Weekend Review: Rhubarb, Fujiya Sushi, & Hikes

Abandoning my regular schedule for vacation this month has somehow gotten me off track on writing these weekly recaps! Maybe that's for the best; they'd be far too long to interest anyone anyways, as the combination of being on vacation and being home visiting my family has resulted in too many wonderful things to list :)

The one thing that has been less than wonderful is my half-assed effort at USMLE Step 1 studying, mostly because this month has become a working vacation (makin' money, yay...but also being out of the house from 7:15 am to 6 pm on weekdays) instead of the hole-up-and-study-for-12-hours-a-day vacation I had anticipated it would be. Not to worry, if I make more of an effort to put in study time in the evenings, I should be able to get through my study plan before Step 1 in 13 (!) days (or so I continue to tell myself). And 3 weeks after that, I've got Step 2 CK to look forward to :( If I'm even more sporadic than usual in my posting over the next little while, that'll be why!

Enough complaining! I really have been enjoying my vacation month -- here are some great things from the past week:

1. my parents' garden -- While there are advantages to living in an apartment (600 square feet don't take long to vacuum!) one thing I definitely miss is having a backyard. Fortunately my dad loves gardening, so my parents have a pretty great one! It's so nice to have breakfast outside (we even have a resident California quail family who occasionally make an appearance!).
   
   
2. kale -- A few times a week I've been going out to the garden to harvest a gallon bucketful of kale to go with our dinner. It's taking progressively longer to fill the bucket, but the kale's been great while it's lasted!
   
3. rhubarb -- A rarer treat this week was rhubarb. My parents have a little plant, which we pulled and stewed (well sugared up!) a couple of nights ago. I've been enjoying mixing it into my oatmeal in the mornings.
   
4. sushi dates -- I've had Fujiya sushi (possibly the best in Victoria, at half the price of anywhere else) three times in as many weeks, while catching up with friends whom I hadn't seen in a year. Fujiya is a take-out place, which meant sushi picnics (in the nicest 20-degree weather!).
   
5. one-pot pasta -- This week my mom made the best pasta I've ever had. It contains bacon, but that's only part of the deliciousness -- I'll make sure I get the recipe from her to post one of these days!
   
6. forest walks -- I've gone on some beautiful hikes in the provincial park by my parents' house. It's been nice and cool on these recent warm days and is so gorgeous with the sun filtering through the trees. I think I might miss the west coast forests more than I do the ocean!
   

What was great in your week?