Mortality and Pancakes (Clinton St. Baking Company)

Pancakes with Crunchy Bananas, Cinnamon, Chili, and Chocolate Sauce

I am a solid four months into my clinical rotations, and I wish I could say that I've been busy saving lives and all, but in reality, I've just been residents' bitch for most of the time. Granted, I've had some really incredible learning experiences and have gotten to see some pretty cool things -- for instance, seeing a patient with hemineglect bisecting a stethoscope way off from the middle, and scrubbing in to see a salpingectomy for a case of ectopic pregnancy -- but I'd be lying if I didn't say that medical students are entirely superfluous and unessential for 95% of the time that we are in the hospital. Sure, it's nice to have us around, and sometimes, we can actually be useful, but let's be real: the hospital would get along just fine whether we are there or not. So if the work we are doing as medical students is so unimportant, then what is the point of us actually being in the hospital? Well, I think part of it is so that we become familiar with the idea of what it means to actually care for patients. Okay, that sounds kind of silly now that I've typed it out, because shouldn't we all have come into medical school with an inkling of how to care for others? Isn't that why we've decided to throw away the best years of our lives enter medical school? But really, for many of us, this is the first time in our lives that we are so involved with the care and management of other people's lives. Other people's health is (partly) in our hands, and even the most mundane of our tasks -- morning rounds, vital signs, etc. -- can make the difference between life or death. I had one patient who I rounded on one morning, and she told me about chest pain and shortness of breath, leading to me sounding the alarm for a rapid response team. It turns out that the symptoms were secondary to her not having had dialysis for several days, but this is the type of thing where even a lowly medical student like myself can have a huge impact.

Doctoring

Truth. Except I use my dining room table to spread all my notes on.

Fine Dining at Its Finest (Eleven Madison Park)

"Duck for Two" - with Puréed Fennel, Compressed Persimmon, and Citrus-Infused Duck Jus

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy New Year! That's what happens when I neglect my blog for over a month. I could delve into all of the reasons why I haven't written on here in a while, but nobody cares, so I'll just move on to the good stuff. About a month ago, just before my brother departed for a three-week-long vacation to Hong Kong and southeast Asia, the two of us splurged on a lunch at Eleven Madison Park. And when I say the two of us splurged, I mean my brother splurged, since I'm a penniless medical student with no source of income who freeloads off of others. Thanks, big bro!

Thankful (Marea)

Spaghetti - Fresh-Cut Seminola Pasta, Crab, Santa Barbara Sea Urchin, Basil

Thanksgiving is a time of reflection and appreciation. With the current state of the world -- political unrest, economic instability, etc. -- I am thankful for a bunch of things. I'm thankful for having such a loving and supportive family. I'm thankful for my awesome friends. I'm thankful for my health, happiness, and overall well-being. And, despite all of my bitching and moaning, I'm thankful for the opportunity to attend medical school and to ultimately have the honor of becoming a physician. As the preclinical part of the curriculum winds down, I am experiencing a mixture of excitement and anxiety over the prospect of hitting the wards for clerkships -- excitement because I'll be doing a lot more "doctoring" rather than sitting through lectures, anxiety because I feel unprepared and am scared of screwing up big-time. To the best of my knowledge, killing a patient during clerkships isn't something that residency programs are looking for. Amid all of this upcoming change, one small fact hasn't been lost on me -- namely, the fact that I will no longer be able to take advantage of the fantastic lunch prix fixe deals offered at restaurants throughout the city.

Goodbye, Paris (Le Comptoir du Relais)

Croque Monsieur

Okay, so I'm finally writing about my last meal in Paris from this summer. After spending the better part of the morning and early afternoon at the Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, and Sacré Coeur, I wanted to squeeze in one last proper meal in Paris before boarding my train back to the UK. However, finding a restaurant to eat at on a summer Sunday afternoon is actually quite difficult. Many restaurants -- and other businesses, too, for that matter -- are closed on Sundays. Add to that the fact that many businesses close for several weeks at the end of July and August, and you end up with very few restaurants open for business to many summertime tourists. Passing many shuttered restaurants and cafés, I wandered around a bit aimlessly until I stumbled upon Le Comptoir du Relais, a bustling place that I remembered reading about during the time I was planning out my trip to Paris. Deciding not to chance finding another open restaurant, I opted to eat here in spite of the rather intimidating all-French menu.