Original P day and Fine Dining

Sunday Sept 12th apparently was the original "Proposal Day." Kelvin popped the question early, but we still had special plans on Sunday night which he had made well in advance!

He took me to The Kitchen, which is a fabulous restaurant that prides itself on being the best "dining experience" in Sacramento. The restaurant seats guests by reservation only, and doesn't even have a sign out front (this is to prevent passers-by from knocking on the door!). It was, by far, the fanciest and best meal I have ever had. Basically, the chef and his associates create this "dining experience" (advertised as like acts of a play) for about 50 guests per night (the capacity of the restaurant), which lasts about 4 hours. They create and, in detailed fashion, describe a multi-course meal of delicacies which are unique, largely local, and delicious. They allow you to ask for for seconds, thirds, or beyond, of any of the courses, to wander around the restaurant as you please, and to stay as late as you want. Needless to say (without going back for seconds), I was entirely full and satisfied at the end and may not ever need to eat again. The service and personal touch was outstanding-- the head chef even chased us out the door at the end to tell us how happy we joined him that night and to congratulate us. Below is the scrumptious menu we were served, which changes monthly.

- September 2010 Dinner Menu -

Presented by Chefs Nancy Zimmer, Randall Selland and Chef de Cuisine Noah Zonca
______

‘Soup and Sandwich’ of Heirloom Tomato and Maine Lobster with Homemade Bacon, Swiss Gruyère
and Cherry Tomato Salsa
~~~
Slow Braised Elk Grove Rabbit with Thyme Infused Pasta, Olives, Ricotta and Young Parmesan
~~~
Sushi ~ Sashimi ~ Crudo
~~~
Butter Basted Grilled Wild Salmon and Rock Shrimp Hush Puppies with Last of the Summer Squash, Almonds, Butter and Burrata Cream
~~~
Beef Tenderloin Cooked ‘Backwards’ with Saskatchewan Chanterelle Mushrooms,
Red Wine and Arugula
~~~
Vanilla and Chocolate Crème Brûlée and Phyllo Napoleon Blackberries, Cookies and Sorbet

I couldn't even begin to choose a favorite of mine out of all of the courses-- they were all really THAT good!

Some photos:

In the lovely courtyard

The cookbooks in the kitchen of "The Kitchen"

The setup at the counter

The wine cellar

We probably can't really afford to go back to the Kitchen very often (or, well, ever), but it was absolutely and definitely worth it for the special occasion! If you live in Sac, you have to go sometime!

Doggie days and down time of summer

This past weekend was the first weekend in a long time that I just stay put. While I love to travel and explore new places, it was so nice to relax... at home... and do fun things in good-ol' Sac-town!

Thanks to Swati for organizing happy hour at Kasbah Lounge on Friday. The wings, falafel, company, and yogurt dessert at Mochii (it's been too long...!) made for a great evening!

Thanks to Jose who reminded us that, on Saturday, Sacramento hosted the 17th annual Doggy Dash to benefit the SPCA. You could register yourself and your dog in the 5K run/walk to help raise money. You (well, your dog) could also enter a host of other fun events, such as the "Running of the Pugs" (complete with heats! Alas, we missed this one!), pup contests such as "Ugliest Dog," "Best Wag" and "Look-a-like," as well as relay races. They also had a police/K-9 demonstration.

It was quite amazing to see so many dogs in such a small area (Land Park is pretty huge, but it was virtually overrun with canine creatures!). There were booths, hot-dog (ha ha) and other food stands, kiddie pools for the pooches on a warm day, and "interest-groups" including things like "Pitbull Owners and Friends," etc., where you might see a group of 10 owners with their similar-bred doggie friends :)

It was pretty cute. Although I went dog-less (sniff... perhaps I can get one sometime in the near future), I got to see tons of cute ones and get my doggie-fix for a while. I also was ecstatic that I came away from their without stepping in any of the doggie droppings that were a realistic ever-present danger at such an event.

Here are some snapshots from the morning:

Ah, doggie patience. I, as a small child (not my dolls), used to ride my dog, Khumbu :)

Cooling off

Greyhound focus group

Getting ready for the relay race!

...in action!


There was this once miniature schnauzer that really tried his hardest to keep up in this race with the border collies that seemed to dominate. The hilarious thing was that every time he finished a run, he'd bound the 4 feet or so vertically into his owner's arms. This never failed to crack me up! Ah, how I miss our old mini schnauzer (our first family dog), Toccata, who died about 10 years ago and sweet Duncan/Freya, the crazy Cairns back east with my parents.

Saturday was finished out with precepting at Clinica Tepati (free clinic in Sacramento serving a large Hispanic population), cooking steak dinner (I have been quite good lately on the cooking spree!), and falling asleep to a movie (typical).

Sunday included church, errands including shopping at Costco (my favorite!), Macy's (ugh! but free stuff with gift cards), some lazy reading, and then a show at Arco Arena; Cirque du Soleil's "Alegria."

The show was great! The acts included amazing trapeze artists, a balancing strongman, bouncy gymnasts (a bit reminiscent of "dodgeball on trampolines"), a spinning guy in a big ring, fire dancers, and more. I am always so impressed by the performers' talent!

We then had yummy sushi at Kobe (directions including "next to the Pole-dancing studio," per Wendy) and called it a night.

Sacramento surprises me so much. It has fields all around it, phenomenal weather, virtually no traffic, diversity, great restaurants and quite a lot of "culture." I really like living here! Perhaps I should stick around for more weekends from now on ;).

Trying to get out (not very successfully)

Sorry for not blogging, Wendi!
My excuse has to do with the fact that I'm working every day of the week but one. This has been my schedule the last few days:

Sunday, 9/9/07:

6:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. Work. More or less a normal day, for a resident, that is.

Monday, 9/10/07:
5:00 wake up
6:00 (I tried to get there earlier because I was feeling so behind on work other mornings recently b/c of the patient load) gather vitals, preround, and start hospital notes, go over pts with the senior resident
9:00 round with team
12:30 rush off to drive to UCD for clinic, drive around looking for parking
