Weekend Review: Chickpeas, Poutine, and $0.699/L gas

This week was my first on general internal medicine. Being on a new ward with unfamiliar patients made for a busy start to the week, but on the plus side meant that the days felt productive and passed quickly. It's also been a pretty temperate week as far as Edmonton weather goes, which has been a nice change (although I now spend a full 20 seconds outdoors thanks to my new parking permit). Here are some things I've enjoyed over the past seven days:

1. chickpeas -- For only $0.79/lb, I figured I'd try dried chickpeas for the first time. They required surprisingly little effort to prepare (soaking overnight followed by boiling for around 50 minutes) and turned out perfectly. Between snacking on them at home, bringing containers for (pleasantly filling) work lunches, and mixing a handful into my dinner, I've almost made my way through a whole batch...time to make some more!
   
2. McDonald's -- It's been much too long since I've had McDonald's. My sausage McMuffin and (free!) coffee tasted unbelievably delicious after a busy night of call.
   
3. my first sudoku -- I started and finished my first ever sudoku puzzle while waiting for my car to be serviced this week. It was surprisingly entertaining!
   
4. getting my car serviced -- It was nice to find the time this week to get this nagging task out of the way. No more looking at the maintenance light!
5. gas prices -- Back in October I was excited about gas being 99.9 cents per litre...little did I know I'd be buying it for 69.9 cents per litre three months down the road.

   

   good for my wallet...but unfortunately bad news for the economy

6. great grey owl -- The Weather Network featured a gorgeous photo of my favourite kind of owl this week. Though (not surprisingly) I've neither heard nor seen any owls during my time in Edmonton, I did appreciate the graceful silhouettes of a few long-tailed magpies, flying through the river valley on my drive home this morning.

   

   great grey owl in Williams Lake, by Sandy Proulx
   (http://www.theweathernetwork.com/photos/view/birds/great-gray-owl-and-hoar-frost/21341184)

7. cookies during call -- Chocolate chip oatmeal cookies seriously make my call shifts ten times more bearable.
   
8. "poutine" -- Twice this week I've prepared a bowl of microwaved potatoes, topped with cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, ketchup, and a George Foreman fried egg. The result reminded me a bit of poutine and was significantly more delicious than this photo suggests!
   

What is something you enjoyed this week?