Grilled Vegan Pizza

I know I'm only averaging a couple posts a week, and I miss being able to write more often, but I'm just keeping very busy.

The hospital's good I guess.

2 weeks + a test week left of surgery rotation, and while I'm feeling very overwhelmed with the amount of material that will be on our end-of-rotation exams, overall I guess I'm all right. I was on call again on Friday night and we had a good time with some interesting consults.

Exercise has been a little slack lately and I think I'm suffering some endorphin withdrawal - I've been a bit sad lately, but I have a plan for that coming up in a later post.

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Post-call on Friday, John came to visit and for dinner? Grilled Pizza with roomies and friends.

Katie's a grill master:

To Make Grilled Pizza

1. Take your dough (we used Trader Joe's) and shape it. 

2. Grill a few minutes over high heat to get it a little crispy.

3. Add toppings.

   - Mine were olives, broccoli, bell pepper, tomato sauce, onions, and tomatoes. 

    (No cheese substitutes - I'm not such a fan of vegan cheese.)

4. Return to the grill and cover to cook both top and bottom. 

5. Eat and love those crispy grill marks. 

Pizza dough breadsticks - spread with oil/garlic/cheese if you want and bake in a 400 degree oven. 

Yes, I ate the whole thing.

Grilled? Pizza stone? Brick oven? Papa John's? What's your favorite way to make/get your pizza?

Tachy Med Student: Surgery 7 Weeks In.

It's week number 7 of surgery rotation.

Can I say I'm ready for it to be over? It's not that I don't like the rotation. Everyone's great and I'm learning all the time. The people I've been working with at Kaiser have shown me that surgeons don't have to be rude - though I maintain that plenty are.

I definitely don't have complaints, I've actually had a really great rotation, especially compared to some of my classmates. My hours have been a little shorter, I don't think I've gone in on as many weekends.

I just don't want to be a surgeon, and I'm ready to not have to say, "Oh great!" when they tell me I can come back after class on Friday afternoon because there's a big interesting case. Only a few hours long. "Great!"

So. great.

I'm kind of over these styling caps. Also these suffocating masks and their associated pimples:

It's also over 100 degrees every day and never really gets cool at night, so I haven't been sleeping well at all. 

I have 3 more calls on this rotation and two and a half weeks in the hospital. Then we have a week to take tests - a written exam and a series of standardized patient encounters where we get evaluated.

I'm sure it'll be over before I know it, but I'm just tired and it feels like Fall, a new rotation and cooler temperatures are ages away.

Wordless Weekend

WIAW: Plus a Little Weekend

My last post was a WIAW. That means it's been a week. Too much fun I guess.

Or work. Both actually.

This weekend I spent in Irvine with John. We went to the beach twice, a couple of enormous malls, a wedding venue, I got in a good run, ate some oatmeal, drank some coffee and had a great time celebrating birthdays: Happy Birthday to my future Father-in-law Mike and future sister-in-law Kellie! 

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And now a proper WIAW: I'm on ENT surgery this week. It's a fun service, but still long days. 

Breakfast: Coffee and a yogurt bowl. This cereal from Cadia, Cadia Crunch, looks/tastes/has the same nutritional profile just like Kashi Go Lean Crunch, but it was a little less expensive so I thought I'd try it out. Blindfolded I'm not sure I could tell the difference. 

It's still dark outside when I eat, hence my shadowy kitchen-lit pictures. 

Morning snack: Mini Peanut Butter Cookie Luna Bar. Between rounds and the operating room.

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Lunch: Fast and easy Tofurky/lettuce/mustard/Ezekiel bread sandwich. It's relatively non-perishable, portable, quick to make and has therefore been my lunch (if I bring it) almost every day I've been in the hospital for the past couple weeks. Unfortunately I ran out of bread today (note that I've used the heel for this sandwich). No idea what I'm going to make tomorrow.

Snacks: 

During clinic: One of the attendings was turning 30 and there was cake of which I could not partake. This is like vegan cake though right? Trader Joe's. I think a box of 6 of these is less than $2. And there are no better granola bars. 

Post-hospital pre-workout: A perfect peach.

Dinner: My favorite stirfry: 1 head cauliflower, 2 crowns broccoli, 1 package tofu (cubed, pressed and fried first), 4 stalks celery, 1 onion, 1 bell pepper cooked in a small amount of water until tender. Then cooked with a double batch of Emily's peanut sauce until most of the liquid is gone. Makes about 4 servings. 

I have not yet decided if there will be dessert. I think a cold glass of soymilk might be perfect. 

Happy WIAW! What's in your favorite stirfry?