuin's preference for the short story shows through here: these seemed to be more novellas than novels.<br /><br /><strong><em>James Tiptree, Jr: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon</em>, Julie Philips, 2006</strong>. I'm not quite finished with this one, but it's a biography of one of LeGuin's contemporaries and friends, so it fits here, I think. I first heard about Tiptree from the <a href="http://www.tiptree.org/">Tiptree Award</a>, "an annual literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender." James Tiptree, Jr was the pseudonym of Alice Sheldon, a Chicago socialite, CIA agent and psychologist who wrote speculative fiction throughout the 1960s and 70s. Tiptree was secretive and conducted all his SF relationships (many of which turned into deep friendships with editors and other writers, including LeGuin), via letters, and didn't meet any SF colleagues in person until his mother died and correspondants deduced that from that week's obituaries that Mary Bradley, whose obit listed as a survivor her only child, Alice Bradley (Mrs. Huntington) Sheldon, was in fact Tiptree's mother. I haven't actually gotten to that part of the biography yet (but Mary is very ill, so I imagine it's coming), but even if you have no interest in SF, this is a <em>fascinating</em> work. Alice Bradley Sheldon was a remarkable and, really, tragic woman - from her behavior and writings, she was probably bipolar, and bisexual if not lesbian - in an era that didn't really understand either. She led a riotous and richly full life - and a lot of that was probably an underlying mood disorder, but it makes for interesting reading, especially when filtered through Julie Philips' perspective as a woman writing in 2006, and reflecting at length upon the positions, freedoms and restrictions women had over Alli's lifetime, which spanned from 1915 to 1987. I highly recommend this and if anyone would like to borrow my copy when I'm done, just let me know.<br /><br /><strong><em>The Omnivore's Dilmenna</em>, Michael Pollan, 2006.</strong> I'm not sure I can say anything about this book that hasn't been said already, but everyone who eats in the developed world really ought to read it. This, with Barbara Kingsolver's <em><strong>Animal, Vegetable, Miracle</strong></em>, further sold me on the "locavore" movement. The way food gets grown, transported and consumed in this country is really appalling when you look at it, and the only reason it's worked for this long (since the 1950s or thereabouts) is that no one really <em>had</em> looked very closely at it until now. I think (from my very limited perspective since I wasn't, you know, there) that the organic movement in the 1960s and 70s was reaching for this point but didn't quite get there. And I'm not sure if the research and the information was really possible to obtain to put it all together until now, now that we have a better understanding of the environmental cost of fossil fuels, and how soil architecture works and more independent agencies taking a look at what's going on in terms of our food production. And I don't think it's so much the pesticides, etc, that are the problem -which is why I've always been kind of wishy-washy on the organic thing - but it's the way in which our crops and food animals are being fertilized and growth-hormoned and what-have-you past the point of healthy growth so that they <em>require</em> such intense levels of pesticides and antibiotics to <em>survive:</em> that's the root problem. I've been idly compiling a mental "required reading" list for the post-industrial age - in terms of understanding how our society and our economy works and doesn't work and how it suceeds and fails and why - and this is close to the top of that list. <br /><br /><strong><em>Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance</em>, Atul Gawande, 2007</strong>. I still haven't read <em><strong>Complications</strong></em>, but I will have to look it up. I breezed through this, and I enjoyed it a lot - it was interesting to read a surgeon writing for a lay audience from my perspective as someone within the medical field. I appreciate that there are physicians writing about these issues, and forcing change from the inside: I've found there's a lot of resistance among existing doctors towards even conducting performance-based outcomes <em>research</em>, let alone grading/judging/paying doctors based upon those outcomes. But I think it's coming, and frankly, I think it's past due - every other profession in this country is pretty consistently evaluated on their performance in one way or another, and it's the worst kind of arrogance to state that our profession is so special we can't possibly be judged by a standardized metric and we're all performing at the very top of our abilities. Because we're not, and no matter how you look at it, just the act of evaluating performance <em>makes people perform better</em>. Which was part of Gawande's point, I think, and it's certainly something the medical profession - and its consumers and customers - need to hear. <br /><br />~<br /><br />Well, that got a bit long-winded. Events of note in real life, short form, include:<br /><br />- Ben and I celebrated our "T -1" anniversary on April 25th - less than a year till we get married! We had a lovely dinner in (truffled wild mushroom risotto, which was pretty tasty if I do say so myself) and brainstormed ceremony/vows ideas, which was fun. And also made us realize - again - that we started dating in <em>high school.