Potato and Green Bean Salad

Servings: 10 • Size: 9 oz • Time: 15 minutes • Points: 3.25 ww points

7 large new potatoes, peeled
1 lb string beans beans, ends trimmed
1 2.8 oz can sliced olives, drained
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 scallions, chopped
kosher salt and fresh pepper

Cook potatoes in a large pot of salted water. In another pot, cover string beans with water and boil until string beans are cooked. Run under cold water to prevent them from overcooking. When the potatoes are done, drain and slice in large chunks.In a large bowl, combine balsamic, oil, salt and pepper. Add potatoes green beans, scallions and olives. Mix will and serve room temperature.

Baby Red Potato Salad

Servings: 6 • Size: 3/4 cups • Time: 15 minutes • Calories: 108 • Points: 2 ww points
4 cups baby red potatoes, cut in small pieces
1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely diced
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
3 scallions, diced
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp reduced fat mayonnaise
salt and fresh pepper

Boil potatoes in salted water until soft, approx 10 minutes. Drain and let cool.While the potatoes are boiling, combine red onion, green pepper, mustard, olive oil, vinegar and mayonnaise and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and let the flavors marinade while the potatoes cook. Once the potatoes are done and cool, mix into the bowl and add scallions and additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve room temperature or refrigerate until ready to serve.

UTSW

Today, officially done with my anesthesia rotation at UTSW. The month have flown by and it was a really good experience. There was definitely a lot of getting to meet the right people and showcasing myself so that I won't look like an idiot. I definitely felt like I had to be on my toes a bit even though the attendings didn't pimp as much as I thought they would.

Overall, the program is very solid. The residents definitely get to do a lot and see a variety of cases. They rotate through 5 different hospital throughout Dallas and get to see how each hospital run the anesthesia department. I get the impression that once finish, the residents are very well clinically trained. Research wise, I know it's there but I just didn't get the feeling that it's heavily emphasized. Perhaps they just don't showcase that aspect to the students.

The didactic portion is good. It's mostly online and they expect the residents read the short blurp on the topic of the day and read up the case of the week and discuss them with the attendings. There's weekly conference and other lectures depending on the service the residents are on. The program is definitely more self motivated and less structured on lectures.

I would totally come here in a heart beat. The staff is great and there's really good relationship among the residents and the staff.

JFK

Saturday, Wei and I went to JFK museum in Dallas, basically to see the history of JFK's assasination. The museum was full of the his life and family stories and his political career up to his assasination and the aftermath. I felt that the museum did a really good job in transforming the building where the shots were fired into a walk through history showing what happened at the time and how the case was pieced together by the technology of the time.

I thought it was interesting in how the city preserved the "X" that marks the spot where JFK was shot. The city paints it every year to keep it visible from the 6th floor of the museum. Then the museum keeps the same box arrangement where the assasin was. It really give the sense of you being there and being able to piece together yourself what happened.

The aftermath was also talked about as well. I don't remember much but what sticks out was the fact that not only the people loved and mourned JFK but even the politics afterwards were still following what he dreamt of. It was just amazing to me that a president was so loved that he made an incredible impact during his interrupted reign.

It was through the museum that I get know some history of Parkland Memorial Hospital, place where I'm rotating through. I'm glad that I visited the museum, now I can put a place in mind regarding this incredibly sad history of US.

18 mos break of Boards!!!

Got my scores back and now just waiting for my PE scores.

CK - 217/89
CE - 524/84

Funny thing happened, my scores flipped flop from step 1. I actually did better in USMLE than COMLEX. That tells you something about COMLEX. Slightly disappointed with COMLEX but from studentdoctor forum, it seems like most people dropped on CE. I didn't have too big of a drop but I was hoping to be about the same or higher. Oh well. I did hope to break the 220s on the CK but any improvement from Step 1 I'll take. I think by the end of my studying time, I just got really tired and just want to get it over with. What's done is done. Now I can only hope for the best for the match.

Now I get to have a break from boards until step 3 during my PGY 1 year. Yea!!

Jorg's Vienna Cafe & Dallas

First week in UTSW Anesthesia -- complete.

Anyways, I'm staying with my cousin Wei in Plano, TX about 25min from Dallas. Plano is an old and new suburban city. Wei lives near the old downtown area. The Vienna Cafe was spotted on my way home and Wei also saw it too. So we decided to try it and see. I have never had any Austrian / German food so this is a first for me. For Wei, this is to compare to what he had when was living in Germany.

The food was ok to me since I didn't realize that Austrian food mostly consist of "wurst" (sausage), suaerkraut, and cold potato salad. The sausage part wasn't bad, it's just a little too much meat for me. The sauerkraut is good. The interesting part is the potato salad. It's not a salad where there's potato chunks, it's more like mashed potatoes but with dressing. All I can say is interesting. Wei said that it's actually very close, but not as good as the real thing. This is a maybe try again category.

Dallas in general is hot. I'm not used to the 100's degree since I have left Sacramento more than 7 yrs ago. I'm still trying to get use to the heat. Anyways, the rotation is set up like radiology rotation where it starts early but ends by noon after the lecture. People interested in Anesthesia stay later. We rotate through 2 hospitals, Parkland Memorial and Zale University. The residents rotate through 5 hospitals throughout Dallas as UTSW is the only anesthesia program in Dallas. So far, it seems like there's pretty good system set up where the residents do their own learning on the own time and there are short reading for each day to trigger more in-depth discussion with the attendings. The attendings are very willing to teach. There's definitely heavy case loads but there seems to relief from the CRNA around 3-4pm unless there are just too many cases going on. Calls seem to be Q4d. So far so good.

Fiesta Chicken Pasta Salad

1 pkg Hidden Valley Fiesta Ranch dip mix
½ c. oil
½ c. vinegar

1 lb cooked, shredded chicken (about 1 ½ to 2 breasts)

3/4 box garden rotini
1 can black beans
1 can black olives, halved
2 -3 tomatoes, chopped
Frozen corn

Mix dressing mix, oil, and vinegar in small bowl and set aside. Combine chicken, cooked pasta, beans, olives, and tomatoes in large bowl. Add dressing and frozen corn about 20 minutes before serving. Be sure to toss again just before serving, as the dressing will seep to the bottom.

Garlic Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta

1 Tb olive oil

1 lb boneless/skinless chicken breast, sliced crosswise

1 tsp salt

1 Tb olive oil

6-8 cloves garlic, crushed (1 rounded Tb)

1/2 lb mushrooms, quartered

1/2 c green onions, sliced

3/4 c red or orange sweet peppers

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (undrained)

1/2 c chicken broth

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups dry bow tie pasta - cook as directed

1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped (may use fresh parsley)

parmesan cheese, grated

1. Fry chicken in oil over medium heat until done. Sprinkle with salt and remove from skillet. Keep warm.

2.Cook garlic in oil until golden. Add mushrooms, green onions and peppers - cook 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, broth, red pepper, cornstarch and salt. Heat to boiling then reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Combine chicken, hot mixture, pasta and cilantro. Sprinkle with fresh parmesan to your liking and enjoy!

*Use less crushed red pepper to make it mild. Also, I add the peppers when I have them on hand - zucchini and squash are delicious too. You can omit the chicken as well for a healthy, vegetarian dish.