Archive for July, 2009
I’m in a New York state of mind
Ahhh….New York City. Such a fantastic place, and this past weekend I stopped by for the first time in almost a year.
Last Thursday, (after several delays, thanks Southwest) I flew down to see my friend Monica in Baltimore, MD. Monica and I first met when I studied abroad in Australia. I remember meeting her and going out for Chinese food and thinking to myself, “I like this girl. We are going to be friends.” Almost 5 years later, we still are friends 
Monica (or Mononica as I like to sometimes call her) and I stayed in touch and visited each several times since parting ways after we left the land down under. On one of those visits, she met Rizwan, a friend from Colgate who was also staying with me at the time, and they’ve now been together for 2 years:) It was so great to catch up with Monica before we road-tripped up to Rizwan in Jersey City. With the everything going on this past year, we haven’t really gotten to see each other in a while and this was a much needed reunion.
On Saturday we ventured into the city to do tour of TV and movies sights. Now I know this is super touristy, but turns out, I like being a tourist. I’m a big nerd, and I like to learn in a time efficient manner. I don’t mind seating and listening to a tour guide speak for 4 hours because while I’m seeing all these sights, because I’m also learning a ton about the city itself. Don’t worry, we didn’t actually sit the whole time. There was lots of off bus time too. Additionally, Michele and I had previously done the Sex and the City tour the last time I was in NY, and that was pretty fantastic. So for all the tour bus haters out there, it was completely worth the time and money.
One of the first things I saw on the tour had absolutely nothing to do with TV. Prius had set up several of the flowers pictured below that would provide free wifi powered by solar energy. What a fantastic idea. I’m all for finding ways to be more green.
Our tour bus (and the girl in the yellow dress with the weird diamond tooth)
Our fearless tour guide Brian. Brian is an actor (surprise surprise).
Moni and I just outside Washington Square Park
A city street by the park used in a few movies. Also, when I came home and watched and episode of SATC, the girls were walking down this street.
Steps used in EVERY episode of Law and Order
Cosby steps
Friends apartment building. In real life, the shop looks nothing like Central Perk and is now where near Central Park
Gossip Girl sight. I was super excited to see this place and it seemed like I was the only one. I was slightly embarrassed, and then I remembered just how awesome Gossip Girl is.
A view of the city from across the water
Another view of the city from across the water taken on our late night stroll on the water front
My fantastic host, Rizwan while we were out for happy hour at LITM. I remembered for the first time in a long time that happy hour isn’t illegal in all states.
Rizwan’s stray cat, Cat. Rizwan’s roommate, who has been in the apartment for 10 years, has been feeding this cat several times a day since he moved in. Cat is pretty much a permanent resident on the fire escape.
All and all, I had a fantastic time in the city. I had to leave to come home Sunday afternoon, but Rizwan made a fantastic breakfast to send me off (sorry no pics 
). I love NYC and after checking out residency programs in ob/gyn, the city has several programs I would be very interested in. Luckily I still have time to do lots of research about all this. I’ll reevaluate in 3 years 
Momma I’m coming home…Day 5 in Canada
Last day in Canada And what better way to spend our last morning than kayaking in the Harbour?
The elusive three person kayak selfie
While we were out we discovered the Canoe Brewpub and decided to do lunch there. The Canoe is yet another place in Victoria that prides themselves on showcasing local farmers. I was pleased to see this info on their menu.
Since I was at a brewpub I had to try one of their beers brewed on site. I don’t remember the actual name of the beer, but it was their seasonal summer wheat ale.
Had a veggie burger with seasonal organic greens on the side for lunch
The veggie burger was served on a whole wheat bun and was more on the falafel-y than your average veggie burger. It also had lettuce, tomato, onion, curried mango mayo, goat cheese and portabellini mushrooms. Mmm, goat cheese makes everything better.