</em> We were going through this little worksheet thing for vows ideas and it was all "talk about your first date, about how you met each other." And we met on the stage crew for the spring musical and our first date was going for ice cream at Mr. Shane's and I had to be back home at <em>9 pm</em> because my parents were terrified that I was <em>out</em> with a <em>boy</em> and there was just so much cognitive dissonance there. But it was a lot of fun and while we don't have anything actually written down yet, we have (just less than!) a year and a good sense of what we want from the ceremony, so I think we're in good shape.<br /><br />- Relatedly, we went to the Unitarian Universalist church last Sunday, and really enjoyed the sermon - a very interesting mediation on the whole Jeremiah Wright thing that I was going to blog about before I got sideswiped by the cold from hell last week. I really enjoy the UU perspective and position as religion/spirituality as a basis for fueling social justice and I think we're both pretty comfortable with the idea of finding a UU minister for the ceremony (and possibly as a spirtual home for our family thereafter as well.)<br /><br />- Okay, I did say this was the short form, so: starting my family medicine AI tomorrow! (Two months solid of doing what I want to do. I can't wait.)<br /><br />- Still looking for a place to live in June, but have two possible people from Craiglist and one from the plea I posted in the NYC Ravelry forum, so I'm feeling a bit more settled about that.<br /><br />- Spent the weekend hiding from the rain by doing laundry and gift-knitting. And rewatching LOTR: The Return of the King. Now I'm off to the gym and the grocery store. How can you all stand the excitement of reading about this?? :) <br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "Better Things," Dar Williams. How is this song not on YouTube?</span></em>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-14979095543838038782008-04-28T19:34:00.005-04:002008-04-28T19:45:44.434-04:00*squeals*Okay, I have a journal club presentation to put together tonight and so I'm not actually here posting except: I was (momentarily) procrastinating with the presentation thing and discovered that <a href="http://www.masondixonknitting.com/">Kay Gardiner</a> herself favorited my kitchen rug on Ravelry! (I'm not the only one who occasionally checks her projects to see if anyone likes her stuff, right? Right.) At any rate, I'm just sitting here bursting with knitterly pride.<br /><br />....all right, back to work.Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-11163289812613189562008-04-20T21:16:00.011-04:002008-12-13T02:08:10.962-05:00when May is rushing over youEight pounds of strawberries? Is, for the record, an enormous quantity of strawberries. If you were wondering. (Seriously. If you ever find yourself standing in Costco, telling yourself that <em>maybe</em> you <em>might</em> need the second gigantic box of fruit, you don't. Trust me.)<br /><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivrTXITSeIJGQbzVnSLXKvh80W_J0Sci7yvdrUVn6X2AdO8QufnBbuGBa8VfA9HFAZqDENIlsdOA7AyYdxRBw3u0FvU-Q5QSLZi7SYQ6XwfT8gifn6WkY4yDqq1pV5hj13zDetz4bWO_c/s1600-h/Apr2008+029.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191503588641706290" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivrTXITSeIJGQbzVnSLXKvh80W_J0Sci7yvdrUVn6X2AdO8QufnBbuGBa8VfA9HFAZqDENIlsdOA7AyYdxRBw3u0FvU-Q5QSLZi7SYQ6XwfT8gifn6WkY4yDqq1pV5hj13zDetz4bWO_c/s320/Apr2008+029.jpg" border="0" /></a></p>But, now I have 16 half-pint jars of jam cooling on our dining room table. And two cookie trays full of quartered strawberries in the freezer. And, unrelatedly, I may be developing seasonal allergies. I think I'm going to be in bed inside the hour.<br /><br /><br />For those of you in Cleveland, let me know if you prefer strawberry preserves (whole fruits in jelly, basically) or strawberry-blueberry-raspberry jam. The jam fairy will be making deliveries this week.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQqZgt8XeJhbLlJqkeRhWBMGOdVzEDMmE_TUoROCSDkA69j7D8IthIul0_ZGjWVW5KbZ2bSiciZuzWJlbQy-xTWYeFtRHZySwnhaaWUcMk5lvYReveQwTcluSr_s5ojX1c30NBwLjw9A/s1600-h/Apr2008+030.