Flashback: My return to Boston in June 2010
As promised, here’s my first of several flashback posts from 2010!
Back in the summer of 2010, I made my first trip back to Boston after a full year away at school. I was so excited to spend time with all of my Boston friends and visit all of the spots that were special to me. Of course I headed back to my old apartment with Michele and Renate. I miss these girls so much! While I do love having my own place, I can’t tell you how many times I get all nostalgic for that year at 117 Lanark. From lazy Lifetime Sundays to crazy nights out (remember the office chair guys?), I made some awesome memories with my partners in crime (and when I say crime, I mean foodler purchasing 
). When I first got in, Renate and I spent the afternoon together shopping and having lunch at Bertucci’s (mmmm). The next day, Michele took a day off of work, and we took a long walk around the city. I made sure to stop by most of my favorite places.
One of our first stops was a trip to Feneuil hall. I have so many amazing memories at this place. Whether it was sight-seeing with friends who were visitng the city, or spending a night out on the town, I lenjoyed every moment I spent here. Yes, its toruisty. Yes, it was an expensive taxi ride from all three of my various apartments. Yes, my heels would always get stuck in the cobblestones. But my goodness, I LOVE this place.
I think a big portion of my love for the area is because of one bar in particular. Although it was closed when I was there due to a Christmas eve fire in 2009, I hear it’s up and running. After I finish taking the boards, I will be making a road trip to Boston to celebrate here with meat on a stick, scorpion bowls, and a whole lotta 80′s music. Vicki, Michele and Renate: I’m requiring you to join me
One of the prettiest places in the city is Boston common. When I first moved and was spending that lonely summer living in Harvard Square (before I met Hanley and before my Colgate friends and I moved in all together), I spent alot of time here reading and people watching. I also have a very special memory here with Renate
The public garden is by far the prettiest place in the city. If I get married in Boston, I will have my wedding pictures taken here.
Michele and I continue our walk over towards Boylston where we stopped at the Pour House for a drink and a snack.
I <3 Michele!
After our day of Boston goodness, Michele and I bet up with Renate at the Barking Crab to sample some tasty New England treats.
Michele and Renate doing their best crab impersonations.
This was my first time at the Barking Crab and I was delighted by the friendly atmosphere of picnic tables and paper towel rolls on the tables.
Yes, these drinks were as large as the roll of paper towels, and we each got one.
Lobster roll
Roommates!
We finished off our night with a quick trip to the BEST convenience store in all of Brighton…Chansky’s. The same guy was working the counter, and I may have “tip-silly” rambled on to him about how much I loved and missed the store and thanked him several times for the free birthday T-shirt they had given me for my 24th Bday. I think he too stoned to remember me. I know what you’re thinking…Did they really just by the combo of queso and Andre? And the answer would be yes and it was delicious!
While I may not have loved all the new additions to my old apartment, I definitely didn’t feel that way about Riley. Here he is waking me up early one morning to play 
A trip to Boston would not be complete without stopping by Zaftig’s. During my three years in Boston, I lost count of how many times I ate here. My best guess is about 30 times. The food is just that good. Richard was actually in town for a conference and decided to spend a few of his time in the city with me. I couldn’t think of better people to go to Zaftig’s with than Richard and Renate!
I got my usual, a Holly’s Heavenly salad with chicken, cranberry, goat cheese an walnuts.
A also ordered one of the potato pancakes. If you ever go here, you MUST try one.
I have such love in my heart for Coolidge Corner. I lived here for 2 years and hands down, best place to live in Boston.
Richard and I decided to stop by all old apartment. Of course, we took the sketchy shortcut.
Kat, Lia, Hanley, Richard and I spent two years together in our 5 bedroom fun house.
So many good memories at 58 Perry st.
RIchard and I at the Longwood T-stop
We met up with Michele after work and Richard’s friend for margaritas at Fajitas and Ritas. This place used to be our favorite after-work ,date-night, pre-movie restaurant.
