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.

Baseball and Doughnuts (Doughnut Plant)

Oatmeal Doughnut

While the end of September means that the days are getting depressingly shorter and the weather is becoming ever cooler, there is one thing that is actually great about this time of year: the start of the MLB playoffs. While my Mariners haven't made the playoffs since 2001 and came no closer to making it this year thanks to an epic 17 game losing streak, playoff baseball still gets me excited in a way that no other sport can. And with the dramatic and absolutely improbable way that the regular season ended, I think that the playoffs will be just as exhilarating and fun to watch.

Why the French Don't Suck: Patisseries, Bakeries, and Boulangeries

The two things I did a lot of in Paris: sightseeing and eating pastries

In the first episode of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain set out to prove his thesis of "why the French don't suck." In support of Bourdain's thesis, one need look no further than the myriad patisseries, bakeries, and boulangeries dispersed all throughout the City of Light. While most people generally associate the French with fine dining and opulent, grandiose cuisine, my short stay in Paris has led me to believe that perhaps what sets the French apart from the rest of the world is not in their fine dining and skill in preparing "regular food" (read: food that you would eat for a meal) but rather in their ability to bake breads and pastries. During a whirlwind three-day trip to Paris last weekend where each day began by 7:00 am and lasted until well past 1:00 am, I still found the time to fit in stops at several of Paris' finest patisseries, bakeries, and boulangeries to sample some of the best breads, vienoinoiseries, and pastries that I have ever eaten. What follows is an overview of the places that I went to in my quest to sample some of the best Paris has to offer and to ingest enough butter in three days to necessitate an angioplasty.

Awesome Swedish Baked Goods, No Assembly Required (Peter's Yard Coffee House and Bakery)

Cardamom Bun

My knowledge of Sweden is very limited. Off the top of my head, the only things that I think of that are related to Sweden are Ikea, Swedish meatballs, Swedish fish, and Peter Forsberg, and the first two are inextricably linked anyway. So as you can see, I'm not very familiar with Sweden, or any of the other Scandinavian countries for that matter. When I learned of Peter's Yard, a well-regarded Swedish bakery mini-chain that has a location in Edinburgh, the first two questions that popped into my head were 1) what constitutes Swedish baked goods? and 2) would there be any assembly required? I was intrigued enough to pursue this further.

A Macaron All-Star (Pierre Hermé)

In case you couldn't tell what these were, I've got a brochure above the box to help you out

Earlier this week, the MLB All-Star Game was played at Arizona's Chase Field. Generally speaking, I am not terribly interested in watching any major sport's all-star game, even though the outcome of the MLB All-Star Game is actually very important because Bud Selig thought that it would be a great idea to award home-field advantage in the World Series based on the outcome of an exhibition game (to make the game mean something!). Right, but despite its warts and flaws, the MLB All-Star Game is head and shoulders better than any of the other major sports'. The Pro Bowl? What makes football such a great sport is the players' intensity and energy, neither of which are on display at the Pro Bowl, where hits are weak and defenses seem to only be concerned with what night club they'll be going to later. The NBA All-Star Game? Non-existent defense and lackadaisical play make this game a snoozer. I don't want to see a score on every possession, damnit. The NHL, though, may be on to something with the way they structured this year's all-star game with two captains selecting teams in a mock draft. Interesting, but I still prefer baseball over hockey. 

My Introduction to European Patisseries (Paul)

Beignet Chocolat

While breakfast breads in the United States tend to consist of bagels, muffins, and English muffins, Europeans tend to go for croissants and other viennoiseries. Although I generally associate these types of baked goods with France, patisseries and bakeries are abundant even in the UK, and nearly every café, grocery store, and cafeteria offers a variety of croissants and other buttery baked goods. What's great is that even in the UK, great patisseries can be found which produce pastries far superior to almost anything I've had in the US. While the US has the market on bagels cornered, Europe is the standard bearer for viennoiseries, and after trying out Paul, a French patisserie and bakery chain with a ton of locations scattered throughout the world, I have to say that I am extremely jealous of Londoners for their ease of access to such great pastries. 

'C' is for 'Cookie,' That's Good Enough for Me (Levain Bakery)

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookie

Cookies hold a very special place in my heart, as I'm sure they do for many other people. For as long as I can remember, cookies have been one of my favorite foods, dating back to when Cookie Monster was my favorite Sesame Street character because he, too, loved cookies. Childhood memories of baking chocolate chip cookies with my mom, going to a nearby bakery for their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-shaped cookies, and licking off the cream filling from my Oreos that were packed with my lunch are something that I will forever remember, so the humble cookie has quite a bit of nostalgic value to me. But of course, cookies these days are no longer quite so simple and humble, as evidenced by the proliferation of, er, non-traditional cookies. While I'm all for innovation and different flavor combinations, there's something to be said for traditional, old-school flavors done well. Enter: Levain Bakery. 

Butter and Pastries (Balthazar Bakery)

Maple-Walnut Schnecken

It may be hard to believe, but I'm going to say it: I don't really like the taste of butter. I can't really explain why I don't really like the taste of butter, but that's just the way I am. Maybe it's the greasiness and sheer heaviness that is seemingly inevitably associated with butter, but then again, I like fried foods. Or perhaps I've been scarred by my childhood, when my dad supposedly made me peanut butter and butter sandwiches for lunch every day during kindergarten. Somewhere, Paula Deen is smiling at the thought of that. Don't get me wrong, I love cookies, brownies, cakes, etc. just as much as the next person, but butter is not the dominant taste in these foods, whereas spreading a pat of butter onto, say, a piece of toast or a stack of pancakes is done to inject a heaping flavor of butter into a food. No thanks. My dislike for anything with a strong butter flavor is likely the reason why I grew up with an aversion for croissants, though to be fair, I probably never had a decent croissant in my life. Up until now, that is. After trying out some of the pastries from Balthazar Bakery, I think I am ready to accept more butter into my life than ever before.