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5191503592936673602" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQqZgt8XeJhbLlJqkeRhWBMGOdVzEDMmE_TUoROCSDkA69j7D8IthIul0_ZGjWVW5KbZ2bSiciZuzWJlbQy-xTWYeFtRHZySwnhaaWUcMk5lvYReveQwTcluSr_s5ojX1c30NBwLjw9A/s320/Apr2008+030.jpg" border="0" /></a></div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><br /><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em></em></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>title from "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rhKJcTgmgI">These Are the Days</a>," 10000 Maniacs. </em></span></div><div align="left"></div>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-43931772883778101572008-04-19T10:23:00.008-04:002008-12-13T02:08:11.194-05:00step from the road to the sea to the skySo the laptop is back home again, virus-free and with freshly-vacuumed hardware. I therefore have access to my food pictures, which may or may not be interesting to you, but... I have no real knitting news, so cooking will have to do.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9A0WNaRevsGTTDuSQv9z7Jtb1O-M8hMtz8IXkVmQiE0XfVlPonaJ059KHilpucrjTvTRJfr0eekDMaa5ONi0LDBhqGoLv09Oyq1mEThJKvy4ZRzVUpu7pr-Fm7D6oU5M2Q9bUFpFoEs/s1600-h/Apr2008+026.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190963024057831714" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG9A0WNaRevsGTTDuSQv9z7Jtb1O-M8hMtz8IXkVmQiE0XfVlPonaJ059KHilpucrjTvTRJfr0eekDMaa5ONi0LDBhqGoLv09Oyq1mEThJKvy4ZRzVUpu7pr-Fm7D6oU5M2Q9bUFpFoEs/s320/Apr2008+026.jpg" border="0" /></a>Ben and I made fresh pasta last Sunday, inspired by Brandon's birthday party fun, and made possible by Lola's generous donation of her pasta machine. (Thank you!) We ate half of it on Sunday, and it was... just okay, which was disappointing. I didn't help matters with the sauce I had made, which was not my finest effort, and the texture of the pasta was sort of soft and rubbery and blah. Which was kind of a bummer after spending two hours preparing it. But! We made the rest of the batch on Thursday with an alfredo-type sauce, and it was fantastic - either the pasta seasoned itself in the fridge a little, or we kept a closer eye on the cooking of it or something, but it was very satisfying and something we will definitely do again. We also made garlic cheese bread, more or less on the fly, and that also turned out very well. So, for your culinary enjoyment, some recipes:<br /><br /><strong>Almost Guilt-Free Cream Sauce</strong> (no, really):<br />1. Make a roux: melt 1-2 tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and stir in 1-2 tbsp flour. Cook with more-or-less continuous stirring, until a paste forms, and keep cooking for at least 3-5 minutes, so the flour won't taste raw. (The paste may thin out some as it cooks, but that's fine.)<br />2. Season the roux: for a plain alfredo-type sauce, I like to use white pepper (just for the lack of black specks, but black pepper is fine), a dash of salt and about 1/8 tsp nutmeg.<br />3. Gradually stir in about 1.5 cups milk (I usually use 1%) and keep stirring until well-blended, making sure you stir/whisk out any lumps from the roux. Keep stirring over medium heat until almost ready to serve.<br />4. Just before serving, add 1/2 c grated parmesan cheese, and stir until well combined. Remove from heat and toss over cooked pasta.<br /><br />This sauce actually takes almost no time to make (I usually put the pasta water on to boil and then start the sauce, and it's done well before the pasta is) and, given the small amount of butter and the lowfat milk, it's actually not that bad for you - certainly an improvement over the traditional "equal parts butter, heavy cream and parmesan cheese" alfredo sauce recipes. We've used it as is, and we've also added to it - cooked chopped spinach and diced dried tomatoes are a tasty addition. We've also made a southwest-inspired pasta dish using this as a base, and adding chili and chipotle powder to the sauce, and tossing the pasta with black beans and sauteed diced peppers and onions. Anyway, it's one of our staple, easy weeknight meals, and I thought I'd pass it along.<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Garlic Cheese Bread</strong><br />1. Slice 1/2 baguette lengthwise, completely separating the halves. (We used the Stone Oven's Pugliese baguette, which is of course consistently delicious).<br />2. Mince 3 large cloves garlic and place in small microwavable bowl/ramekin with 1 1/2 tbsp butter, maybe 1 tsp Italian seasoning and black pepper to taste. (We also added a tsp or two of Trader Joe's crushed garlic, because we seriously love garlic in this household.)<br />3. Microwave on high for 10-15 seconds. Stir and microwave for another 10 sec or so, until the butter is all melted and the garlic a bit cooked, so it loses that acrid, raw-garlic taste.