No Shave November

Clean Shaven

So every year I participate in No-Shave November, where I grow a beard for the month of November.  In recent years I've altered it a little bit (for professional reasons), crafting my beard a little bit (by shaving the neck), so that it doesn't look quite as slovenly.  Last year I continued growing the beard on into December only to be forced to shave it when I had to go back into the operating room on my Obstetrics and Gynecology rotation (the alternative was to wear a ridiculous sterile hood (since apparently there is potential that my exposed sideburns could infect the patient) which seemed to be more of a hassle than it was worth.  Needless to say, this year I have no such restrictions.  Already a full week in I have a pretty respectable beard.

Beard as of 11.8.11

Beard as of 11.8.11

When I do shave my beards I usually do it in two parts, the first is to shave some crazy design (I've done lightning bolt sideburns, a fu-man-chu, a three pronged goatee) which I then sport at a happy hour of some sort, and then shave the rest of the way the next day.  I'm taking suggestions for this year's ridiculous look as well as locations for said happy hour.

Adam's Movember Mustache

My roommate, Adam, on the other hand is participating in Movember, in which people grow mustache's for the month of November to raise money for prostate cancer awareness.  It's a big thing at Wharton (to me it seems a bit too "Bro" for my liking, though the cause is a good one.  He's got a pretty good start on his mustache (He's given me permission to post the mustache's progress and we'll contrast it with the progress of my beard).  Oh, and if you'd like to donate to prostate cancer, here's his link: Movember

Missing the hospital

Last night I went out with my girlfriend and a few of her friends, Sarah, Steph, and Len for another belated birthday celebration for Lindy (girl has more birthday celebrations than anyone I've met...she's got some great friends).  We had a really great time out at Dimitri's, good company, good food, a healthy amount of wine, all in all a great Thursday night.  Steph, Sarah and Len are all practicing nurses, so, naturally much of the conversation was hospital-centric.  I haven't noticed it much when hanging out with my med school friends lately, but during dinner I really found myself missing the hospital. 

I haven't noticed it when hanging out with my medical school friends because they're mostly either doing research or interviewing for residency programs, or taking classes (Frontiers), but hearing Len talk about his encephalopathic patient in the ICU, or Sarah talk about her 91 year old patient who tried to escape the hospital very slowly using his walker, or hearing Steph talk about the Labor and Delivery floor made me really miss being in the hospital and taking part in patient care.  I miss the challenges of using what the patient tells you, their exam, the lab results and imaging to come up with a diagnosis.  I miss that intellectual challenge.  I miss getting to help people.  I miss the camaraderie of the other students, interns, and residents on the team. 

While I'm definitely learning a ton during this year, enjoying the change in the type of thinking that I have to do for my GSE classes, I also know I made the right choice for me as far as my profession.  While I know I want to teach medical students and residents, part of that stems from my love of teaching, but part of it also stems from my passion for medicine. 

Philly Beer Scene

Our First Round of Beer

Boston Beer Works Website: http://www.beerworks.net

First off, this weekend on Saturday, November 12 there's a GSE On-Campus Information Session from 10-12 in Bodek Lounge of Houston Hall RSVP Click Here.

Before I moved to Philly, I lived in Boston.  My plan for the year I spent there was to work as an EMT to prepare myself for medical school.  Unfortunately, the state of Massachusetts had other plans for me.  Getting my license proved to by more challenging than expected and took almost six months.  In the meanwhile I got a job waiting tables and beer-tending at a bar next to the stadium for the Bruins and Celtics.  The bar was associated with a brewery, and did not serve commercial beer, only that brewed by its brewers.  In order to actually wait tables you first had to go to brew school and then take a brew test...thus my interest in beer was born.  I learned the differences between different beers, the types I liked and those that I didn't. 

So this blog posting is about the Philly Beer Scene.  It's inspired by a trip I took to Monk's, one of my favorite Belgian Beer Establishments.  Monk's has a number of beers on tap, as well as one of the most extensive collections of bottled beers I've seen.  True to form, each beer comes in the appropriate style glass to fully appreciate its flavor to the fullest.

Kash's Stout

 Kash's first beer was a stout (Guinness is also a stout style beer).  Stouts are some of the darkest beers around, but contrary to popular belief, not at all heavy.  They're given their color because of the type of malts used to brew the beer.  They can be infused with coffee, chocolate, and caramel flavors in the brewing process.

Dave's Lager

Dave, on the other hand is a hoppy beer fan.  He enjoys pale ales, ESB's (english style bitters or extra special bitter), and IPA's (india pale ale).  The hops are spicing added to the beer during the fermentation process to add flavor.  The fermentation time is when flavorings such as fruit get added to beers.  IPA's especially tend to be high in alcohol content because of the amount of sugars available during fermentation.  This time however, he threw a curveball and went with Mahr's Ungespundets Keller, an unpasteurized, unfiltered lager.