Mango Rita
Although I don’t have any pictures from my last night in Boston, we met up with Tara and Derek. I hadn’t seen Tara since her wedding in the previous August so I was suuuper excited. After spending 40 hours a week for three years working, laughing and going on morning starbucks runs with a person, its a hard adjustment to only seeing them once or twice a year. We had a lovely dinner at Redbones in Davis Square with a woman who looked remarkably like Meredith from the office as our waitress. Michele’s boyfriend met up with us, and I was super excited to finally meet he man that was making my Meeechele so happy
The trip was definitely over too quickly, and I’m looking forward to my next trip back
The Holiday season of 2010: Part 2
New Years Weekend
Emily, Kelly and I were definitely not tardy for THIS party! In honor of one of our favorite shows, Emily and I decided to spend the 11th annual Sarah-Emily New Years extravaganza at my apartment in Syracuse watching Andy Cohen’s Real Housewives Near Years special. Besides the wonderfully awful TV we planned on watching, we were also excited about our RH theme menu AND that Kelly decided to come too! Yay Kelly As we’ve gotten older and moved away from home, it’s been harder and harder to see my home friends on a regular basis. Every opportunity I got is super special to me, and I was PSYCHED for the weekend I was going to spend with two of my closest friends.
Emily arrived on Friday morning, and we headed over to Wegman’s. Emily, much like myself, is a huge fan of the store. We opted for a lunch at the Wokery. This is one of the few times I’ve had a meal with a fellow food blogger. You always feel a little less strange taking pictures of your food in public, but when someone else is also there snapping away, it feels a little less awkward.
I enjoyed some tofu, stir fry veggies and some type of potato dish
I also got a few of my latest obsession, vegetarian meatballs. They don’t look so tasty, but they are delicious.
All of the ingredients Emily purchased for our Real Housewives theme menu
Kelly arrived while we were unloading the car, and we quickly got into comfy clothes just in time to meet up with Vicki over ichat. She couldn’t be in Syracuse, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t stop by to say hi and exchange presents
And then the cooking began! We started off with a dish representing our friends on the Real Housewives of New Jersey.
In honor of the lovely Italian ladies on the show, we made bruschetta.
Emily putting fresh basil on the bread.
Pre-cheesed bruschetta.
The finished product!
If you watch the Beverly Hills version of the show, you can’t help but fall in love with Cedric, Lisa’s permanent house guest. In honor of our favorite Real Housewives gay man we made turkey, cheddar and apple Cedric-wiches.
Try saying that 5 times fast…
I got to use my brand new griddler for the first time.
Mmm… they were delicious. The griddler is definitely the best addition to my kitchen in a long time.
None of us actually watch the DC version of the show, but we still want to represent all the ladies. Thus, we made red, white and blue jello.
I’ve been dying to try the skinny girl Margarita and what better way to show some love the NY housewives?
It was actually really good, but I think my favorite part was the bottle. So cute!
And finally, it was time to make mini peach cobblers in honor of the southern version of the show. I’m not a huge fan of the RH of Atlanta, but this dish was DELICIOUS.
After mixing canned peaches, brown sugar, and cinnamon, we added the mixture to the separated biscuit pieces in my Pampered chef mini muffin pan.
After about 10 minutes in the oven, they were the perfect amount of done.
You know you’ve been studying too much when you think your food looks like a heart valve….
The Andy Cohen special was ok, but the highlight of the night was cooking and chatting with Emily and Kelly. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time, and I couldn’t think of a better way to ring in the 2011!
The next morning it was back to Wegman’s. Emily found the perfect decoration for her annual wine dinner. I officially got my invitation. Who else is excited????
After trip #2 to Wegman’s the next morning, Kelly had to head home 
Emily and I spent the remainder of the day enjoying several lifetime and Lifetime like movies, and we put together a cheese board for dinner. I love cheese, wine and bread, but moral of the story is too much of anything is not a good thing.
Very cool reflection in my coffee table.
One of the main topics of conversation throughout the weekend, was our goals we wanted to accomplish in the new year. If you’re interested, here’s my complete list. Hopefully by writing them down here and making them public, I’ll be a little more likely to stick to them all.
Things I want to do in 2011
- Stop biting my nails. It’s a bed habit I picked up somewhere along the line and this is going to be the year I kick it for good.
- Drink more water. This not only includes drinking water, but drinking less diet soda. I have one more bottle in my apartment, and when that’s gone, I’m officially quitting the Coke!