The greens
All good things must come to an end. After 5 fantastic days in Victoria, seeing friends and visting a beautiful part of Canada, it was time to go home. Although we had some in air mishaps (including hot tea all over myslef), we did manage to get extra legroom on both of the flights. Mo also putted together this wonderful meal. Not the healthiest, but one of my favorites of the trip
Bed of Roses…Day four in Canada
The day after the wedding, we got a bit of a late start. We were all pretty tired from the festivities, but we still made it to Butchart Gardens in the early afternoon. For those not familiar with Butchart Gardens it’s an incredible place. According to wikipedia, it’s “is a group of floral display gardens in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia, Canada, near Victoria on Vancouver Island which claims to receive more than a million visitors each year.” It’s HUGE. Fifty gardeners work year round to keep up with all the floral displays. I have a few pics to share, but there are just too many photos to put up. Once again, we had awesome weather so the lighting for all the pics was perfect.
Richard and I at the gardens
The Italian Garden
Jamming
When you visit Victoria, a must-do is afternoon tea. The most famous place to do so, is at the Empress Hotel. Tea at the Empress didn’t quite work out for the group, but we did have a chance to do afternoon tea at the gardens.
I opted for the Teaberry Blend (Black Ceylon tea flavored with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and currants
Apparently, before tea is served one needs to cleanse the palate. To do this, we were served a Seasonal berry trifle (layers of sponge cake and seasonal berry compote, finished with chantilly cream)
Each pair of people were served this three layer treat
Bottom level: “The Salty.” Included a savory house-made sausage roll with imported mustard, roasted vegetable and cheese quiche, and sandwiches with locally smoked wild BC salmon with maple and whole grain mustard cream cheese, egg salad and watercress, mango-curry chicken salad with toasted cashews, smoked honey ham on a rosemary and aged cheddar biscuit, and cucumber with fresh ginger cream cheese
Middle layer: “The Sweet.” Included lemon tartlet with fresh fruit, raspberry marzipan Napoleon, lemon and poppy seed loaf, coconut chocolate macaroon, chocolate Grand Marnier truffle. Top level (not pictured) was a candied ginger scone accompanied by strawberry jam and whipped vanilla Devon-style cream
After a lengthy conversation about our favorites, I decided my overall favorite was the tarlet
All of us at Tea
We had tea around 3pm so we weren’t entirely hungry around dinner time. Instead we opted to take a walking ghost tour of Victoria. I do love a good ghost story, but I can’t say it was my favorite part of the trip. I’m not a huge believer so many of the stories had me rolling my eyes. Guess its that whole scientist thing that makes me want hard facts and not “feelings.” Since the ghost tour didn’t end until 11:30 pm and we hadn’t had dinner yet, we tried a few different places before we found a ktichen open. Interestinly enough, at one of the bars we ran into the bartender from the dance portion of the wedding. He definitely remembered us (Mo in particular;) ). Mr Bartender man suggested a place called the Mint. It was dark so the picture didn’t come out all the great. The Mint is a funky, relaxed lounge & restaurant serving up Tibetan and Nepalese cuisine. I loved the vibe at the restauarant: hip but not too trendy that I felt like I needed to up the cool factor to be there. There was a DJ spinning some fun mixes and there was exposed brick. We all know how much I love exposed brick
The only part I didn’t really like about the Mint was how dark it was. I have this thing with only eating my food if I can see it. Luckily, my camera flash is amazing and by taking a pic of the food, I could get the idea. I opted for a Butter Chicken Naan Pizza. Sounds kind of strange but it was a delightful fusion of italian and indian food. Spiced it up!
Kyle ordered sorbet for desert…mmm!
Here comes the bride
Ahhh….the wedding:) What we all traveled so far to see! As you may know, I first met Matt and Nicola at Colgate. Matt was in my freshman seminar, and Nicola and I lived together senior year. Both were fellow Molecular Biology majors so we all spent alot of time together taking those extra nerdy classes. They are two of the nicest people I know, and they couldn’t be cuter together. I was so happy to share the day with them. It was an AMAZING wedding, and I had an incredible time. There was laughter, there was tears, but most of all, there was alot of love (and wine).
The happy couple
Two of my favorite people in this world and also members of the bridal party, Richard and Carolyn. Love this picture.
The beautiful bridesmaids
The reception
A close-up of our table
The wedding favors. They actually hand stamped the wax on every favor.
