recipe | wellnessrounds

#LoveYourNeighbor. People need to eat… and those of us who have enough can (and should) share what we can.

Support your local food bank to feed your literal neighbors (money is always the best way to help a food bank).

Donate to World Food Kitchen to help in Jamaica and Cuba in the wake of Hurricane Mellisa.

Make bags to keep in your car to give to your neighbors on the street.

Do what you can…

A dining table filled with several open boxes containing various food items and snacks, with two cats exploring the setup.

Science can be beautiful! I am absolutely not an “RNA-Seq nerd”, but I understand why an experimental result like this is delightful! This is beautiful basic science to understand a cool question … with millions of different smells how do we know the difference between a rose and petrichor?

A scientific graph displaying transcriptional data and olfactory receptor gene expression patterns in ants, highlighting both sense and antisense transcription.

I’m enchanted by these paintings…

And then, while looking through the artist’s website, I discovered this painting which was commissioned by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland…

A large group of people dressed in lab coats gathered around a shirtless man lying on a table, set in a spacious, well-lit room with high ceilings, engaged in a scientific discussion.

Paper clip on your lapel? The history of wearing a paper clip started in Norway in World War II… a history that is fascinating and worth knowing.

A close-up image of several paper clips arranged in a way that highlights their copper color and shape.

Oh… these poems that carry us….

A poem titled 'The Prayer' by Mary Oliver, featuring handwritten text on a light background, focusing on attention to simple beauty and gratitude.

So easy, sort of healthy, and delicious. I went searching last week for a dessert recipe that was sort of healthy, wasn’t too sweet, and would be a perfect bite after dinner.

Mission accomplished: Pan de elote! (Mexican Corn Cake)

A piece of cornbread on a white plate with a fork, showcasing its texture and golden color.

p.s. I used a can of corn (instead of fresh) and substituted 2% milk for half of the condensed milk which was a perfect level of sweetness for my taste.

You may have read the title and thought this might be about work and stress… but, no, it’s not about the pressure cooker at work, it’s about cooking!

If you are trying to save time cooking (which is an essential part of cooking as a student or resident) you should really think about buying a pressure cooker. This is a foreign cooking appliance to most people, but it is an incredible time saver. Do not listen to your mother/grandmother/aunt who says they blow up… they don’t! I use mine more or less weekly to make garbanzo beans. Buy dry garbanzo beans (which are really cheap), soak them for 4-8 hours and cook them with a little spice (or not) for 12 minutes on the second ring. (You can skip the soaking and cook for about 15 minutes instead) They make a great snack (instead of peanuts) right out of the refrigerator. Another really good use for pressure cookers is to make stock. When you peel carrots, cut the ends off onions, etc just throw the pieces into a bag in the freezer. Ditto for leftover bones and bits from fish, chicken, beef (if you want a meat stock). When the bag is full, put the frozen bits in the pressure cooker with water and cook for 20-25 minutes. This saves a lot of money and tastes tons better than store bought stock/broth.

Here’s a list of other things you can cook in a pressure cooker

A whole chicken in 15 minutes
Beans (from dried) in 5-10 minutes
Artichokes in 10 minutes
Potatoes in 5-10 minutes

Although the classic pressure cooker is still an amazing and wonderful kitchen tool, it has been a little eclipsed recently by the Instant-Pot. This is now top of my list for gifts for medical students and residents. It is a combination pressure cooker, rice cooker, slow cooker….and more.

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