- Joining a 2011 exercise pack AND sticking with it. This means 4 hours of working out (hopefully with my new S2H bracelet) a week.
- Eat better. This means returning to the good-old, tried and true weight watchers.
- Make coffee home. Starbucks, I love you, but you are eating up quite a bit of my loan money.
- Not turning the TV on before 9. Although I think I have fairly strong will power, it’s hard to withstand the amazing power of my TV! If I let me self watch one episode of the Real Housewives, I could very easily be sucked in for a 5 episode marathon. It would be completely unrealistic for me to give up watching TV, but I still need to limit time spent on my couch. Thus, if I force myself to be productive until 9, I can definitely allow myself to indulge
- Getting more sleep. I have a bad habit of keeping myself awake with school work or late night TV, and it makes it THAT much harder to wake up in the morning. I’m hoping to get my workouts in earlier this semester, and the only way I’m going to drag myself out of bed before the sun is up, is if I’m running on more than 5 hours of sleep.
- Take (and do well on) the Boards. To move onto the next phase of my medical education, I need to pass the step 1 exam. It’s essentially an 8 hour exam, testing everything I’ve learned in the first two years of med school. I’ll be it at the end of June, but I start studying full time in the beginning of May (8-10 hours a day).
- Run in at least 3 races. If all goes as planned, I’ll run in the Boilermaker, the Empire State half marathon, and the Troy Turkey Trot.
- Blog more! I love keeping this site running, and I’m hoping to spend a little more time making it into a blog that I’m really proud of. As I’m finishing up my first two years of school, I’m moving into the more exciting phase of my medical education. Pretty soon I’ll be actually working in the hospital. I originally started this site as a way to chronicle my years in med school and my attempts at maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Now that I’m finally reaching a point where I’ll be doing something beyond living in the library, hopefully I’ll have something a little more exciting to write about!
The Holiday season of 2010: Part 1
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I can’t believe it’s already 2011. Where did 2010 go???? Although the year is officially over with, I’m still going to attempt to finish blogging about the major events of 2010 at some point in time. For now, I’ll focus on 2010 holiday season and my awesome NYE with two of my favorite people in the world, Kelly and Emily.
Thanksgiving
I started out the day with a pioneer tradition, the annual Troy Turkey Trot. Although I have had next to no time to prepare for the race this year, I was still determined to run it. Kelly, Vicki and I arrived bright and early (gnomes in tow).
After probably the coldest race I have ever run, we stopped for a quick picture.
Next it was home for dinner with the family. Dad didn’t want to get his pic taken, but he was there too!
Dinner was suuuuper tasty, and I took a few pics of some of the culinary goodness. Here’s mom’s sausage stuffing aka one of my three favorite recipes she makes (the others being pumpkin pie and potato salad).
Turkey!
Mashed sweat potatoes with walnuts and brown sugar.
Annual Yankee Candle Trip
My next holiday adventure was yet another tradition. Vicki and I drove out to South Deerfield, MA, to meet Emily and spend the day at the flagship Yankee Candle store. One of my favorite parts of the South Deerfield, MA, store is the Department 56 area. We all know how much I love miniature things (remember my trip to Miniature World in Victoria, BC). The store has al complete display of every series of Department 56 houses.
Mmm…chocolate factory.
Gumdrop factory.
I love the Dickens Village collection.
We spent quite a bit of time perusing all the candles, looking for those hard to find scents. Here’s Vicki holding the votive she was searching for.
VickI and Emily in myfavorite section…the new tropical scents
Oh so many candles!
We stopped by Chandler’s, the on site restaurant, for lunch.
I had a garden salad…
…a pesto chicken salad panini.
The three of us also decided to split a piece of Tollhouse pie.
After lunch, it was back to the candle store. As we were passing through the various rooms, I noticed a few new additions. For example, a cow playing frisbee.
Or the Giant bears!
Em had some funning playing on the new pirate ship play area.
Em and Vicki in Santa’s workshop.
The “nice list”
Emily making some new friends in the toy room.
Although I always spend way too much money, and spend way to much time sniffing every last new candle scent, the trip to South Deerfield is always a fantastic time!