My Amber Ale

I went with an amber ale for my first round which was a bit sweeter than I expected.  I'm not a hoppy beer fan, and tend to really like the seasonal offerings.  In the summer, I appreciate a good wheat beer or summer ale.  In the fall I like both the Ocktoberfest Lagers as well as the pumpkin beers and amber ales.  In the winter I'll go with a heartier beer such as a Belgian Trippel or a Dunkel.  The difference between lagers and ales is one of the key differences in beers.  Lagers are more simple crisp beers.  They are brewed with a bottom fermenting yeast at colder temperatures.  This is in contrast to ales which have a wide array of flavors depending on the blend of malts, hops and other flavoring.  They're brewed with a top fermenting yeast and brewed at room temperature.

My second beer, a Kolsch

While Kash didn't go for round 2, and Dave went with a repeat of his first, I decided to try something different.  After the overly sweet first beer, I decided I was more in the mood for something a little more crisp and refreshing, so I went with a Kolsch.

Philly actually has some great beer bars in addition to Monk's.  Local 44 in West Philly is known for having one of the widest selection of beers on tap.  Nodding Head is a brewery/restaurant in Center City that serves its own brews (and has a great Quizzo on Sunday evenings).  Tria, predominantly known as a wine bar (and a great date spot) has a great selection of craft beers on tap as well.  Perhaps most importantly though is Philly Beer Week, which happens every year in the spring/summer (It's the first week in June 2012) in which various bars all around philly have events dedicated to beer.  They bring in brewers from all over the world, have elaborate dinners pairing beers with food, among many other events.

As American As Apple Pie

What to do with some leftover apples from apple picking a few weeks ago on a chilly Friday night...Apple Pie.  I'm not sure how this delicious treat became associated with being wholesome and all-American (feel free to comment below with the answer to this mystery), but they certainly are fun to bake.  A group of us gathered at my apartment Friday night to put those soon to be wasted apples from apple picking a few weeks ago to good use.

Katy Prepping the dough

Christine and Aaron having fun putting the lid back on the pumpkin

In preparation, I found an apple pie recipe on Epicurious and went out to Wegmon's in Cherry Hill to pick up the requisite supplies (amazingly I forgot to pick up ice cream at this visit, but fortunately Aaron saved the day with a Friday afternoon phone call from Trader Joe's).  Everyone came over around 8, and we began to make our pies.  Aaron and Dave were on peeling, slicing and coring the apples using Aaron's fancy apple coring machine (see video, music accompaniment by Aaron himself...) while Katy and I set about using Epicurious's less than stellar recipe to prepare the crust.   In the meanwhile we heated up some of the Apple Cider I'd brought back from our apple picking trip adding in cinnamon sticks for added flavor. 

Christine, her pumpkin and pumpkin seed

Christine decided to make it a full on fall festival evening by bringing over her pumpkin to begin carving, so while she was busy scooping the goop out of the inside of her pumpkin (and later separating the seeds to bake for a snack while the pies were in the oven), Lindy kept her company. 

Covering the pie

Once the dough had been sufficiently refrigerated, Dave and Katy attempted to role it out into the appropriate shape and size for the pie crust.  The dough proved to be more challenging to work with than expected (we blame the recipe) but through their blood, sweat and tears they did manage to roll it out into a solid bottom, then pouring in the apples, cinnamon, sugar and butter to make the apple filling (though Aaron was skeptical about merely placing the butter on top as opposed to interspersed throughout).  Then came the truly challenging part, rolling out the top to the pie and getting it onto the pie.  After a few failed attempts, the pie was topped and placed in the oven.







Not to be outdone, however, Christine pulled up our friend Phil's apple pie recipe (we miss ya buddy), and decided to whip up her own apple pie with Dave's help.  They decided to go one step further, not simply settling for a regular pie crust top, but to try to make a pie with a lattice top.

Dave and Christine's Lattice Pie

The Apple Pie From Epicurious

While the pies were in the oven, we relaxed on the couch, enjoying the company of friends snacking on the baked pumpkin seeds from Christine's pumpkin and enjoying some spiced cider.  The pies both turned out to be delicious (though the lattice pie looked infinitely better).

On Belay!!! More of My Climbing Adventures

Belay On!!