Tasty chocolate covered almonds
Me, Nicola, Becky and Tara
Me, Kyle and Matt
Tara, Mo, Me and Becky at the cocktail reception. Check out that view…
All the Colgate kids toasting Matt and Nicola. Counting the bride and groom there were 17 of us. Guess who is making the next issue of the Colgate Scene
Cutting the cake. I was too busy dancing and never got a piece of the “lemon chiffon cake layered with berry compote and lemon curd.” Oh well. I did hear it was super tasty.
Dinner was amazing. We started off with a salad with “sweet gem lettuce, poached pear, gorgonzola and fig pate with a champagne vinaigrette.” Holy YUM!
The main course. I ordered the vegetarian option so I’m not entirely sure what it was. I do know it was tasty and I think there were mushroom ravioli in a carrot pure, spinach and LOTS of cheese.
Dessert was a “vanilla bean creme brulee with honey roasted cashew cookies.” There was also berries and a white chocolate straw. It just may have been the best creme brulee I’ve ever had.
After the amazing meal, it was off to the dance floor. There are many many pictures, but lets just say not too many were blog worthy/safe Below is a pic of Tara, Carolyn, Me, Kyle and Becky and I think it’s a pretty good representation of how the remainder of the evening went.
It’s a beautiful day…Day 3 in Canada
Day three in Canada was the busiest of them all. As you can tell from some of the pictures below, the weather was just as beautiful as it was the first two days. Since it was an evening wedding, we had quite a bit of time in the morning and early afternoon to continue our exploration of Victoria. We decided to visit the Royal British Columbia Museum. I have to admit, I was hesitant at first. It was a little on the pricey side, but it’s totally worth it. The museum was incredibly well done and contained so many things that were important to the pacific northwest. Unfortunately not many of my pictures do it justice. If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend stopping by.
A very cool pic in the totem pole room. I don’t know if you can tell from the pic, but they were super tall. The room was huge.
Breakfast was at a cute wholefoods bakery called Casacadia. They also prided themselves on using lots of locally grown, organic ingredients. Love it
Where we sat during breakfast
Quiche with mushrooms, peppers, and onions. So tasty…
Lunch was at a cafe towards the Chinatown area called the Red Dragon Bistro
The red dragon
Dragon figurines and the Canadian flag
I had the Chicken Brushchetta panini for lunch. It had roasted chicken breast (with Italian herbs), Roma tomato bruschetta, Edam cheese and Djon cheese. I can’t tell you how tasty it was. Defintely one of my favorite meals of the trip.
Here comes the sun… Day 2 in Canada
After a great night with a lot of wine, we got a bit of a late start for our first day of sight seeing. The weather was AAAmazing. Not a cloud in the sky and no humidity. It was like a breath of fresh air. It FINALLY felt like summertime. The members of the wedding party were busy with wedding things, so Kyle, Becky, Tara and I decided to see what Victoria had to offer. First stop was Breakfast/Lunch. We decided on a cute place called Pizza Pi that Becky and I saw when finding the hotel.
Love the geek humor. All slices cost $3.14.
I love when restaurants pride them selves on using organic, locally grown ingredients. Makes you feel good about what you’re eating.
Pizza was delicious! One slice had goat cheese, tomatoes black olives and spinach and the other had red onions and mushrooms.
Delivery man made entirely out of pans.
Beautiful mural/map of Vancouver Island
Parliament building. We took a free tour and went through no security. Definitely wasn’t in the US anymore.
A view of the “Harbour”
A possible date for the wedding?
Candy apples at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
My favorite apple
Mmm chocolates…
Even with all that super tasty looking chocolate, I opted for some mango sorbet (my fave).
Dinner for the day was at an Canadian chain called the Old Spaghetti Factory. With the bread they brought several types of butter. Mmm carbs!
Splurged big time and had a big piece of veggie lasagna for dinner.
Money, money, money…Mooooney
So I just realized after posting my first Canadian adventure entry , that I actually should be writing my first med school related post. Today I bit the bullet and bought all my text books and equipment for my first year. I forgot just how expensive books are! After spending about an hour searching for the best prices and used books deals, I dropped $400 (with tax and shipping and handling) on 6 text books. I was honestly thinking that was pretty bad until I started buying all my equpiment (stethoscope, scrubs, etc) and I quickly spent another $1000. Eeks. Turns out, becoming a doctor isn’t cheap! On a happier note, I heard the good news from the financial aid office. I’m an in-state student. That tranlates into a $20,000 savings. Yay!
