Weekend Eats

This weekend was filled with a little too much good food. Friday, I had an impromptu hot pot with some friends:

Stinky tofu hot pot….. best stuff ever! Especially after body pump… this counts as feeding my muscles right? soy protein?

I feel really bad for my friend Claire’s roommate because her whole place wreaked of stinky tofu after that. Smells bad, but  is super tasty, I promise.

For easter, my friend brought over her 4 layer mousse cake she made the night before. We shamelessly had this at Starbucks since I was doing some work there on sunday. I loved how it wasn’t crowded for once, but we definitely still got some glares.

Afterwards we spoiled ourselves with Whole Food’s hot bar in an attempt to “compensate” for the huge slice of cake we had.

The hospital I work at is promoting the traffic light nutrition program. I am a huge skeptic and my labmate’s fiancee who represents the union workers at the hospital agree with me. I think this nutrition program is lacking in a lot of aspects. Our hospital is already behind compared to many others in our area in terms of promoting nutrition and healthy eating. I think for starters they should display caloric value for all the food they serve daily. This Go, Slow, and Whoa to me doesn’t say much considering I don’t believe in restrictive dieting. Also, one of the main reasons why I am so opposed to this is the fact that it sounds so condescending and simply by providing information we as health professionals already know on a piece paper like this isn’t doing much.

Anyways, time is going by really fast (it’s already april!) and I’m excited/dreading the next coming months. So much to do but so little time. However, as a destressor my labmate and I impulsively signed up for an 8k at the end of this month and a twilight 10k next month. If i complete the 10k I get a medal. I can’t wait! Already prepping my running gear.. in other words, another reason to shop. Retail therapy is also one of the best destressors.

As of late

After a 3+ month hiatus, I’m back for a little bit. Per request of my friend Alyssa, I’ve decided to put up a short post. And btw, congrats Alyssa for finishing your exit seminar! I know you did great!

So winter break was relaxing… probably the most relaxing 10 days ever. Weather was okay, warmer than Wisconsin, but rainy. Can’t complain though, I pretty much did no work those 10 days and am so glad that happened. I really needed that mental break.

Love SF and always will. My dream is to get a dietetic internship at UCSF.

Lots of cute doggy playing happened too. This little one is the cutest of all. She can get on two feet and literally beg. It’s undeniably cute.

Last month my parents came to visit and lots of Tiger cuddling happened.

The parents were really intrigued by all the snow we got this year.

And my adventurous father convinced me to walk on the frozen lake. It was my first time, but I guess you can’t live in Madison and leave without ever walking on the frozen lake. It was quite fun and the view was gorgeous.

This winter was filled with lots and lots of this.

and this which I thought was kind of amusing….

Went home for a weekend in March to spend time with my poor dad who was home alone for the first time while my mom took a last minute trip to China to take care of the elderly. So, we had a little daddy-daughter weekend, which was super fun. We had my favorite Chao Zhou Noodle. As well as…..

My all you can eat sushi buffet at Mizu! Dad and I had a very eventful morning working hard in the back yard and rewarded ourselves with this afterwards. We then went on our daddy-daughter date and got haircuts together.

And in between all of that… I’ve just been working. Work work work and balancing that with an acceptable social life. I’m sad that I will be saying goodbye to all of this soon…. NOT. I will miss all the friends I’ve made and maybe snow… once every winter or two, and the beer, but I’m glad that I will be moving on to something different. I haven’t really told many people my plans, but all I know is that it is all about getting a RD (registered dietitian) degree. I am deciding between UC Davis and UC Berkeley so far for places to finish my DPD courses. It’ll be a little weird going back to school and taking courses (a lot of these are lab courses too) with undergrads. One thing that’s not going to be different: I’ll still be a student and… POOR. But that’s okay, as long as it’s worth it in the end (i hope so). I am really excited about the clinical aspect of nutrition as well as going back to school (as if i’m not already in school right now) to finish these classes. I honestly feel that with the RD I can go beyond what my PhD can do and be able to work with patients as well as do more clinical research. Eeeeek I’m so excited, but not so excited about defending. Hearing the word defense and thesis just makes me cringe.

I’m hoping that after graduate school this blog will be more educational and expound upon new things that I learn from my dietetic courses as well as record my experience of going back to college after a PhD… According to the dietetics director, I’m rare and “special”. So hopefully it’ll provide guidance to others as well.

Rainy Saturday in Cali

Today I’m posting from none other than my lovely home in Cali, although sadly it’s raining today. Life has given me the opportunity to spend a weekend at home, work from the comfort of my home, and have my mother spoil me to death. I’m loving every minute of it.