<br />4. Stir in about 1 tbsp olive oil to the mix, and spread on both cut sides of the bread. (I usually use a spoon to drop the butter-and-garlic mixture on, then spread it around with the back of the spoon - I've found this works better for me than a brush.)<br />5. Season further with Italian seasoning or pepper if it needs it. (I'm obsessive and fill in the spots with inadequate spice coverage.)<br />6. Top breads with maybe 4 oz total grated mozzarella cheese (NOT fresh unless you really squeeze the life out of it, as it will be too watery. TJ's "fresh" mozzarella is actually a good compromise)<br />7. Bake in preheated 375 deg F oven until cheese is melted and browned.<br /><br />This one isn't maybe all that good for you, but it did turn out to be very, very tasty.<br /><br />Culinary exploits planned for this weekend include learning how to brew beer from a friend who brews and making strawberry jam from the pounds of strawberries that tempted us in Costco. And maybe some strawberry-blueberry jam, as I still have some of last summer's blueberries frozen in the fridge. (I really need to start trusting that I've frozen enough fruit, and eat this stuff in December, too.)<br /><br />We were going to make pesto, but the basil that Zagara's had on Thursday disappeared by the time I went back Friday afternoon, so that will have to wait a few weeks. (I think I scared the poor guy in Zagara's, asking him where their basil comes from and what the season is like, and when will I be able to buy 10 bunches, and if I call and ask, will someone know if it's in yet? Last summer's pesto ran out a month ago, and we're going through withdrawal.)<br /><br />I thought I had pictures of the bread I baked a few weeks ago, but I can't seem to find them. Maybe I'll have to do some baking this weekend, too.<br /><em></em><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>title from "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLOQY4LZSaQ">Snow [Hey, Oh]</a>", </em></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Red Hot Chili Peppers</em></span>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-47632367372516444942008-04-16T20:25:00.007-04:002008-12-13T02:08:11.494-05:00we crossed the deepest ocean, cargo across the seaA finished object! With pictures scavenged from my Flickr account, since my laptop is getting its annual tune-up down on campus. How much do I love our IT guys? (Having someone else to go virus hunting on my hard drive is a joy I will miss once I'm done with academia.)<br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Pattern:</strong> Tuscany shawl, from <em>No Sheep for You.</em><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190013888549032802" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq8ItMo7Ya8Ajp6gH4eAt7oEqgHQCh8rzraRvGb2pU72et67_XqagB1jm7JZdW6cxIDyO3E7IXWpoDC6rbf7VWKU1uXuWo5H9BigXhvmDJig5T9wrttNOsa3LfRdi1MLBMIBjPIIunGSU/s320/2396545721_79a920661a_b.jpg" border="0" /><strong>Yarn:</strong> Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, 4 skeins<br /><br /><strong>Needles:</strong> Size 8 / 5.0 mm Knit Picks Options circulars<br /><br /><strong>Modifications:</strong> the size 8 needles rather than 6's; only did 9 repeats instead of 11 as written.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5190013884254065490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTqt28kBChvM5CWebLejvdIRhrq8P8ejssQYMwwUAmAPvVRzDw8Bc0to2IzeTYU39SUWyZ8gOSuWVg8OAIXxerMvwzbyLwVmNBDN6l2bW1ggI2jE6QRfE-m5aXuhcMzW08uZWKzTRgoW8/s320/2396545357_432f21724e_b.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>(I would have cropped this if I had access to my photo editing software - pretend there's not so much towel and couch in this shot. Also, um, let's further pretend the towel I blocked it on actually covered the entire section of couch I draped wet shawl all over. Thanks.)</em></span> <p>Even with the fewer repeats (I bought the yarn on sale and they only had 4 skeins left in this color), it blocked out to a substanstial 72" x 23", which is plenty large enough for me. I've already worn it out three times, as spring is slowly but surely making its way to Northeast Ohio. (It may actually already be the most-frequently-worn knitted object I own, aside from hats/mittens/scarves). I'll have to get someone to take a photo of it out in the wild.</p><p>As far as med school goes, well. I'm doing my Perioperative Care rotation and I'm not going to be an anesthesiologist, I can tell you that. <em>Mind-numbingly</em> boring, in terms of the OR stuff. And I've just deleted two-paragraph-long rant on the staff of the pain clinic which no one really needs to hear, but suffice it to say that I've been frustrated by the complete lack of concern re: pain that cannot be fixed with/has not responded to an injection or a spinal cord implant. If they can't treat it with a (very well-reimbursed) procedure, they do not want to deal with you. (Why do these patients <em>keep showing up</em> to the pain management clinic, wanting someone to <em>treat</em> their pain?!