Summer days

Overheard on the Hospital for Sick Children intercom the other day:

"Code blue, code blue in front of Burger King".

Sad, but true. I really think fast food joints should be banned from all children's hospitals. (But for the love of heaven above, please don't take away my Tim Horton's!) Maybe places like Cultures/Thai Express (my favourite lunch place now) should start making their own happy meals with toys, so that they can entice children to eat healthier.

I haven't written in awhile because I have two weeks left to finish up data entry for my research project before I must return to Kingston and start third year medicine (!!) I've been going in early (waking up at 5:30 AM!) and ending late (left work today at 8:30 PM!) It's all worth it though, I must take in all of downtown Toronto as much as I can. Sometimes I truly feel like my life will end in Kingston, but I know that's not true... it will just be different. I won't have the luxury of having Korean BBQ whenever I want or just good food in general (I have to start cooking again... blah). I really think my trip abroad has rekindled my love for the city and also has made me realize how great physical activity is... so I'm really glad I got myself further into debt to travel, because I've gained so much from it. I'm the biggest GoodLife fan ever now, I LOVE BodyAttack which is an intense cardio group exercise class, and I've even memorized all the moves to that gino beat version of "Listen to Your Heart" and gone through the moves with Mike on the phone (poor guy) and showed it to my sister.

So I must update on my summer reading, I finished Heat and satisfied all my Italian cravings so that is just wonderful (Mike and I went to Ristorante Luigina in Kingston and we had linguete, which is pasta smaller than linguini but larger than fettucine, homemade proscuitto with mango and cantaloupe and beef tenderloin in a beer sauce... mmm!) I also finished a book called Singular Intimacies by Danielle Ofri (a memoir about residency training in Internal Medicine, not the latest Harlequin novel, just for the record). I figured it will be a nice way to transition back to medical textbook reading in September but I finished it too fast because it was *so good* - Dr. Ofri is my hero, she practices at Bellevue Hospital in New York which the oldest public hospital in the States. So out of desperation this morning, because I can't bear to ride the subway anymore without a book, I grabbed The Alchemist on the way out. People have been recommending this book to me forever but for some reason I never took to it, but now I just think it's fantastic, every sentence is a gem and I'm really enjoying it. Oh and in between all of this, I picked up a book called Cheap Eats Toronto at the World's Biggest Bookstore which is five minutes from the hospital. Oh man, it is such a good book, perfect for someone like me who's poor but just loves to eat out. I highly recommend it to all! It has been the perfect addition to the recent changes I've made to my previous defunct Recipes for the Starving Medical Student blog. I even posted a new recipe, but I'm not sure it constitutes real cooking at all...

Anyways it's way past my bedtime. I hope everyone's summers are winding down nicely!