12:30-6: run around seeing patients, including one who showed up 45 minutes late and I was told had a "foot problem" (so I said "okay, squeeze her in"), but ended up, ontop of her mmp (multiple medical problems) including CHF (congestive heart failure), hypertension, arthritis, etc., being there not for a "foot problem" but generally for "just not feeling well," with headache, nausea, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, and the works. She's also seen in our clinic about every week and hospitalized about once a month. "You're not going to fix her," said Dr. B, who staffed her with me. That kind of threw my whole afternoon off and made me superlate for the other patients, which I hate, hate, hate. I don't think that I will agree to any more squeezing those pts in from now on. My clinic, which generally I enjoy because it's more laid back than hospital medicine, turned into a very stressful afternoon, dealing with (a) patient(s) that may very well belong in the hospital that I left earlier in the day (except that she was female :)).
6:00 - 11 p.m.: Work on electronic clinic notes from my patients, respond to messages in my clinic inbox (I hate, hate, hate this), get signout from the senior about what happened in the hospital in my absence, do VA discharge summaries from home. I don't know which is more depressing-- staying at work late, or doing work like this from home.
11:30- 4 a.m: (a glorious 4.5 hours of) Sleep

Tuesday, 9/11/07:
5 a.m. I'm back at the VA hospital, finishing electronic d/c summaries at work and reading up to pick up a patient who was admitted the day before while I was at clinic, but then became "mine" to follow
6:00 a.m.- 7:00 p.m.: spent prerounding, ordering, rounding, writing consults, following up tests, admitting.
7:00- 8:30 p.m.: doing discharge summaries from that day at work
9:00- 9:45 p.m.: reading my friends' blogs, personal, and ucdavis e-mails
9:50- 9 a.m. Sleeping.

Why was I able to sleep in until 9 a.m. today? It was hard to even make myself get out of bed at that time! It's because I have my day off today! I actually was supposed to have Friday off, and give a noon case presentation today, but I realized that I couldn't make it through the week without a break, and I worked it out with the other interns to switch presentation days so that I could have a "mental health" day to stave off a meltdown from the pace. And knowing that I would have just one day to sleep in made all the difference yesterday and was the only thing getting me through the afternoon. I truly get giddy with the thought of a day off. My fourth day off in four weeks. Now I just have to make it through Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of work before VACATION starts. I have never looked forward to anything, I think, as much as I am looking forward to this vacation for the sole reason that I need a break.

Yesterday, I was asked two very interesting, and telling questions.

One was from Danny, the GI fellow, when I said I was there every day, all day: "How's that for your personal life??:

Me: "Do you really want me to answer that?"

And from one of the nurses around 8 p.m. last night, when I ran to get some graham crackers for sustenance as a break from working on my notes:

"Oh, Dr. Arness. You're back, huh?"

Me: "Um. Not really. I just haven't actually left to go home yet."

My question is-- how does this work with the whole work-hours thing? With the day and night float system in place, you really not supposed to stay past 7 p.m. or come in before 7 a.m. But honestly, there is no way to round on everyone and get the work done in those hours. I've been told that work from home does not count towards work hours-- so that, even though I spent like 6 hours after normal "clinic" hours doing stuff on Monday, I should not log it. Even though I came in at 5 a.m. and didn't leave until 8:30 because I was doing hospital work-- notes and d/c summaries, it apparently doesn't "count" for the work-hours thing b/c I could have done it at home. This seems a bit screwy to me, because what does the "on the job" work hours limitations do for you and your quality of life if you're working more, but just from home? Anyone? Sometimes I wonder if going back to a overnight call system would be better. It's kind of demoralizing to leave work or stop working really late and then just know that you have to do the commute, and come back in at the crack of dawn the next day... to start over. All I know is that the work is exhausting and I feel like I have no time.

Okay, so there's my venting. Onto other things.

I know I'm slacking big-time on the pictures, but here is one from my one social outing from the last week, which was "Second Saturday," a monthly event held year-round in Sac, where galleries and shops in midtown open their doors for people to walk in and view the art and other things, people set up music and food stands all around the midtown area, and everything is very lively. Kate, Amy, Amy's friend Katherine, and I all checked it out this past weekend, which was very cool! I love seeing so many (young) people out and about! This might have to be a monthly thing. There are also things going, like concerts, on for "fourth Sunday" and "third Thursday," but I can not keep those straight! I'll depend on others to suggest going out to those things:)

Here's a pic from a long-ago Thai dinner. Jeremy is putting together a Picasa site where we can all dump our collective pictures, which I just checked out and from which I stole this pic and those that follow. Here is Adeel and me. I have no idea why the pic is so small.



And, as lame as this is, here I will share some pics from Apple Picking last Saturday, which I hoped to be able to go to (by getting out early on our "good," non-admitting day at the VA), but which didn't happen. Jeremy, Noelle, Anika, Oliver (who are now engaged!), and Kristen all had a fun time! They ate all kinds of apple goodies, including apple beer, caramel apples, and more... I had to live vicariously through their pictures (and, lamely, post them on my blog). Some people do get out once in a while! I'm so jealous!

I hear the caramel apples were amazing!! I think Noelle needs a few more to fatten her up a bit.

Now the debate is.... whether to do something (including getting a jump on my presentation or d/c summaries for people that may leave the hospital today [that I was following, even though I'm off!] or tomorrow), running (need to go for a long one), or sleeping.... I try to get out sometimes, really!