First let me know start off with friday. Yesterday was a crazy day. Had my weekly friday morning meetings (why do people like having meetings on fridays???), finished up some work, and headed to the airport in the afternoon. In the midst of all of this, I had a couple minute break to catch up on the latest news and heard the most devastating and heart breaking news EVER. I know you all know about this, but the shooting in Connecticut seriously made me sick to my stomach. My coworker started crying while talking about it and my labmate just couldn’t even talk about it period. Both of them have kids at an elementary school similar to Sandy Hooks. Really it just put a damper to the rest of my day… the excitement of going home diminished, but a feeling of wanting to be with family came over me. I was excited to see my parents, but it was more of a relief. I’m sure every parent went home yesterday and gave their kids a big hug. This morning, my dad and I were reading into the news of the shooting, because I just couldn’t stomach anymore of it yesterday. It was on every TV screen at O’hare, but i just couldn’t listen.. Saw Obama’s speech and everyone at my gate got quiet when Obama was holding back his tears. Moments like this you know the nation is mourning this awful tragedy together. These innocent children did NOT deserve this. They still have their whole lives ahead of them. And the teachers, true heroes…

Anyways, sorry about that depressing speech. Just had to get that out because unlike others… I just couldn’t talk about it yesterday. Didn’t even have the appetite to eat until 10 pm when i saw my parents (midnight central time). So, parents took me out for a late night snack in Richmond on our way home. Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup:

On wednesday I had mentioned about holiday parties and lots of goooood free food on thursday. Indeed, I got lots of free food on thursday!

First, seminar lunch, catered by Panera! Yum. Also saved an asiago roast beef that was left over for lunch on friday. =)

Then it was our hospital’s holiday party in the afternoon. Was totally looking forward to the meatballs and they surely didn’t disappoint. I may or may not have gone back for seconds… no shame.

Woke up this morning to see this:

Now I know what my mother does with her new ipad. She watches tons of Chinese drama while cooking. Did I mention my mother is super efficient? She’s like a super mom. Works fulltime but literally gets mistaken as a housewife. That’s how awesomely efficient she is.

Right now, I’m reading and reviewing papers for work in the comfort of my own home. And waiting for a dinner gathering at a family friend’s house tonight (food food food!). I wish this could happen more often. Maybe then grad school would be more bearable.

Hope everyone has a happy weekend! =)

 

WIAW – 12/12/12 edition

First WIAW in a long long long long time! And today’s a special one because it’s 12/12/12. This will be the last time in the 21st century that we will have a date like this. My labmates and I decided to get a picture to remember this momentous day. Check out the time stamp!

Also in celebration of a new lab member!! More girls in the lab!

And to celebrate, a nice hearty bowl of chilli with none other than good ole tator tots!

I’ve been REALLY craving korean food lately for some reason, so I went with some friends to a korean restaurant here called New Seoul Restaurant. A nice cozy family owned restaurant. Really liked it… definitely will be going back again.

And you must be wondering….. have you even been cooking?? Of course! Although it’s been the same thing… since i’ve gotten sick of turkey soup.

Tons of stir fry with bulgogi sauce. Super fulfilling.

Also, on a sad note…. last night was a little crazy. Found out a friend from high school attempted suicide over facebook. Judging by the quick response of not only my best friend from home but some of his closest friends…. he has A LOT of people who really care about him. I really hope he sees this. Him leaving like that would’ve been really painful for his friends and family. I’m glad he is alive and ok.

Anyways, have a happy 12/12/12 day! Hope it’s a lucky one! =)

As of late

So, much has changed in life lately. Changes that had to be made. Not everyone’s going to respect the decisions I make, but I hope those people understand that the decisions I make aren’t because of my own selfish needs. They will always hear one side of the story, which sometimes isn’t even the whole truth. I have no hard feelings, I just want to be friends…. but what am i saying? it doesnt seem like he wants to and it’s kind of difficult now when his people already have such a negative opinion towards me. I’m the bitch who broke up with him. I’m sure his family has this skewed bitch perception of me too… how could i ever be friends with someone who’s whole support system despises me? It’s sad that the world just works this way… friends are always going to side with their friends. What’s more sad is that I was once really close with this person who now is apparently nonexistent in my life because of the complication of a relationship. Almost makes me not want to walk into a relationship with anyone.  It’s sad that most of the friendships I’ve lost were a result of a failed relationship. I know I’ve done a fair number of breaking ups in my life, but I’d rather let a person know I don’t see them in my future as soon as I know… rather than dragging them on. I feel like it’s doing them a favor… but of course they will never perceive it as a positive thing… I will always be the bad person.