Went back to Go Vertical (to climb for my class assignment) again last week (I'm now going every Tuesday night) with my girlfriend, Lindy.  She took her belay test (belaying is the way in which the person who is not climbing keeps the rope attached to the climber's harness taught so that if they fall the rope will catch them) after we did a little review on technique, passed and we then began climbing.  The gym was much busier this time than it had been the previous times, so we had to choose which routes to climb carefully so as not to get in other people's way and so as to not have others be in our way.  Also this afforded me the opportunity to really watch some of the advanced climbers (and take some pictures of them for your viewing pleasure) who were practicing their lead climbing (a practice in which the climber has one end of the rope, and as they climb up the wall, they will clip the rope into a carabbeener which have been drilled into the wall).

A woman lead climbing

I also watched some of the other novice climbers who were more advanced than me when they were climbing some of the top roping (the type of climbing I'm currently doing in which a rope put over a pulley at the top, so one end is attached to the climber's harness and the other to the belayer's).  I watched two particular women as they climbed a 5.10, and noticed that they not only used the holds but also used the wall itself for leverage, especially with their feet and legs (a technique I used later on my last climb, but more on that later).  I also watched the pace at which they climbed.  It was much more deliberate than mine.  They seemingly paused at each hold to plan their next three moves (as opposed to merely the next one).  They also used their bodies differently than I did.  I tend to remain prone against the wall, they did a lot of twisting, often perpendicular to the wall, with it at their side as opposed to front.  

Some other people lead climbing

It was with these ideas in mind that Lindy and I went climbing.  I first belayed her up a 5.4 (the grading system for difficulty/technicality ranges from 5.4-5.13) that I had done last week which she nailed.  I then attempted the 5.5- that had eluded me the previous week.  With fresh arms I was able to nail it without too much difficulty.  Feeling pretty good about myself, I next attempted the 5.5 that had similarly eluded me the previous week.  Again, however, I was unable to get past the overhang on this 5.5.  After three tries (in between each of which I came down and discussed my previous approach with Lindy, and discussed the plan for the subsequent approach), my arms were once again tapped out.

Me pretending to belay

We then went over to the tallest wall and Lindy attempted a 5.4 on it.  I had completed that 5.4 during the intro class, but had been forced to do it in two parts (as it was a really long climb and I got tired in the middle of it).  Lindy attempted it first, getting stuck at the overhang.  I decided I'd give it a try with the intention of stopping and using the elbow rest technique I'd watched an advanced climber utilize last week to see how it worked.  To my pleasure I didn't need it, as in the three weeks I've been climbing my technique had improved to the point where I was able to motor up to the top without much difficulty despite the fact that my arms were tired.

This is the last 5.5 I did (blue ribbon

Lindy and I took an extended break during which I took most of the pictures, watching some pretty sweet climbing with people traversing the roof of the gym.  She then wanted one more crack at the tall 5.4, and with some discussion got past the overhang, getting 80% of the way up before she got tired.  Before we called it a night, I wanted to try one more wall, and attempted a 5.5 (pictured below) in which there was no overhang, but sparse holds, requiring me to spread out my grips more than I was used to.  I completed this climb using the technique of really using the wall itself in addition to the holds as leverage at numerous points in the climb.  

Home for the (Jewish) Holidays

Matt Forte Meets Scream

So this weekend was the Jewish Holiday, Yom Kippur, or the Day of atonement.  I decided to go home to Chicago to see my family.  Not having Friday classes made this exceedingly easy and worth my while to do. Unlike previous years (both in college and medical school) when Friday classes prevented me from getting home until late Friday evening only to fly back early on Sunday leaving me with barely more than 24 hours at home, being able to fly out Friday morning left me with two full days and evenings to spend with my family. 

A little halloween decorating by the neighbors

            This holiday was an especially good one, as my little brother was able to get time off from work to fly in from New York, and my little sister’s exam schedule permitted her to fly in from Boston as well.  We had the whole family, including my 90-year old grandfather there for Friday night Shabbat dinner.  It was great having everyone together again, as it rarely works out where we all have time off at the same time.  It reminded me of our weekly Shabbat dinners growing up (except the table feels a little small now that we’re all grown up) which made me smile. 

            We decided to go to a new synagogue this year, as the one we had belonged to growing up had become progressively rigid and not accepting of forms of Judaism and belief other than those they profess.  We went to a more progressive temple this year.  The stated purpose of the synagogue was to increase the connectedness of the congregation to Judaism.  There was music, dancing and a very different tenor compared to your traditional services.  While my mother, brother and sister objected to the upbeat nature of the service on this Day of Atonement, believing it was inappropriate for the occasion, my dad really liked the service.  I fell somewhere in the middle.  While I agreed with my mom, brother and sister’s point that perhaps the service should have been a little more somber, after all we are supposed to be atoning for our sins, I appreciated the idea behind the service.  At various points after saying a prayer in Hebrew when our old synagogue would have merely recited the same prayer with the direct English translation, this set of Rabbis attempted to interpret the prayer in the context of modern society.  During the prayer where we ask forgiveness for specific sins, instead of reading off the litany of archaic sins (such as coveting thy neighbor or worshipping false idols), this rabbi asked for forgiveness for her feelings of inadequacy which prevented her from bonding with her son.  I really appreciated the attempt to make Judaism more relevant, as for the last ten years since I received a woefully inadequate explanation of why September 11^th happened from my Rabbi, I have felt spiritually disconnected from Judaism (I have retained the cultural and familial connections, but spiritually I have felt disconnected). 

