Oregon Salmon Patties + Caper Tartar Sauce = Amazing

The title pretty much says it all. Living on a student budget, this recipe felt gourmet and was so scrumptious (and not pasta or a sandwich)! The main ingredients are actually quite simple:

Salmon Patties: canned salmon, sauteed onion, butter, crackers, 2 eggs, dry mustard, & shortening (I left the shortening out. I guess learning about fatty-acid synthesis in Biochem today didn't inspire me to add extra lard--I know butter counts, but it is just SO GOOD and buttery.)

Caper Tarter Sauce: capers, mayo, lemon juice, salt & pepper, and some dried garlic just for kicks. I do admit that capers are the one semi-splurge. I think you can get them on the cheaper side at Trader Joe's. Yet, they bring me so much joy and one little jar lasts so long, that it is well worth it. yum.

PS: Click on Title for link to recipe!

PPS: There was an attempted coup d'etat in Ecuador today. Sounds like "a bit" of chaos. In Portoviejo, where I lived, banks and the shopping center are prey to thieves. There is no active police force right now. BBC tells more here.

i have a pet spider

I have a pet spider. I suppose her name could be Lucille. I know this may be difficult to understand. My desk sits next to a window that has a screen. Outside my window lives Lucille.

Lucille is the size of a large silver dollar. Her black legs have yellow stripes. Possibly this is to alert me that she is dangerous. She is visible usually only when the sun isn't shining. It just started to pour and Lucille seems to feel at home in the dreary weather. If there is a large gust of wind, she holds tightly to her fierce web.

From time to time, I imagine moving Lucille from her window-location. I mean, spiders are a bit creepy. Yet in the hours upon hours of biochem, human development, and anatomy--she is always there. What is a spider's lifetime anyways?

I leave you with a quote from E.B. White's classic Charlotte's Web:

"You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're born, we live a little while, we die. A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that."
~Charlotte

Perhaps Lucille the Spider and I have some sort of a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship. Hopefully Lucille survies the storm.

"Are you a cuddley sleeper?"--Lessons in Practical Anatomy

I am now three weeks into medical school. Next week is exams. Thus, Labor Day, yes indeed equals a day of laborious studying. Luckily--anatomy of the upper limb does have some practical implications. As Ross points out in the below "Friends" clip, cuddling all night long might sound cute, but there is an anatomical reason that it might not be so comfy. The lovely head of a recently blushing bride often finds its resting place right on the radial nerve of the debonaire husband. Given that the radial nerve innervates your triceps, and all of the extensor muscles of your forearm--this can lead to "Honeymooner's Palsy." (Think painfully flexed elbow and wrist). Oh, hark, what to do?! Don't flip, Ross will gives some pointers on the "hug-n-roll:"