Annual trip to Rome, NY, to visit the Lebeau House
Before my trip out to Rome to visit with Richard and his family, I decided to do a little baking so I could bring something tasty over. I made a chocolate filled, chocolate chip, chocolate covered cookie for Richard (sorry, no pics), and peppermint cheesecake brownies.
Finished product didn’t look all that good, but they were tasty.
I got to spend the day hanging out with Richard and his family and eating all the delicious food Mrs. LeBeau made. The newest member, Richard’s brother’s dog named Bowser, was absolutely adorable!
Richard and I
It was great to see Richard, and I got an wonderful surprise a few days later. He decided to push back his flight so we got to spend ANOTHER day together before I took him to the airport friday morning. The combo of Coldstone, shopping, take out and a 1992 movie marathon (the Bodyguard and the Little Mermaid) made me remember just how awesome it is to live with Richard
Going to the Chapel: Mark and Sarah
Way back in May, we threw a bachelorette party for my friend from school Sarah. The Saturday after our final exam of the year was the perfect day to celebrate the upcoming wedding AND the fact that we had finished our first year of medical school. We were officially “0.25 % MDs.” We kicked off our fun-filled girly day at the mall with a screening of Sex and the City 2.
Taco bell and Starbucks = a fantastic lunch
We headed back to our respective apartments to get cute for our night out on the town. The festivities started off at Pastabilities with a tasty dinner and cocktails.
We gave Sarah her official bride-to-be gear for the evening. Mark is from Texas. Thus, she definitely needed a pink sparkly cowboy hat !
After dinner we headed over to Daisy Duke’s to DANCE!
The black dress girls
Mike even showed up for the festivities.
The Wedding
About a month later in June we all headed to Rochester for the big day. The ceremony was held in the chapel at University of Rochester.
Sarah looked absolutely beautiful as her mom and dad walked her down the aisle.
This was my first Jewish wedding. I have to admit, I loved when Mark broke the glass with his cowboy boots.
The happy couple!
Upstate Med girls at the wedding.
Mark’s cookie cake (YUM!)
GIANT challah!
Beautiful (and delicious) wedding cake.
And then it was time to get our dance on! I believe Journey was playing when this picture was taken.
And we continued to get our dance on!
I’m back!
After a 5 month absence from the blogging world, I’m officially back! We had our third unit exam today, and after a week of non-stop studying, it feels AMAZING to be doing something NOT related to school.
Quite a bit has happened over the past few months, and I hope to fully update the blog over the next week. We’ll start out with the exciting (and not so exciting) events of today.
The exam was exactly what I expected. Three sometimes painful, sometimes exhausting hours of pharm, path, micro and EBM questions. I tried using ear pluggs for the first time, and it was a total success. The ear pluggs were just sound proof enough to drown out the annoying paper flipping, coughing, and proctor whispering. They definitely improved my ability to focus.
Afterwards, we headed to Phoebe’s for our post test lunch.
.
It was my first time eating at Phoebe’s, and it was super cute inside!
All of us (minus Christopher who was taking the picture.
I had a cup of the butternut squash and apple bisque…
…and the coconut shrimp wrap.
In other news, I actually did something towards Anna’s exercise challenge today! Anna had the brilliant idea to create a challenge were all of the participants keep track of how much we work out with a goal of 4 hours peer week. Unfortunately, the week before an exam doesn’t’ always involve me doing much other than studying. But, today is the start of a new week, and I’m going to try and make up some of those hours! I did a zumba class at the Dancing Kats studio in Mattydale with Tara, Andrea, Caitlyn, and Nicole. I’ve been attending classes there for about a year, and they’re amazing. When Kat (the owner) teaches the class, you know you’re in for an awesome workout. Tonight’s class was HARD! So hard in fact that Andrea, Nicole and I treated ourselves to Syracuse’s first Chipotle. No quite as good as Boca Grande, but it was pretty tasty
Next blog post….Sarah and Mark’s Wedding!
I will be back soon…
As you may have noticed, Hippocratic Oats has not been updated in a while. Med school has definitely gotten in the way of my blogging
I am happy to announce that I will be returning on November 15th with several posts about this past summer and my second year at Upstate. A lot as happened in the past 5 months, and I’m super excited to start the blog back up again. Thanks for stopping by and check back on Monday!