O Canada
Well it’s been a while! I have to admit, with all the traveling I’ve been a little lax on the blogging. Time to play catch up. The next few blog entries will about my recent trip to Canada to see my friends from Colgate, Nicola and Matt, get married. Besides having an amazing time catching up with friends and sightseeing one of Canada’s most beautiful cities, I also had the chance to eat quite a bit of tasty food.
Two Wednesdays ago Maureen drove up from New Bedford, MA, to spend the night in Fonda before catching our plane in Albany the next morning. While Mo was in route I got in a quick 5k (my fastest time in a long time), and got the majority of my packing done. In an effort to consume all the calories I just burned off, we went to the Bistro in Gloversville for dinner. For anyone who has ever been (any of my home friends) you know it’s not exactly known for it’s healthy cuisine
The next morning we were up and out of the house by 3:30 am (yes, AM). I was a complete zombie, but I had Mo and her Disney sing-a-long to CD to keep my awake. After a few minor bumps along the way, including unknowingly trying to get a knife through security, we were on our way to meet Becky in Chicago. Seven hours later, Becky and I were boarding the ferry that would take us from Vancouver to Victoria. I was super exhausted and ready to be chilling at the hotel instead of sitting on a bought. Regardless, I really enjoyed the ferry ride. This was my first trip to the northwest and I was pleasantly surprised by just how beautiful the Vancouver/Victoria area is.
Finally after 15 hours of traveling, we arrived at Paul’s Motor Inn. The place was a little retro, including the fans as opposed to air conditioning, but it was cozy and cute and there were a ton of other Colgate kids staying in the hotel.
We had the first official wedding event of the weekend at Nicola’s parent’s house. Their home was right on the water and absolutely beautiful. Half of the fun of the night was just admiring the AMAZING views. The other half was a mix of enjoying the super tasty food or catching up with old friends. I even got a chance to see the roommate’s late entrance (United sucked and kept Carolyn in San Francisco all day). It was a great night, but after being up for over 24 hours, I was ready to call it a night.
The only food pic I got that night (thanks to Richard). Forgot my camera
Nicola, Kyle and I
Mo and I (after several glasses of delicious wine)
Becky, Me, Carolyn and Tara
With a little help from my friends
We were up bright an early to get ready for the race! After 3 months of training, I couldn’t believe July 12th has finally arrived! The alarm went off at 5:00 am and I got some food in my system (a zone bar and a 1/2 of a larabar). Em made us ADORABLE race tanks! We were the Bunsen Burners because they make things boil….and we love the muppets
Front
Back
Pre race activities
Kelly putting her bib on
We arrived at the race finish line with plenty of time. Thank god we had better luck with directions than the day before. Shuttle buses brought us over to the start and we waited about an hour before the gun went off. In that time, I not only ran into a my cousin Rick but I saw a Colgate professor…small world. The weather conditions could not have been more ideal. It was in the 60s with a slight breeze. Absolutely beautiful upstate New York summer day!
There were a ton of runners (around 12,000), and it took us over 10 minutes to make it to the start line after the gun went off. Michele is on an entirely different level with her running, so took off pretty quickly. Emily, Kelly and I kept right together for pretty much the whole race. It’s so much more fun to run with friends.
The first 10K went really well. We made it through the big hills in the golf course portion of the race and picked up alot of time running back down those hills. There was a ton of course-side entertainment, including Polish, Belly, and Irish Dancers and bagpipers. I was feeling great….until I hit the last 5K. I’m not exactly sure what it was, but I think my low blood sugar and food poisoning combined to make me feel tired, woozy and nauseous. Emily was a trouper and stayed with me the whole time (I think to make sure if I passed out, someone would be there to catch me ) even though she could have finished much much sooner. At one point, she offered me water from her water bottle. I was too out of it to realize she had said “water over your head” and received a surprise splash down. Even in my space cadet condition, I still managed a few laughs. I’m not entirely sure I could have finished the race without her encouragement, so thank you Emily. I love you so much
After the race, we made our way over to the post race party. We ran into Lia, my aunt, uncle, Rick, Crystal and my mom, which is very cool considering just how many people were at the post race party. There was free food, music, massages and beer. Unfortunately, I was not feeling so well and I didn’t partake in the consumption of any adult beverages. I did pick up my race swag.