With that said…. I’ve been trying to move on with life. This weekend was the Ob/gyn dept holiday party. I actually didn’t know about it until friday when my boss adamantly wanted his grad students to go. So, why not… it’s free food! and surprisingly it was actually a lot of fun. I wasn’t worried about not having a date since a huge portion of my lab was going to be there anyways. Got to meet coworker’s significant others and get a chance to get to know everyone outside of lab. I’ve been to the pediatrics dept holiday party in the past but because I really don’t know many people there (i’m the only grad student in my peds affiliated lab), it definitely wasnt as fun as the one for OB. (even tho food at peds is a million times better…) it’s all about who you’re with right?

I love my pictures with my friend Roxanne on the bottom left. We are so awkward. Can you believe she has children who are in high school?? And straddling grad school at the same time? My funny looking labmate in the bottom right there (jk) has 2 kids too. Women in science now a days….

Coworker in the middle is like the mom of the lab. I always love stopping by her office to say hi… she just reminds me a lot of my mom.

We also had a lot of fun in the photobooth with the whole lab…. butttt I’ve been told to refrain from posting them as evidence. That’s really unfortunate because we had some really great pictures

Next day, IT SNOWED! We got our first snow in Madison (3.5 in).

I’m never home much, i know poor kitty, so because of the snow, I was forced to not leave my apartment and Tiger definitely loved that.

The snow was so pretty…… until I had to shovel it off of my car this morning with my pathetic ice scraper/snow brush. My hands are still freezing and I did NOT do a good job of getting all the snow off… it was basically like ice. The car is going in the garage for the rest of this season…

Lots of holiday parties coming up! Lab holiday party and hospital holiday party are all this thursday. Also free seminar lunch on thursday too!

Silent Saturday

 

Lazy Summer

I guess the title of this post doesn’t really describe my overall summer at this point, but in terms of food and cooking, i have been super lazy. Haven’t created or tried making anything new lately. Let’s just say I kind of screwed myself over at work. This will be one busy and challenging summer as I will have to learn how to multitask and be as efficient as possible. So, I was dumb enough to submit my manuscript at the beginning of this summer, only I didn’t realize that I’d be getting reviewer comments back and have to make revisions within 2 months. Plus, I am finishing up a rat project AND I have to prelim again for my research proposal in the beginning August. I am soooooo smart for putting myself in this position.

But on a happier note, it IS summer, which means concerts on the square and concerts at the park across the street from my apartment. Excited for that. And this has been one of the hottest summers in Madison (at least in my opinion). Because of that, Keith was especially thoughtful enough and surprised me with a super fancy nice fan for my apartment. isnt he a keeper? ohhhh and it’s our 2 months =D Can’t believe it’s already been 2 months… time flies. that’s a good thing right?

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Here’s a CSA update. Our box from last week:

zuchinni, green onions, basil, lettuce, turnips, and more kohlrabi.

Speaking of kohlrabi, I actually made up my own way of eating it, which wasn’t too bad. Just made it into a stew with onions, tomatoes, and basil. Served over some pasta.

I’ve also been enjoying Gold’s Gym lately. My new hang out is the Lady’s Gold’s room. I like how a lot of the times, I have the entire room to myself. It’s almost like having my own gym.

And I can do whateverrrrr I want. =)

Last weekend involved lots of working at Starbucks. Had to bust out an abstract for a meeting that was due on monday. It was pretty difficult considering I haven’t touched the data or have even started on this project yet, but I had to whip up as much as I could at the last minute. Then I spent all of sunday learning how to respond to reviewers in a proper and nice way. I felt like I was sugar coating every single one of my responses especially my letter to the editors and reviewers.

Then on sunday, I had a nice catch up brunch with my friend Huong at the Graze. Definitely recommend this place. It’s very nice and who wouldn’t like to sit and gaze at a beautiful view of the capital?

We talked about life and how to make important decisions in life… happiness and career. Which is more important? For some people, it’s a clear and easy decision, but for the rest of us, it can be pretty difficult. Like myself, if I were given the choices that she has right now, I’d be going insane not knowing what would be the best for me. Career? Life and happiness? I think we’re both very strong independent women and career is very important to us, but we also don’t want to sacrifice life and happiness. But I’m glad that Huong is much more mature than I was 3 years ago and that things worked out for the better…. and also the fact that things worked out in my favor as well. I’m selfish like that. She’s stuck with me for another year. =D