Sprinkles And Cinnamon

            Rain, rain, go away! Or maybe not?

             What is there to do on a rainy Saturday? Cook and eat of course!

             Oh, and gossip too 🙂

    

     Since yesterday was apparently “call Diana and expect miracles” day at work, I need to vent a bit, about doctors, or rather say, those who strive and, hopefully, one day be doctors, aka medical residents and interns. 

     But first, about patients. It’s a hospital, you see all kind of characters and deal with all kind of personalities, there are some that will test your patience and try your “duck and run” skills, there are sweet ones that will bring you some weird gifts (like a huge Vidalia onion I got one day for Christmas), and then there are those that you don’t even know what to make out of them, but you just take them as they are. As the one I call a “leprechaun” man, he is roaming hospital halls all decked out in a gold suit, gold shoes and helmet as well as a gold suitcase to match. Sometimes I walk behind him to see if he drops a pot of gold, but that never happened, probably this leprechaun got all depressed and broke, or maybe he just wants all the gold for himself.

     Back to the residents and interns. I’ve worked with a never-ending flock of these young creatures, they change every four weeks. The worse time is the first week in July, don’t ever get sick and go to the hospital in July! Why? That’s when the new doctors-in-training start their hospital rotation for that year, they are usually cocky, hyper and oh so clueless.

Once they settle down, start remembering just memorized theory classes and actually learning some practical cases, I divide them into several categories and approach as such.

         There are some geeky brainiacs who remember all the theory but need encouragement proceeding with the actual cases. You pat them on their back, you discuss some latest research, but you’re also sure they’ve double-checked their every step with the attending doctor, so you feel OK that the work will be done.

Then there are “know-it-alls” over-confident and bossy ones who don’t check with anybody else and think they are there to “supervise”. They constantly tell you what you “should be doing” and consider performing miracles is your direct responsibility. Seriously, dude, I’m out of pixie dust! And who are you again?!

Then there are “pretty girls” that remind me of Legally Blonde (minus her brains), they are pink and perfectly polished and totally clueless.

And sometimes you get a male version of that. You just wonder how they not only got accepted into medical school but managed to stay there that long. Those you don’t even argue or discuss patients with, you smile and go straight to their attending.

The ones I actually like have a nice combination of proper professional factors and human qualities, they know their work, they appreciate yours, you can talk about patients and crack some jokes (even inappropriate ones), and you actually start to miss them once their four-week rotation is over. Sign me up to be their future patient!

But no matter who they really are, I try to keep in mind that they are just kids, medical school for many of them is probably their parents’ unfulfilled dream, and they’d rather be out with their friends or in bed with one of those “pretty girls”, and are probably totally scared inside of all the responsibilities of this “life and death” field. They’d much rather be playing than cutting and body sewing.

 The attendings come in all shapes and sizes too, most of them are knowledgeable and caring towards their patients. Some though are so old and on so many different medicines themselves that you just wonder how they even get up in the morning, let alone come to teach somebody and treat patients. There was an attending who’d fall asleep every time his butt hit a chair, one time his residents and I were getting ready to call a “code” on him as he was sliding down the chair and seemingly not breathing. There should be a forced retirement age for doctors I think. 🙂

What’s Cooking This Rainy Weekend

          First a review and my favorite leisurely weekend breakfast.  I went to Trader Joe’s this week and picked up some of their gluten free bread products. I don’t often go there as their gluten free section is tiny comparing to Whole Foods, and most of the brands in the store are their own, and I usually want to pick up a few specific things that I know they don’t carry. But I decided to give it a try, picked up a pack of their gluten free English muffins and French rolls. Both products contain soy oil and flour so immediately go on my “rare occasion” list, but it doesn’t mean I can’t still try. So I used one of the English muffins to make my favorite weekend breakfast – smoked salmon and toast.

         The texture of the muffin was good and very close to the wheat English muffin we all know, however, some unpleasant hint and an aftertaste didn’t leave a lasting impression. I think I’ll continue to enjoy my weekend salmon on either Udi’s toast or bagel or on Ener-G’s English muffin that to me looks more like a roll but has a more pleasant taste.

         And since it’s raining, we need something warm and sweet and satisfying. Like crepes. I love crepes, it’s an ultimate Russian dish, it’s a skill to make them even and pretty, and when they are gluten free, it’s an added challenge for both look and taste.

Gluten Free Crepes

          This recipe was adapted from the cookbook Babycakes Covers The Classics. The original recipe was for crepes filled

with onions and vegan cheddar. I wanted my crepes sweet, therefore, I added some sugar and cinnamon and

increased the water as the batter was too thick in my opinion. And next time I’ll try making them with some flour

mix other than Bob’s as I’m not a big fan of bean flours, though I do understand that it might affect the texture.

3/4 cup of Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten Free flour

1/4 cup of brown rice flour

1/2 tspoon Xanthan Gum

1/2 cup of rice milk

1 cup of hot water

1/4 cup of melted coconut (or canola) oil

1 tbspoon of sugar and cinnamon mix (make your own)

1/8 tspoon of salt

         Combine all the dry ingredients, then stir in all the wet ones, add more hot water if necessary and the batter appears to be thick, it has to be more liquidy than for pancakes. Heat up an 8-inch pan with low sides and spread a bit of coconut or canola oil, using a medium size ladle or a big serving spoon, pour about 1/2 cup of batter in the pan and immediately swerve it around so the whole surface of the pan is evenly covered. Cook on one side until the top part appears to be dry, then using a big spatula, turn the crepe over and cook for about a minute more. Repeat the process with the oil and the rest of the batter. You’ll get about 6-7 crepes. I like them with fruit preserves and some powdered sugar, you can use any kind of filling or topping, or just eat them plain. Enjoy!