My first post

So this is my first post. It wont be all pictury like chau's post, or as entertaining, or as informative either.
Hooray! we're going to SD soon. I miss my burritos.

This and that

I just finished being senior on medicine for one month. It was a tough one, but I learned a lot about myself and of course medicine as well. I traded away all my weekend calls during the month, so we headed outside when we're free. Spring is finally here and I'm excited for my garden to bloom again. Here are some pictures from the last month.

My buffalo chicken pizza made from scratch. Yay for my mixer!


A hike to horsetail fall and triple fall with our friends John and Rachel.








In preparation for Quoc's brother's wedding in San Diego at the end of this month, we started playing badminton, running and lifting weights again. And boy, do we realize how out of shape we are! As an incentive, Quoc's getting a steering wheel for his PS3 if he loses 7 lbs and me, some sort of jewelry for the wedding, as I have none. Hopefully, this will motivate us some... Until next time.

Bread Making

I've always thought that bread making is for hippies :) But... since I now own a fancy Kitchenaid mixer and thanks to this No-Knead Bread Recipe modified from the original one from the NY Times, I gave it a try. It took lots of patience as this recipe calls for 20 or so hours of waiting for the dough to rise. I started last night and by 9 pm tonight, we had yummy, artisan quality bread! Wow-wee! I didn't know that I'm a hippie :) It wasn't perfect as we followed the original recipe this time. But the experience has created confidence to venture into the world of baking. I was never really good at it, because it required measuring. Growing up in my family, where things are "eh, half or wait, a bit more than half of an asian spoon of soy sauce plus 2 and a quarter asian spoons of sugar...", I never learned and quite frankly, never had the patience to measure. Anyway, hopefully, I'll continue to make yummy baked goods with the help of good tools and an asian spoonful of patience :)

Here are a few pictures of my creation. And if I can do it, you can too! Oh, and Happy New Year!!


Bread in my Le Creuset dutch oven

All smiles and so proud :) Hm.. I need a cookie sheet and ooh...please excuse the messy hair & kitchen

Retreat

Last weekend, we went to Skamania Lodge for the annual residents' retreat. Food and lodging was paid for, which was really nice. The place was awesome! Food was great (I think we'll come back just for brunch one day), and it was a relaxing time to hang out with friends and family. We had an informal meeting most of Friday, then Quoc drove up for dinner. We stayed, slept in, played in the snow and swam/relaxed in the hot tub, ate lots and left Saturday night because I had to work Sunday. Speaking of which, yay Giants!!! I caught the last bit of the Superbowl because I was in the ER admitting most of the afternoon. Anyway, here are some pictures of our brief stay away from the hectic & busy schedule of residency.
Outside of the lodge.


The car covered in snow.

Brrr

It'll be somewhere in the 20s tonight. But no snow yet! It was sunny today, in fact. Spring is coming; I can almost pretend that it's here :)
I've been busy working with the Viet Health of Portland breast cancer project. We are educating lay women to teach other women about breast cancer screening. Great project but lots of work. It takes up most of my weekends.
Oh, my new toy!



I will attempt to bake something next weekend when I'm not on call. Send me good recipes!

Stress

Lately, stress has done a number to my body and mind. This rotation being on inpatient pediatrics during winter RSV bronchiolitis season (busy!), along with a difficult attending makes me go zonkers! So dragging myself out of bed every morning and reassuring myself that it'll pass, eventually, I spent my days going through the motions to get the work done, not enjoying any of it. The mood is gloom, and the attitude is somewhat bitter. I remind myself of January of last year. Maybe it's the weather; maybe it's self-esteem, or failed self-reliance, or the condescending attending on service... Today, I took the afternoon off (called in "sick") in hopes to sleep it off. Not a chance... So here's to tomorrow. I wish the sun will shine soon!

Merry Christmas

We started the tradition last year when we were too poor for presents. On Christmas' Eve, we both have 15 minutes or so to run around the house, find a "present" and wrap it up to give it to each other. This forces us to be creative (and quick!) and satisfies the joy of opening something on Christmas. It has been a great success so far. We'll definitely continue it forever as our family's tradition.

Best present that Quoc got me: half a pack of gum.
Best present that I got him: snapshots of me doing goofy things on our digital camera.
Best dinner party: get-together at our house. Yummy Italian food, good wine and karaoke!
Best moment this Christmas: toss up between singing carols by the fire and waking up to snow Christmas morning!

Here are some pictures.
We decorated our mantle this year and hung our homemade stockings as well. We lit the candles Christmas' Eve before reading the Christmas story and singing carols.

Snow!!!
It's the front and side of our house. I've never had a white Christmas before. Well, the snow didn't stick on the ground, but it was pretty, nonetheless.