It hasn’t been easy getting a proper home-cooked meal since moving down here to North Carolina. That is, unless you fly your folks down from NYC for 2 weeks to recreate all your favorite dishes from childhood. Granted, these are not things that I can’t manage to cook myself. But it’s quite a luxury to have food waiting for me on the dinner table after a long work day. This was necessary intervention, as the grueling flow of clinic and OR has left me no time for lunch during most of the work week. It was also nice having my parents around, even though there was little in this part of the country that really piqued their interest. Fortunately for them, I was able to pick up a free TV from a friend just before they got here – even though lugging an old 27″ CRT up the stairs to my apartment was more than I had bargained for. Beside shopping around and taking me on a Costco run, my parents also made friends with the owners of a local Chinese restaurant. Otherwise, they spent most of their time at the apartment watching Korean soap operas, editing vacation photos, and enjoying the swimming pool that I barely have time to use myself. Even after returning home, they left me almost another week’s worth of food which kept me well fed. Fortunately, my first weekend of retina call was quiet, and gave me a chance to check out the cow parade round-up, as well as to bask in the pool and enjoy the last of the summer weather.