At Shabbat dinner, after the initial conversations about out lives, the conversation inevitably turned towards current events at which point our generational differences showed through as they always do.  My grandfather’s borderline socialist views came through loud (especially so since he’s hard of hearing) and clear as we discussed the protesters on Wall Street.  My dad countered with his socially progressive but financially conservative disappointment with the current administration and my mom lamented the pointlessness of this protest compared to the protests of the seventies.  She wondered what their goal and end game was, as it was not entirely clear.  My brother sister and I all offered up our indifference, showing our disillusionment with the current political process.  I pointed out that in my mind none of it really mattered because in the end it would be business as usual in Washington.  After watching an opportunity for health reform get completely gutted and replaced with a toothless (and in my opinion useless bordering on ineffective and financially irresponsible) policy by politicians who seemingly have the ability to turn anything into a sound bite to advance their popularity regardless of its truthfulness, I have become quite disillusioned with the prospect for any real change in the current political climate.  It was interesting to see how the experiences of our lives shown through in our perception of the political process.  My grandfather, having grown up in the Great Depression was championing “putting a buck in a guy’s hand,” while my father has become disillusioned with the idea of unions, believing they’ve outlived their time and now propagate their own survival rather than the rights of their members finds the insistence on redistribution of wealth to be a corrupt process.  My mother, with her experiences watching the protests of her high school and college years, laments the pointlessness of the current set of protests, which seemingly are gatherings with no goal.  And then there was the Generation Xers and Yers to whom the political process is a bunch of blustering from which we’ve come to believe that real change just doesn’t really happen. 

Overall it was a fantastic weekend at home, filled with some quality family time, some reflecting time (a lot of time spent catching up on reading), and some heated political discussions.  I can’t wait for thanksgiving to get to rinse and repeat. 

Fall Means Apple Picking, Pumpkins, Cider Doughnuts and Caramel Apples

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Christine doing her best Jungle Book impersonation

This past weekend, a group of friends and I embarked on our annual apple picking excursion.  We made the short 20-minute drive out to Linvilla Orchards in Media, PA for our annual fall adventure.  We initially debated postponing because of a rainy forecast and overcast skies, but were all really glad we didn’t, as the rain held off and we had a wonderful afternoon celebrating fall. 

Kathleen picking some goldens

Once there, we got our two boxes and set off amongst the trees to pick our apples.  We spent the next two hours climbing into trees to pick the best (and largest) red delicious, golden delicious, granny smith, and Northern Spy apples we could find, while at the same time enjoying a few along the way.  There were some rookie mistakes (such as my friend Christine showing up in flip-flops…rain + being outdoors in the mud made this a bad idea), but overall we had a blast.  We picked two boxes worth of apples when all was said and done. 

Lindy with one of our two boxes

After we were done picking we went over to their market to pick up other fall favorites like apple cider, maple syrup, and honey crisp apples (yes, my girlfriend is an apple snob, and despite our two boxes already in the car picked up some honey crisps from the store because they’re her favorite kind). 

Caramel Chocolate Apples

Then the real fun began, as we went out to the restaurant area outside.  There were chocolate caramel apples (which claimed a permanent retainer as their casualty), apple cider doughnuts (which were delicious and only $6/dozen), caramel corn, and a shared apple cider slushie.  While we couldn’t convince my friend Ponney to paint her face, we did get to watch a bunch of adorable kids get theirs painted. 

In the Pumpkin Patch

Last but certainly not least, fall would not be fall without a discussion of Halloween costumes while perusing pumpkins.  I think my plan is to get an NBA jersey of some sort, and then strap some chains over my shoulders with a lock in the center (to make fun of the NBA lockout).  We spent much of this time, discussing past costumes (Lady Godiva, Michael Vick, 80’s Prom Queen,  and Rainbow Warrior were some of the highlights), and pumpkin designs (mostly scary faces with toothy grins, but Christine claims she is a master carver, having made the Death Star last year and Darth Vader the year before).  The pumpkins there looked great, but we thought that October 1^st might be premature to buy a pumpkin for Halloween. I guess we'll just have to go back to pick them out later this month

We decided to head home, and made a date for next Sunday to bake Apple Pie with our apples and drink some spiked cider.  I’ll keep ya posted on how those turned out.