After many months of negotiations and awaiting a “partners of opportunity” waiver to go through, I’ve finally signed my contract to join the staff at UC Davis. The process has been so dragged out that the moment seemed anti-climactic in retrospect, but it does make for a nice holiday present. Meanwhile, with online sales abound, I’ve also treated myself to a few new toys, including Google’s Chromecast and a new Harmony remote to replace my dead one. Despite the bluetooth capability, I still can’t shake the habit of pointing it at the TV. With many of our faculty gone for the holidays, I was also able to spend my extra hours harvesting research data and catching up with my colleagues in training. Last weekend, my co-fellows and I spent a 7-hour pow-wow session banging out ideas for the upcoming AVS skit over take-out Italian. This followed our residents and fellows holiday bash, where the annual white elephant gift exchange left me with more junk (this time with hyphema-inducing capability). Despite the meager turn-out this year, we had our customary night out in Chapel Hill after the shindig. Sadly, my other holiday outings have been lackluster – subpar paella at Taberna Tapas, salty pho at Sushi Love, and wok hay-lacking drunken noodles from Pad Thai – one of few places open in my local ghetto on Christmas Day. I will definitely need to redeem myself over my upcoming vacation week. My stomach demands satisfaction, sir!

My old high school friend flew in from Ohio to visit this weekend, which gave me the chance to introduce her to the breadth of Durham cuisine. On Friday, we drove directly from the airport to the newly-opened branch of The Pit in Durham. Despite running out of almost all the barbeque we wanted, the restaurant gave us a thoroughly satisfying feast. A poorly-timed fire alarm chased us out of the restaurant before we could pay, so the meal ended up on the house. After dinner, I sampled the drinking chocolate at Cocoa Cinnamon before we crashed back home. Next morning, we overslept our lunch reservations, and explored downtown Durham a bit before dining on reliable chicken and waffles at Dame’s. We bought a slice of pie from Beyu Caffe to go, napped for most of the afternoon, then awoke for fair French bistro at Rue Cler for dinner, followed by ice-cream at Francesca’s. Before her flight out, we drove to Chapel Hill for famous shrimp n’ grits at Crook’s Corner for brunch. Although I didn’t feel like a good host, having spent the entire weekend just eating and sleeping, we agreed afterwards that it gave us the relaxation and recuperation we both so needed.

With all the traveling I’ve endured over the past few months, I was relieved to learn that I’ve at least earned silver medallion status on Delta. So with my free upgrades, I was able to fly back to NYC in first-class comfort to spend Thanksgiving with my family and friends. I avoided holiday travel anguish with an early morning flight on Thursday which landed in time for a dim sum brunch with my parents. A visit to my aunt gave me the chance to catch up with her family and alleviate some anxiety about her upcoming cataract surgery. After an afternoon nap, we feasted on a dinner of shark fin soup, conch with scallops, salty-spicy lobster, steamed fish, and pea pod stems to celebrate dad’s 70th birthday. I spent most of Friday catching up on sleep, awaking briefly for some homemade comfort food. This energized me for a full day hanging out with my college friends and their swarm of children buzzing around at the Museum of Natural History, followed by a stroll through East Village with my high school friend. Here, the crowds at Ippudo diverted us to the less busy Ramen Setagaya, where the gyolo ramen’s broad, flat springy noodles helped carry the savory, if a bit garlicky broth. At ChikaLicious, the prix fixe menu of amuse bouche, petite fours, and a main dessert of toasted almond cake complemented the meal nicely, but barely justified the $16 price tag. Fortunately, I filled up that evening on banquet-style Chinese seafood with a bunch of old family friends from some 25 years ago. The meal sent me straight into a food coma on my morning flight back and much of Sunday afternoon. Overall, the trip was relaxing, but unfortunately did not reset my sleep schedule as I had hoped.