Sarah
Going to the Chapel (Kelly and Jason version)
Storytime! I first met my friend Kelly way back in middle school. We knew each other because we had gym class together, but Kelly was a year older than me. Because a grade can sometimes be quite a barrier to communication, we didn’t start chatting regularly until our 5th period band practice. I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but because Kelly and I both played the flute, we started sitting next to each other. When Kelly moved up to the 9th grade, much to my disappointment, she left me alone with our music stand. Luckily, my nerdy 8th grade self was in the accelerated science program, and Kelly and I spent many hours together learning all about geology and meteorology from “Mr Box o Rocks.” Throughout high school, we continued our friendship, growing closer and closer. Years later, we have shared so much more than a few pieces of sheet music. From the laughter of “board cake” and Bon Jovi concerts to the tears of break-ups and bad hair, Kelly has remained one of my best friends. We have traveled together to NYC, Florida and Hawaii, and our friendship has even withstood several “fights” involving maps. In my blog, you’ll often hear me refer to my friends as Pioneers. Kelly was there the night the phrase “Pioneer Girls” were born and is PG #1. Kelly is one of my best friends, and I’m so honored that she asked me to be one of her bridesmaids when she married her husband Jason. From the very first text I got after their first date, I had a feeling that he maybe the one for Kelly Ok, enough with the sappy walk down memory lane, and time for some pictures!
As you probably can tell, this is going to be one of my favorite blog posts. Although I’ll never be able to capture all of the emotions of this special day, I hope this post shows what a beautiful wedding Kelly and Jason had. Unfortunately, due to bridesmaids duties, I wasn’t able to take photos of the actual ceremony and parts of the reception. Check out Emily’s blog to see quite a few more pictures from all the wedding festivities. She owns one of those big bad paparazzi cameras so the pics are pretty awesome:)
The Wedding
After a long day of testing, driving, rehearsing, dining and reception prepping, I woke up bright and early the next morning ready for wedding festivities. I picked Kelly up and headed over to Michael’s diner for a pre-wedding breakfast and hair party with Kelly, Emily, Vicki and I.
Kelly and her congrats balloon
I was running late (surprise, surprise), so Em and Vicki brought me an iced coffee (dark roast, black, and delicious)
Emily!
Kelly!
Michael and Vicki!
Michael whipped up perhaps one of the tastiest omelets I’ve ever had.
After breakfast, we headed next door to get our hair done. Here’s the soon to be Mrs. Peruzzi outside of the hair salon.
After spending way more time than I thought was possible on Kelly and my hair (Em has some photos of my 80′s soap star hair on her blog) and a make-up session, we headed over to the Coddingtons to get dressed. We got Kelly into the dress fairly quickly, and thanks to quite a bit of dress tape that thing was not moving anytime soon.
Kelly all dressed, ready, and waiting
Love this picture
Vicki, me, Kelly, Lisa, and Emily before the wedding
Bridesmaids after the wedding ceremony
Mr and Mrs Peruzzi!
Such a beautiful day for a wedding. Couldn’t get a picture of the church without the stupid power lines
Tailgating outside the reception before Kelly and Jason arrived
Bridal party drinking out of our classy champagne glasses. You’ll notice that we’re only hanging on to the top half.
The guy at the store only sold us tops. No bottoms.
Vicki keeping it classy
Em and I doing the same
My placecard
My beautiful flowers. Thanks Emily for being so crafty!
With all the craziness at the reception, I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of my dinner. I did manage to get a picture of my salad.
Wedding favor
Love this picture of Emily at the reception
The cake that our super talented Emily made
Kelly after they cut the cake
Jason after the cake cutting
Jason taking off the Giants garter I worked so hard to put on
The photographer had an idea
It worked fairly well with Kelly. Sorry for dropping you Jason!
After all was said and done, I had a fantastic time at the wedding. Even if I still have a bruise from the unidentified dancing relative who accidentally kicked me while busting a move, the wedding was awesome! Congrats Kelly and Jason!!!