<em> </em>) </p><p>Okay, so I am going to rant a little: here's a sampling of real, live quotations from the residents and staff: "You have to be careful with these old ladies, because most of them don't really have any pain - they're just pressured by their families to get these drugs so they can sell them." "I try not to write scripts for opioids for people who aren't working - you know, if you're young and active and have a job, then fine. But if you're sitting at home all day anyway, there's no way you need that kind of pain medication." "I'm not going to give you any more Percocet to treat your [diagnosed on MRI, nonoperable, nonblockable, 8/10] pain. It won't fix the problem, it's just going to mask it."</p><p>Bah. They're not all bad, but it's just so frustrating to sit there and watch a resident or attending make a total mess of a patient interaction (Patient, very apprehensive on being told they can try a nerve block for her pain: "What's a block?" Attending: "A block? A block is a block! Like at the dentist. We'll do you next week.") and not be able to speak up. I've been trying to catch patients on the way out and explain things if it seems like they're confused, but it's still awful to watch. </p><p>Two weeks until my family medicine AI. I cannot wait.</p>(In other, happier news, I've just made my first <a href="http://www.colourmart.com/eng/">international yarn purchase</a> - a cone of gorgeous pewter laceweight cashmere/silk. I think I'm going to attempt Frost Flowers and Leaves with it, once I actually finish a laceweight project.)<br /><br /><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNsRqTfWe0k"><span style="font-size:85%;">Hands on Me</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">" by Vanessa Carlton. I really need to find another album to listen to at the gym, so I don't keep outing myself as a Vanessa Carlton fan like this.</span></em>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-76101333714780684282008-04-07T19:15:00.019-04:002008-12-13T02:08:12.122-05:00none of us forget about who we areBut, um, sometimes we forget to blog about it. I do apologize for all the radio silence around here lately - my only real excuse is that I've gotten back into writing fiction lately, and I've been trying to do that when I sit down to write. Nothing really ready for public consumption yet, but I've got about eight thousand words on a story that might have a viable plot if I can bring the fortitude to actually write it. (I'm trying to ignore the fact that it's going to require that I invent a religion from the ground up. There's already poems and folk songs involved, and I think it's just going to get worse.)<br /><br />If you've been Ravelry-stalking me, you may see that I've uploaded some pictures of finished objects over there. I'm going to wait to post about them, though, in order to do an update sort of entry. (And it'll also give me some ready-made content while I try and remember to post regularly.) But here are some teaser pictures, from the Tuscany shawl and from the kitchen rug:<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186668363810245490" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzoMKpLWNYR04HdrTjHJPCTXphWXdFpvW1nOAZ7JX5VyiVdpsdtXb8iBEuuQwfzABo8HCeq22gOgcNasJwA_NUIqhlyYTXAUa0k-Foq7zPKG844ITzL-hPgOSUMs9Z-oMseX5iRLWiSuw/s200/Apr2008+011.jpg" border="0" /><br />I've got two laceweight shawls on the needles, one of sort-of my own design that I'm very pleased with and another that I may end up frogging. The pattern isn't really speaking to me, and it's becoming a chore to knit <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gTk3TxRiH_yesevbVzFY5rk3JhRfudOUqfILZXax7KPa19h2aoq8WzjAdy_hUx1riCtKpqdy0Ts46JUN72ETyft_p0287HVoinO3DpsAVyF5aaQb4cLoNuQ1CekmcaxvkUcYn7wgtm0/s1600-h/Apr2008+018.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5186668368105212802" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gTk3TxRiH_yesevbVzFY5rk3JhRfudOUqfILZXax7KPa19h2aoq8WzjAdy_hUx1riCtKpqdy0Ts46JUN72ETyft_p0287HVoinO3DpsAVyF5aaQb4cLoNuQ1CekmcaxvkUcYn7wgtm0/s200/Apr2008+018.jpg" border="0" /></a>it, which is, you know, not the point. I also started Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts, which are fun but may also get frogged and re-knit (I've only done most of one so far, but I learned a few lessons about colorwork in the process, which was most of my motivation for knitting them). I think it's interesting that I've reached the point in my knitting career where I can quite comfortably contemplate just ripping something out and starting over if it's not working out well. Gone are the days where every stitch was precious to me, and I think that's a good thing.