interesting movies

I've watched a couple new movies (for me) this week, and they've been interested.
When the DaVinci Code movie came out i was very disappointed and did not find it an adequate representation of the movie at all. However, I just watched Angels and Demons this week, and while they left a lot out, I did not think they left critical parts out like they did in DaVinci Code. It was overall a great movie, and since some of the book was so over the top it was probably a good thing they changed it.

I also saw the movie My Sister's Keeper, which was a very powerful book that made me cry a lot when I saw it. The movie was great too, and they actually changed the ending which I thought was also a good thing since the ending in the book seemed too outlandish, and made me mad. The ending in the movie was more how I thought things should be.

Last, I saw Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It was a silly teenage movie, but I loved it. I loved the interesting mix of characters, and the acting by the silly drunk best friend was perfect.

Well, I can;t afford to buy anymore movies for a bit, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1 is coming out in 2 weeks, so I will have to splurge and buy that movie to watch.

a unique vegan mac and cheese dish

I took this unique mac and cheese recipe from Runner's World and adjusted it to a vegan recipe, it was pretty good! And I got to use my new large, heavy duty food processor, it worked great!
Ingredients:
1 box mini rigatoni
2.5 cups veggie stock
1 head of cauliflower
1/2 cup daiya vegan chese (I used 1/4 cup each of mozarella and cheddar)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 TBsp dijon
1/8 nutmeg
1/4 cup vegan parmesan
1/2 cup vegan bread crumbs

Directions:
Cook the pasta as directed.
Heat over to 400.
Chop the cauliflower and boil until soft (about 20 minutes)
Once cooked, put the cauliflower, cheese, oil, mustard, and nutmeg in the food processor. Blend until made in to a sauce.
Place the pasta in to a large baking dish.
Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss to mix the sauce in.
Top with the parmesan and bread crumbs.
Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

simple aspragus appetizers

I am a huge fan of aspragus, so had to try this INCREDIBLY simple and quick dish.
It turned out alright, not amazing, but something I might make for a wine night sometime.
Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus
4 large beef tomatoes
1 loaf of italian bread
1 package of daiya cheddar flavored cheese
margarine

Directions:
cook the asparagus by boiling in water
Slice the bread and apply a small layer of margarine to the bread.
Line up on a baking dish taht is lightly oiled.
Layer the sliced tomatoes on the bread first, then the asparagus, then top with the daiya vegan cheese. Cook at 325 for 5 minutes.

precooked:


cooked:

vegan curry

Made a quick and easy tasty curry last night.
Ingredients:
1 bag frozen peas
1 bag chopped carrots
2 cups cut red skinned potatoes
1 chopped cauliflower head
1 chopped onion
canola oil
3 TBsp curry powder
1 6oz can tomatoe paste
1 can coconut milk
1 cup veggie stock
rice

Directions:
heat 2 TBsp canola and the chopped onion until brown in a large sauce pan.
Add the coconut milk, curry, veggie stock and tomatoe paste. Break down the tomatoe paste in to the sauce and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium and add the cauliflower, peas, potatoes, and carrots. Cook for 15 minutes or until potatoes slightly soft.
Serve over rice.
This is one that tastes even better as a leftover, especially with pita bread!

To all my vegan friends out there: this is a recipe you should try and serve to all your meat eating friends!

This was one of my best recipes EVER, modified from some cook book recipes.
It has two parts: a sweet and sour chili as well as a couscous caserole.

Ingredients for the chili:
1 chopped yellow onion
3 TBsp chopped garlic
olive oil
1 package of tempeh- cut in to tiny crumbles (1/2cm x 1cm rectangles is what I did)
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup cashews
2 cans red kidney beans
1 can green chilis
1 can tomatoe paste
2 TBsp brown sugar
1 TBsp chili powder
1 TBsp cinamon
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin

Directions: In a large pot heat 2 TBsp olive oil with the onions and garlic for 3 minutes on high.
Add the various spices (brown sugar, chili powder, cinamon, cayenne, and cumin) and stir in, keeping at high heat for 2 minutes.
Then add all the remaining ingredients and reduce heat to medium. Stir frequently and let simmer for 30 minutes.


The chili itself was delicious, and could be served as a meal itself, but making the caserole below was really the winner...

For the caserole:
ingredients:
the above chili
1 box of cooked couscous
daiya vegan cheese, both mozarella and cheddar
1 can green chilis

Directions:
In a caserole dish layer the cooked couscous about 1 inch high along the bottom of the dish.
Then layer some mixed daiya vegan cheese (mozarella and cheddar)
Then place a layer of chili almost up to the top of the dish
Spread the can of green chiles over the top of the chili
Apply one more layer of vegan cheese sprinkled over the top.
Cook at 350 for 30 minutes.
ENJOY! Mark and I ate it with tortilla chips, it was honestly one of my best meals in awhile.