Finisher Pin
Pint Glass
All and all, the Boilermaker was a great race. The course was a nice combo of flat road and hills, and took you through some pretty parts of Utica. There was so much support from the crowd. The city really comes together to show their Utica spirit. I also really appreciated the race day organization. Nothing felt out of control or confusing. It’s a great race that I highly reccomend to anyone who is in central NY during the second weekend in July!
Ready, ready, ready, ready…ready to run
It’s been a few days since the last update. Sooo much has happened. Thursday night I went for my last run before the boilermaker. I did a quick 5K, working primarily on speed. It went well. Not awesome, but I was running a good mile time for me (right around 10 min miles). Afterwards, I came home to work on the blog and my stomach started feeling a little strange. Within an hour I was in full on food poisoning mode. I won’t go into much detail, but it wasn’t pretty.
Needless to say, I never got around to that blog post on Thursday. By Friday morning I was feeling somewhat better. I spent the day resting as much as possible until Michele arrived. She drove in from Boston for the race. I was so excited to see her. I’m missing Boston more and more every day and it was great to see someone from back home. Besides hanging at Casa de Fryc, Michele had the added benefit of going to a Hanson (my mom’s maiden name) BBQ. My cousin Rick and his wife Crystal were in town to run the race so Aunt Millie had a party for everyone to get together. It was nice to see everyone, and I had some fantastic apple bread (mmm it was so good). I also was extra classy and was sipping wine out of a big red solo cup. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pics of the evening
Saturday morning we were up bright and early to meet Kelly for wedding dress shopping with Emily. After a little confusion with timing (totally my fault), we arrived a the boutique in Saratoga Springs. Emily tried on lots and lots and lots of dresses, and she even finalized the dress she wanted for the bridesmaids to wear. Kelly and I got to try it, on and it is ADORABLE. No pics until next September
After lunch with Emily’s parents, the four of us were off to Utica. We arrived with plenty of time to pick up our race packets. Unfortunately, the heavy storms also arrived at the same time. As we were waiting in line for our race gear, the heavens opened up and as emily said “It was epic!” Michele took one for the team and ran back to pick up the car. We all got a little wet, but we survived.
Next up on the to do list was find a walmart to pick up last minute race gear (headbands and breakfast etc). Even though I went to college near Utica and Kelly has spent quite a bit of time here lately , this proved more difficult than expected. After about 30 minutes (it should have taken 5), we pulled into the Walmart parking lot. We loaded up on all of our fun new items and were off to find the hotel.
After some confusion (lesson #1 of the trip: I need to get a GPS), we found our hotel. It was seriously in the middle of no where, and the only thing surrounding it was the county airport. Although we were initially hesitant, the hotel was perfect. The place was filled with probably about 95% Boilermaker runners, and the price was right.
I gave my favorite Rome, NY, native Richard a phone call to ask for restaurant recommendations, and he pointed us in the direction of a place called Teddy’s. Lesson # 2 of the trip: Richard thinks smart things. The place was fantastic! Teddy’s is named after Theodore Roosevelt. I know, that in itself is very cool, but it gets better. The restaurant is filled with pictures of our late great president and teddy bears. So cute!
Front window
The portrait above our booth
Teddy was all over the menu
Inside Teddy’s
We started our order out with a appetizer platter with fried ravioli, mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers and onion rings (suuuuper healthy). The onion rings were the biggest I have ever seen!
Em and Kelly at dinner
Michel and I
We then moved on to the main course. I had a side salad and a central New York favorite, Chicken Riggies . Teddy’s has won the title of Best Chicken Riggies for several years so I had to try it. Lesson #r 3: Teddy’s Chicken Riggies is AWESOME! The serving size was ridiculous and I ended up taking more than half of it home to my little brother.
After a fantastic day filled a ton of laughs and delicious food, we called it an early night…