<br /><br />Non-knitting life stuff has also been proceeding in my blogging absence. I really liked my family med clerkship (surprise fun procedure I enjoyed? Botox, of all things. And I&Ding abscesses, but I knew that already) and I held on to the family-med love during my med-peds elective, so I think the winner is going to be family med in the end. I've set up two away electives in NYC (Beth-Israel in June and Columbia in November) so I'll be checking out some programs relatively soon. And applying not long after that, which is something I'm trying not to dwell on. I still need to work out where I'm staying in June, but I imagine Craigslist will come through when it gets a little closer.<br /><br />I'm currently doing perioperative medicine at the Clinic, which lives up to its reputation of legendary organization. I'm already thinking about doing another core or elective over there. So I'll be hanging out in the ORs on the other side of the drape for the next little while, trying not to freeze to death. I have never missed being wrapped in non-breathable plastic-coated paper so much as I have today.<br /></span><br /><i><span style="font-size:85%;">title from "</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQQXbtavrzA"><span style="font-size:85%;">La Familia</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">" by Mirah; link goes to a remix that differs subtly but unfortunately from the copy I have sitting on my hard drive. </span></i><br /><em></em><br /><i><span style="font-size:85%;">Anybody wanna join </span><a href="http://www.pownce.com/"><span style="font-size:85%;">Pownce</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> (messaging/social media/file-sharing network, now out of beta so you don't need an invite) and I can post these there? I'm </span><a href="http://pownce.com/theraveledskein/"><span style="font-size:85%;">theraveledskein</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> over there, too - friend me and I can cross-post a copy of the next title-song for your listening enjoyment. </span></i>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-307688189612869863.post-50511346575264128512008-02-18T20:26:00.016-05:002008-05-04T13:17:27.256-04:00fail with consequence, lose with eloquenceSo, I've never pointed you all over to <a href="http://www.xkcd.com/">xkcd</a>, which is a fantastic webcomic about "romance, sarcasm, math, and language." And that's a tragedy I'm rectifying today, because it's absolutely hilarious (and will provide you with a few hours' entertainment browsing the old strips). I thought today's comic "How it works" was an excellent introduction to everything I love about the artist's comics, and also a pretty good reminder of how it does work, sometimes:<br /><br /><a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/how_it_works.png"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/how_it_works.png" border="0" /></a><br />Go enjoy reading <a href="http://www.xkcd.com/">the rest of them</a>. (<em>Edited to add:</em> And make sure you let the cursor hover over the comic to read the embedded pop-up text thing that I'm sure has an actual technical name. They're usually just as funny as - if not funnier than - the actual text.)<br /><br />In other news, I just discovered this: <a href="http://mycruiseplanner.net/seasocks/">Sea Socks Cruise and Yarn Expedition</a>! I want to do this. I particularly love the question in the FAQ: Can you bring your family? As if you have non-knitter family members you might be able to convince to spend seven days on a ship surrounded by knitters, who probably would not be so much concerned with getting a tan on their vacation as protecting the handspun from harsh UV rays. It sounds like heaven. However, I think the family medicine AI is going to have to take priority.<br /><br />....Also, I started Tuscany (lace shawl from <a href="http://www.interweave.com/knit/books/No_Sheep/default.asp">No Sheep for You</a>, scroll down for a pic) yesterday and am already one skein of Pure Silk into it. I'm ... not entirely sure how that happened. Further progress may have to wait until the arrival of my gorgeous new stitch markers from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/">Etsy</a> vendor<a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5130205"> SeeJayneKnitYarns</a>, as I'm approaching the end of my stitch marker collection with two lace projects on the needles. I did get some good work done on it this morning, when I finally brought knitting to our completely useless Monday morning lectures. It helped some.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>title from "</em></span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFin1IG2yis"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Consequence</em></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>," The Notwist</em></span>Christinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16210503719455672279noreply@blogger.com3