In a previous post I explained that Dear Husband and I were trying DIY home redecorating, namely tissue-paper "stained-glass" window hangings. This is the second iteration.
2020 was a terrible year: it started with wildfires in Australia, continued with a once-in-a-century pandemic, and ended with severe political discord. It was also one of the best years of my life: I completed a four-year combined Internal Medicine-Pediatrics residency; I was recruited to teach a history of medicine course as an adjunct professor; I studied for and passed not one but two board exams; and I got my dream job as an academic clinician-historian leading a special-needs primary-care clinic. Several weeks into the new year, it's time to finally sit down and pull the scraps of folded paper out of my Rememberlutions Jar (perhaps for the last time?). These are things I want to remember about 2020:
In the spring I taught my first course as an adjunct instructor. We made-do with class 100% on Zoom. (I just wrote a letter of recommendation for one of my students.) Zoom also made it possible to see more of my family than ever before.
The first time I heard a murmur in a newborn baby...too bad I didn't know that those babies always need an echo, and she ended up having to be transferred to another hospital for a procedure the next day. The fellow congratulated me, but I wish I had known that to be able to prepare the parents. However, I did successfully learn how to diagnose a clavicular fracture in a newborn after shoulder dystocia from the same fellow. We celebrated the end of a long, COVID-filled month with a particularly delicious lunch of poke takeout together.
When my patient and her family were surprised to learn that the attending was my boss and not the other way around. That was the rotation on which neither the fellow nor the attending had any constructive criticism after observing me leading rounds: "The most empathetic team I have rounded with." I'm still celebrating the (one!) time we finished rounding in the hospital at 10:30am (instead of 11, 12, or 1).
One mother of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder I met in the ED told me my hugs were the best medicine. And when I told another mother over the phone that I was leaving my residency clinic, she cried at the thought that I wouldn't be taking care of her sons anymore.
I was interviewed by a local news organization during a socially distanced faith-based rally in support of our neighbors of color: "We are all created in God's image."
I want to remember the joy of celebrating residency graduation with my cohort-mates.
I want to remember a truly relaxing family vacation to a lake house, between board exams and when the pandemic had subsided a little, that started with a rainbow.
When a colleague (and former attending) welcomed me to the clinic with "You are a great doctor and I know you are going to be super successful. We are super excited!"
As a new attending, I was heartened to read this comment in a specialist's note: "Discussed with patient that her PCP has done an excellent job in managing her diabetes."
One patient told me, "On the phone the staff said you were pleasant, and it's true!" Another sent me a message: "You're the nicest doctor I've ever had, I mean that. It's why I don't go, but you're like my angel. I'm going to call you that."
We celebrated Thanksgiving together at the hospital. I got my first COVID-19 vaccination. We had a beautiful white Christmas. Finally, we went to bed on time for New Year's and woke up to 2021.
A friend from graduate school frequently shares his recipes on Facebook. I've never tried one of his clafoutis before, but when he posted a recipe for pineapple strawberry shortbread, I decided it was recipe I could bake. He's vegan now, so where his recipe uses 1 cup non dairy milk + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar, I just used 1 cup of dairy milk.
"New Year, Same Anxiety Strawberry Pineapple Breads"
Ingredients: 2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 cup sugar, 1 pinch of salt, 1 cup non dairy milk + 2 tsp apple cider vinegar [OR 1 cup dairy milk], 1 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp lemon extract, aquafaba from 1 can of chickpeas, 7 oz of canned crushed pineapple (include juice) [this is a small can! or 7/8 of a cup], about 7 strawberries, sliced thin [I didn't want to pay for out-of-season strawberries, so I used walnut pieces]
Directions:
Heat oven to 350F (180C)
Combine flour, baking soda, sugar, salt in a bowl
In a measuring cup, pour in milk, vinegar, vanilla, lemon extract, stir and let sit one minute [can skip this step if using dairy milk; I combined the wet ingredients without waiting]
Whisk the measuring cup of liquids into your dry goods bowl
Stir in aquafaba
Fold in the pineapple
Pour into tins or ramekins, top with strawberry slices/walnut pieces
Bake for 25-30 minutes [our oven is weak-sauce, so I baked my muffins for 40 minutes]
I always appreciate new recipes, like this "Miracle Soup" from two vegetables that aren't usually paired together, or this soup made with coconut milk, a vegan substitute I don't usually have on hand. Do you have one that I should try?
Dear Husband in particular is mourning the loss of the ability to travel due to COVID-19. For many years we were unable to leave town during the short gray days between New Year's and Easter. He rejoiced when we were able to fly to Tampa two years in a row and to Los Angeles right before the pandemic hit. The weather was a little warmer, we could see friends and family, and there were 300% more palm trees.
2. Edit the recipe: 1/2 cup mayo? Not in my casserole. Mushrooms? Dear Husband would pick them out, so omit. There's no carb: decide to add 2 cups rotini, cooked al dente.
3. Put the pasta on to boil. Grease a 9x13-inch casserole dish.
4. Start chopping 2 lbs of chicken breasts, which are not completely thawed = frozen fingers. Notice that the chicken should be diced: cut every piece in half. [Editor's Note: This was either the second mistake or the saving grace.]
5. Drain pasta and layer in bottom of dish. Add chicken. Realize broccoli was supposed to be layered next and decide you will just mix everything up when you're done.
6. Empty 1 can of soup into a bowl. Add what amounts to an "American" amount of curry (it smells delicious but is ultimately undetectable in the final product). Empty other can of soup.
7. Google "alternatives to cooking sherry." Give up and use 3 tbsp water with "some" chicken bouillon.
8. Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and mix. DH bought mozzarella, but who can tell the difference? Not FrDrDr. Pour over casserole contents and stir. Top with enough cheese (at least 1/2 cup, maybe more).
9. Leave in fridge for DH to put in oven while you are ice skating with colleagues. Except the first-come, first-served tickets at the outdoor public rink sold out an hour and 15 minutes before the ice time, so take a damp but nice walk through the park instead and get home early.
10. Baking instructions on handwritten recipe card: Bake, covered, at 350 for 40 minutes and uncovered for 20 minutes. Decide the oven has been underperforming recently, so cover and bake at 400. Meanwhile, get a bad feeling about the chicken, re-read the recipe, and realize you never cooked the chicken.
11. After an hour, remove the casserole from the oven and fish some chicken from its depths: pink and raw. Put back in oven and send DH to Wendy's for dinner. The situation calls for a small chocolate frosty.
12. After 2 hours, remove the casserole from the oven and look for chicken: every piece you can find is white and cooked through. Leave to cool on the counter until bedtime, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
13. Lucky 13! After re-heating in the microwave, the chicken and broccoli casserole is edible. It is somewhat more set than it might otherwise have been, and it needs salt and more curry powder, but at least a week's worth of dinners has been saved. I would have been very sorry to have to throw out all that food if the chicken hadn't cooked.
If you enjoyed this recipe, consider the original FrDrDr cooking adventure, the first and only time I have ever made green bean casserole, and a recent experiment with cauliflower and cabbage that turned out better than we could have thought. Do you have any cooking fails with happy endings?