I am definitely going to make it for a wine night at some point this year.

veggie burgers are tasty too!

I know a veggie burger probably doesn't sound great to most, but it can be tasty too!
These veggie burgers (BOCA vegan burgers) were on whole wheat buns with tomatoes, lettuce, tahini sauce, and ketchup.
Delicious!

a productive day off

Day one of two off- I did well! The only upside to having a lot of days off in the middle of the week is that most people don't have these days off, most people are like normal people with the weekends off. So the downside, I can't participate in normal events on the weekend like everyone else, that part does suck. The upside is I get so much done on my days off since no one else is off at the same time to do things.

today I went running twice (once for 7 miles, once for 3). I cleaned the apartment, took the trash and recycling out, did the dishes, cleaned the stove and mopped the kitchen floor. Then I also read 6 papers for my revision on my manuscript. And to top it all off I watched three movies, some while working on actually typing the changes I already made to manuscript on a hard copy.

And the movies were...Star Wars Return of the Jedi, Bridget Jones 2, and Harry Potter 6. I am such a joke. Both the Star Wars and Bridget Jones movie never fail to make me smile. And Harry Potter as well as Bridget Jones had London in it...made me miss London. I wonder if I can look for jobs in London when I get done with the residency. It would be interesting, to work there. i would love to live there. Not sure how hard it would be as an immigrant. But maybe something I will have to look in to.

another easy meal

I think this picture just about sums up a perfect relaxing evening with an easy to make dinner.
The bread was from trader joe's, which was delicious with their spanish olive oil and basalmic vinegar, as well as a glass of wine.
The veggies were a frozen package of roasted veggies which I heated up with a small amount of olive oil and garlic- they were a little mushy but ok once mixed in the the pasta.
Then whole wheat spaghetti and sauce with trader joe's fake meatballs!

falafel!

Falafel is one of those dishes that just always hits the spot in my book.
And it is so simple to make too!
All you have to do is buy:
pita bread
red leaf lettuce
tomatoes
tahini
a box of falafel mix

Follow the box instructions, which typically involves adding a certain amount of water to the mix and rolling in to small meat ball shaped falafel balls.
Fry in some olive oil.
Then I typically cut the pita in half and make each in to a pocket with some sliced tomatoes, falafel, lettuce and then the tahini drizzled over the top.

end of life care

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/05/60minutes/main6747002.shtml

I never used to watch 60 Minutes, but since Mark is a big fan of the show I have started watching it as we share the couch in the evening, and sometimes I do enjoy the shows a lot. I thought this show was EXCELLENT. It brought up a lot of important issues.

I completely agree with the main doctor interviewed. As Kafka said "the meaning of life is that is stops". I don't know why so many people are so terrified of death and will have their families and healthcare providers do EVERYTHING to keep them alive. I am all about saving people, and animals for that matter. After all, I am going in to a field where my job is going to be to save some of the sickest of our patients, to fix patients with cancer (notice I did not say cure), put dying animals on a ventilator, give dialysis to those in anuric renal failure, to crack chests and perform CPR to bring an animal back to life. I am supposed to do all those things in my career, and I love doing them, but for me it is all about quality of life. I have discussions with owners everyday about "I could do this, or that, or this to keep your pet alive, but what for? He or she has terminal cancer, and what type of life are we looking at if I am successful in saving your pet?" It's tough conversation, but a part of my job I love, connecting to people and explaining to them in the best way what is going on with their pet so they can make informed decisions.

So why can't we do that with people? There are many times in my job where I tell people "This is what I need to do to keep your pet alive, it might not work but it's the only chance, but why are we doing it? And is it the right choice?" Everyone will have to die eventually, and it can be hard to make those decisions for someone else, but it is also the right thing in so many situations.

I think it is terrible that so much of people's healthcare is spent on the last couple months of their lives, why not spend it earlier on preventative medicine, etc? And why are so many people so scared of dying that they will tell their healthcare provider to do ANYTHING to just "keep them alive as long as possible" at the end? Is live worth living when you have hepatic encephalopathy and are not coherent? or when you are on a ventilator? or when you are unable to walk, urinate, and defecate on your own? I guess everyone has to make that decision for themselves, but I know what my decision will be when I am old and debilitated or sick. I just hope laws can change more so that euthanasia is an option for people.