Forever in our hearts…

Howie

8/25/2004 – 1/30/2007

It was my only golden weekend this rotation, and what better way to spend it than to pig out in NYC? Our first stop was the Peking Duck House, a chic little restaurant smack in the middle of dirty, bustling Mott St. in Chinatown. Here, even the fancy decor and stylishly-suited waitors were no match for the artery-bursting flavor of duck skin roasted to a light, almost airy, texture as we sunk our teeth into it. On Saturday, we went to Tomoe Sushi, where we savored the buttery blend of texture and flavor oozing from the eye-popping hunks of fresh sashimi. With the exception of the Bluefin toro, which I must admit was a splurge, the $19 sashimi combo was definitely a steal. Although we were still exhaling salmon when evening rolled around, we returned to the West Village for dinner at the Strip House. For half the price of Peter Luger, the plump, juicy ribeye steaks here, cooked to a true medium-rare perfection, gave our taste buds a titillating experience comparable to what establishments with a similar name may offer. The last stop of our journey took us back to Chinatown. At Super Taste Restaurant, we cramped ourselves into the corridor-like interior of the noodle bar to slurp up hand-pulled noodles in plastic and stainless-steel bowls. The dining etiquette here is not for the faint of heart as we watched old men chucking beef bones straight onto the table. But for 4 bucks a pop, what can you really ask for? Ultimately, our weekend was not without drama. While we were glad to have finally ordered our wedding bands, our return trip was fraught with pain (literally). By evening, Melody had vomited 3 times, and I was shivering under the sheets with a fever of 102. Though it’s hard trying to attribute all this to a single source, or maybe it was just too much meat for one weekend, it was definitely an experience I would not hesitate to relive.

It’s been tough getting back into the groove of things since the new year began, having spent my 2-week holiday vacation doing almost nothing. After spending several days helping out in lab pro bono and also reformatting all my hard-drives, I flew to Portland with Melody to spend Christmas with her family. Besides playing with our baby niece, the bulk of our time there was spent eating, cooking, and planning for the next meal (much like the life of a rat … save the cooking part). I also went back to Brooklyn for a few days to unwind with my folks at home and meet up with old friends. Needless to say, waking up this past Saturday morning and rounding for more than 8 hours post-call on Neurology was more than enough to kick me back into gear with the start of this new year. It also didn’t help that I just came from surgery where we would round on twice as many patients in less than an hour. Luckily, rather than wasting time with scut work, neuro is much more cerebral (pun intended), and should give my brain a good work out in preparation for upcoming rotations.