Can't get enough of Wong Kar Wai: Ashes of Time Redux with the late Leslie Cheung, playing at the Angelika. Yay, no work today! Some of my patients ask me what I do on my days off. I'd like to say that I go to museum exhibits and bike 100 miles around the city and try new restaurants. But most days, like today, I am lounging around at home in my scrubs (they're clean of course!) going through my books and magazines and thinking about doing laundry. In answer to that question, I usually mumble something like, "Oh I usually catch up on errands and do laundry" which is a pretty lame answer but it's close to the truth. But of course when I think about how lucky I am to not be stuck in the hospital, I feel like a loser for not waking up at 6 am to do laundry, bike around the neighborhood, and go to the Moma to see the Van Gogh exhibit for the rest of the day. Maybe next week. This is what I've been making lately:



 Almond Tofu Dessert

• 2 envelopes of Knox unflavored gelatin
• 1-2 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon of almond extract
• 1-2 cups of soy milk or whatever kind of milk you want
• as much or little sugar as you want
• fruit (I like strawberries and canned lychees)

Combine hot water, gelatin, almond extract, and sugar in a saucepan. (Don't dump the whole envelope of gelatin at once or it will clump-- mix in slowly, using a whisk.) Stir until all the gelatin has dissolved. Add milk. Refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours. Serve with fruit. You can add more or less liquid depending on how firm you want the jello to be. Makes about 4 servings, but I can eat it all in one sitting.

Canoed and hiked at the Adirondacks on Sunday. A friend described this pic as "gloomy". I guess it depends on your point of view. The photo doesn't compare to actually being there in person, but I still think it's beautiful.

Dragonfruit-- what a nice treat after a day at work. And dinner too! Thanks, Neil. Now that I'm off work, I can't stop replaying everything that has happened during my 12-hour shift. Did I forget something? Did I do something incorrectly? How could I have answered differently? Was there a different way for me to handle that situation? I hope nothing I did causes any discomfort for the patients or grief for the next nurse. I analyze everything. Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of time to actually do that during my shift. My whole day consists of trying to complete my tasks: hang IVs, give meds, check lab results, change dressings and drains, assess, document, teach, order supplies, discharge and admit patients... I have to constantly remind myself of what needs to be done while keeping up with patient requests and relaying information to other health-care practitioners and hospital staff. Nothing else can really get processed through my brain right now, which is why I am watching the presidential debate but not really hearing anything they are saying. So I will blog. I had 3 patients recovering from surgery and 3 that came in with complications. Two of them were from other floors and had respiratory infections, which meant I had to put on gloves, gown, and mask everytime I entered the room (important but time comsuming-- I had to stay 2 hours after my shift ended yesterday.) My floor is specific for gastric cancers/tumors, so I am not comfortable taking care of patients with other types of cancers, especially if they have a lot of complications and breathing problems (chest tubes, pneumonia, etc.) like my 2 patients today. But I got through the day. And I learned a lot. And I really liked (most of) my patients. It was a good day overall, but I am definitely looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. My five days off in Toronto went by quickly. Aside from watching dvds at home, we went out to eat and spent some time with friends who recently returned from the Peace Corps. It was Thanksgiving in Canada but... who really cares! All I know was that there was enough traffic on Friday to crush my plans of going to Algonquin to see the fall foliage. At least we watched Burn After Reading-- my only other plan for the weekend-- and was not disappointed. Now the debate has ended. I thought it was interesting, didn't you think so too? I heard something about Joe the Plumber...

I have 5 days off of work in a row, so I took advantage of this rare opportunity to go back to Canada again. First thing we did was go to Wok on Yonge for a Cantonese take on afternoon tea. Three types of steamed shrimp dumplings, fried mantou with smoked salmon, chicken pie, egg rolls, and scones. A variety of teas but we stuck with traditional Chinese-- Pu Li and Oolong. Every time I come home to Toronto, I put The Big Lebowski DVD on but I'm usually so tired that I end up falling asleep somewhere shortly after the Dude and Walter attempt to make the exchange with the kidnappers and... end up going bowling. Well, today I sat through the whole thing... now I want to go bowling. But we will continue with the DVDs and watch Othello instead.

It's been one week since I left the Philippines and now have some time to post some pics from my trip. Below, the view from our apartment in Santa Cruz.



At a "dampa", or wet market, at Seaside Macapagal Blvd. where my aunt haggled with tinderas for fish, shrimp, clams, and crabs, which we took to Josefina's Garden Grill Paluto, one of the many restaurants next to the market, to have cooked for our lunch. A fun experience for balikbayans (Philippine nationals who return to their home country) like me. The cooking was good, though I felt a little queazy afterwards. I wouldn't call it fresh seafood... or maybe I just have a weak "foreign" stomach!



Here are the jeepneys that I mentioned before in a previous post. Cost: 8.5 pesos. Breathing in diesel fumes, enjoying the local scenery, and sharing a bumpy ride with loved ones: priceless. Now I wish I also took a picture-- no, a video-- of my ride through the bumpy streets of Chinatown on a bicycle rickshaw.



What visit to the Philippines would be complete without a meal at Jollibee's? Famous fried chicken and Filipino-style spaghetti, sweet and with hot dogs. Yum!

We've all heard that food travels on average 1,500 miles to reach your plate (which may or not be accurate). Six days ago, my grandpa bought mamon (Filipino sponge cake) from Red Ribbon Bake Shop in Binondo, Manila, which I hand-carried through a 2-hour stopover at the Hong Kong International Airport and over to Toronto, where I stayed for 2 days before flying to Newark, carried home to Brooklyn and brought to work with me the next day for the nurses on my floor to eat. A long journey for mamon to travel and for me to carry-- over 9,000 miles-- all to find out today that there is a Red Ribbon Bake Shop in Jersey City, 10 miles from where I live!