Life This Week: Grande Prairie, Babies, Food, & The Namesake

It's been a productive week, the main accomplishment being getting our abstracts submitted for the annual radiation oncology conference; a last-minute hustle, as always. Fortunately we've had a long weekend (Family Day) to recuperate. Weather-wise we had a taste of spring (15 °C!), which was more muddy and puddle-y than anything, and now winter's making a comeback. Here are things I've appreciated in the past 7 days:


community oncology -- I had a great 24-hour trip up to our peripheral clinic in Grande Prairie on Thursday. It's always a nice change of scene, with lovely staff and some interesting cases.

froyo -- Though we're a small program, getting all of our residents together in one place at one time is tricky, so I was happy that we made it happen on Friday for after-work froyo.

the sprinkles are purely aesthetic

babies -- This afternoon I got together with our residents who are on mat leave and their (three!) adorable babies! I miss seeing them at work everyday -- it was so nice to catch up.

vegetable shortcuts -- Frozen spinach is my new favourite way of getting veggies into my meals. This weekend I added some to a pot of pasta, and I can see it being good in rice, curries, maybe even soups?

looks gross; tasted great

liver sausage -- I don't know anyone who eats this stuff, but I love it. I suspect it's not particularly healthy, but see spinach above.

again, looks gross; tastes delish

banana bread Shreddies -- I also picked up these since they were on sale at the grocery store this week. They were alright, but nothing special.

not very banana-y

Australia's Next Top Model -- Because I can't bring myself to do the elliptical without a (preferably trashy) TV show on, I started watching Australia's Next Top Model, which, turns out, is way better than the American one. Sure the girls all sort of look the same (white), but it's refreshing how professional the show is (no Tyra antics, no house drama, transparent judging, big-name models as guest stars).

anything to motivate me to workout

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri -- On the plane to/from Grande Prairie I got back to reading this book and finished it this weekend. It's a wonderfully rich story following two generations of Indian-Americans: the parents struggling to carve out a life in America and the children caught between two cultures. It's one of those stories where not much really happens, but the writing is so excellent and the characters/scenes so well developed that you feel compelled to keep reading. I recommend!