Love is in the air
As I mentioned in my previous post, one of the most exciting events that happened over the past few weeks was Kelly and Jason’s wedding. After my last written test of the year (still had a lab practical left to go), I headed home just in time to make my hair appointment. After a quick cut and style, Em, Vicki, and I met up and made our way over to the church in Canajoharie. The actual rehearsal went well. We worked out a few kinks and practiced walking mega slow. The rehearsal dinner was at a cute Italian restaurant called Mercato’s.
Emily and Vicki at dinner
Vicki and I
My giant plate full of bread, salad, pasta, chicken and shrimp. Yum
I may have had seconds of the shrimp and pasta dish
Kelly and Jason gave a few gifts to members of the bridal party and family members. I got a beautiful new Vera Bradley bag and these cute pink shades to wear the following day.
Em, Kelly, Vicki and I after dinner
The happy couple
The wedding was going to be held at the Charter House in Fort Plain. After the rehearsal a bunch of us headed over the restaurant to help set up for the next day.
The “paparazzi” (aka Em and her camera)
Michael striking a pose
At the Charter House bar
Michael and Kelly
Still don’t know how I feel about the Shrimp….
Mmm Tequila sunrise
We eventually did actually do some setting up. Here’s Em and Vicki carrying boxes
Kelly put Vicki and I in charge of alphabetizing and organizing the place cards. She knew we’re both pretty OCD
Restaurant almost set up!
Kelly and Emily rushing around putting the finishing touches on the tables.
After a long day, I finally headed home to get some sleep before the big day…
Mamma Mia
So much for me being on top of the blog! Since my last post, sooooo much has happened. The highlights include successfully completing my first year of med school and the first wedding of the 2010 season. Once again, it’s time for me to play bog catch up!
Mothers Day
Since I was pretty busy with school, mom came out to Syracuse to spend the day with me. We started off the morning with a lovely breakfast at Stella’s Diner.
As Richard put it, “Upstate NY is where reliable, consistent weather goes to die.” That’s snow falling from the sky and snow on the cars…in MAY!
Mom and I. They gave ever mom a pink carnation and a chocolate dipped strawberry.
Portions are HUGE at Stella’s. I had a veggie scramble with hash browns and whole wheat toast.
We spent the rest of the day shopping and watching Lifetime movies. We also whipped up a batch of Michele’s Mango Salsa. It was super relaxing and an excellent study break/work break for the both of us.
After mom headed home, I found some unopened mail from the day before. After going through 6 items of junk mail, I almost made the mistake of throwing away this little bit of goodness. I don’t know if i should be proud or extremely embarrassed that I have hit the gold level at Starbucks…
One sweet world, around a star is spinning…
I just got back from a fantastic evening at the Museum of Science and Technology down in armory square. After a year of of comedy nights, coffeehouse performances, and Sunday morning brunches, Upstate’s CAGB had it’s end of the year event at the museum. Not only did the we get to roam through all the exhibits, but we also got to take in a show at the planetarium and the IMAX theater. The movie was called Wild Ocean, and although I heard some mixed reviews from my classmates, I very much enjoyed it. Ever since the marine bio class I took back at Colgate, I’ve had a thing for any type of ocean documentary. I even own the entire Blue Planet collection. Anyway…It was a great night and as always, I brought my camera along
One of the best parts of the night was definitely the desserts. The event was catered by Sweet Endings.
Mini cheese cakes, mini cupcakes and mini cannolis.
The three I picked…mmm they were delicious
Cake on stick!
Tara opted for a tasty looking raspberry tart.
Andrea, Anna’s friend Sarah, and Anna.
Me, Tara, and Justin.
Erica enjoying a mini cupcake.
Inside the museum.
One of my “candid” shots
Tara making a new friend and working on some type of puzzle.
Andrea posing with the giant heart.
Erica inside the heart.
More science museum fun!
As many of you may know, I LOVE scaled down miniatures. Yes it’s weird thing to enjoy, but does anyone remember my trip to Miniature World ? Canada’s “Greatest Little Show on Earth?” I can’t get enough of the stuff! Little did I know, the museum had a special exhibit devoted to miniature temples and towers. How exciting!
St. Patrick’s Cathedral…made out of toothpicks!
Friends checking out the toothpick masterpieces.
I loved little King Kong on the Empire State building.
Notre Dame
Grand Mosque
