My first week here in Baltimore has failed to meet even my already-low expectations. The interior of my dorm room is reminiscent of a prison, with its exposed cinder block walls, metal bed frame, vinyl mattress, and white sheets. It also didn’t help that my floor is single-sex with common showers like a men’s locker room. Meanwhile, my dining options have also been limited. On my first day here, the hospital cafeteria served sloppy joe. The following day, they had beef macaroni which looked suspiciously like sloppy joe with elbows. Since I still haven’t found a dorm fridge to buy, my diet so far has consisted mainly of Subway sandwiches. The main issue is that the hospital is surrounded by the most dangerous neighborhood in the city. I can’t even cross the street in any direction without risking my wallet or my life. On the bright side, the faculty and house officers here have all been great, and I’ve been learning tons. Nevertheless, I’ll definitely need to get out of the city for the upcoming long weekend.

Hours from now, I’ll be flying to Baltimore for an elective in Ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins. It’s been years since I’ve lived in a dorm, and packing for this trip has brought back some not-so-fond memories of leaving home for college or CTY. Beyond the basics like clothes and toiletry, I’ll also be bringing bed sheets, hangers, pots, and kitchen utensils. I’ve even got my own hot plate since there’re no stoves in the building. The most difficult part, however, will be spending a month away from my wife. Today, we went to the romantic 5-diamond restaurant L’Espalier for their prix fixe lunch menu before my flight out. Our meal started with field greens from their rooftop garden and a delectable chilled watermelon soup for appetizers. These were followed by a delicate pan-roasted trout and a divinely-rich pork belly confit. Desserts included a decadent chocolate cake and an expresso-flavored creme brulee, both of which were adequately pleasing. Unfortunately, I doubt this will hold me out for a month of cafeteria food. I’ll hopefully figure something out … or die of starvation.

If you haven’t seen Chow Yun Fat’s Hard-Boiled, you’re probably wondering why he would be carrying both a shotgun and a baby on the movie poster. Last night was my first time watching this movie, and I must admit that it was completely ridiculous, but totally AWESOME! For those of you who are not in the know, this film pretty much defined HK action cinema as a genre, and elevated John Woo’s slow-mo gunplay to a form of art. Forget the fact that their M92Fs can fire hundreds of rounds without reloading. Forget the crazy premise of an illegal arms cache behind the morgue. Does it really matter? The movie was a masterpiece of bad-ass action, down to the final scene when Chow Yun Fat swings out of a hospital as it burst into flames to rescue the last baby from the labor ward (even though the baby looks waaay too big for a newborn). Anyway, it was a perfect complement to our Pan-Asian food fest in NYC this past weekend, which started with steaming ramen from the food court at Mitsuwa marketplace in NJ, followed by cold dungeoness crab, abalone soup, and fried frog legs at Ping’s Seafood, and finished with lunch buffet at Brick Lane Curry House. Hmmm, I’m getting hungry just writing about it.

After all my hard work collaborating with different labs back in grad school, one of the projects finally got published (it’s about time)! Check out this article in the new issue of Neuron to learn how your mug gets mapped during development. In other news, my applications for residency in ophtho have finally been sent. The programs I applied to are some of the most competitive ones out there, so I can only keep my fingers crossed. With these out of the way and Melody almost done with her summer courses at HSPH, we were finally able to take a breather. Last week, we went to a free screening of Rush Hour 3. Sadly, Jackie Chan’s moves have become much less impressive with age, but Chris Tucker is still obnoxiously annoying. Since the night was young, we also hopped next door to The Simpsons Movie. Some of you may call us suckers for watching something you can get on TV, but watching those giant yellow faces on the big screen was really something else – especially since it’s free. 😉

This summer’s Restaurant Week once again left our wallets empty, but our bellies full and oh-so-happy. For the first time, we got reservations for lunch at Radius. The place was round as the name suggests, and blended ancient Greek decor with chic modern design. The food itself was just as imaginative. The cauliflower and yogurt soup was a cool idea for the summer swelter, but ultimately too sour and spicy for our palates. The chilled poached salmon was more to our liking, but the flavors were too complex. The dish that ultimately stole the show was the grilled swordfish entree, which was cooked to such a perfect consistency as to take swordfish-iness to a new level. We also enjoyed their creative desserts, pairing a mango-blueberry tart with hibiscus ice-cream and a pilon de chocolat with (of all things) fenugreek ice-cream. This year, we also revisited Icarus, where I took particular notice of their delicious crisp polenta appetizer, accompanied by braised veal breast, black truffles, and parmesan. The corn chowder was thin and bland, and the grilled leg of lamb was good but underwhelming. Yet, their richly decadent chocolate cake and delicately-flavored lemon buttermilk panna cotta were absolutely to die for. Anyway, for those of you who haven’t gone out yet, be thankful that the event is extended to next week as well.