Burn out

Cross-posted on Dose of Reality:

Between October 4 and December 14 I did fourteen residency interviews, although most of them were concentrated between October 27 and December 14, so all told I did an average of two interviews a week for seven weeks. I was home for 17 days during that period, spread out over the interview season.

Things that were wonderful about the interview trail:

• Catching up with friends in distant cities
• Enjoying cuisines that aren’t available in Ann Arbor
• Meeting so many delightful future colleagues/potential co-residents

Things that were terrible about the interview trail:

• Sleeping on floors, air mattresses, couches, and guest beds; thank you to everyone who hosted me, but the cumulative effect was rough
• Air travel
• Leaving Walter with every friend and relative I have in the greater Ann Arbor/Detroit area

I’m glad I did it, but I’m really glad I’m done. Now the excitement of making a rank list and holding my breath until March 15 when I find out where I’ll be heading for the next four years. Stay tuned!

Thanksgiving

This year, Thanksgiving was not only a time to reflect on how wonderful it is to spend time with my friends and family, but also a respite from the ridiculous interview season that has consumed most of October, November, and December. I had almost a full week at home over the holiday, and I made the most of it. This was the most delicious part of that week:

 To accommodate everyone, there are little sugar free and gluten-free versions of the pumpkin pie baking on the bottom rack. 

Yum!

Peach Cranberry Pie
adapted liberally from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

Two batches of pie crust
16 oz frozen peaches, thawed and drained
6-8 oz frozen cranberries, thawed, drained, and sliced lengthwise
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
Little bit of milk

Preheat the oven to 425F. Prebake the bottom crust (using a little more than half of your crust dough) for about 10 minutes with foil and pie weights (or dried beans, which is what I use) over it, and for another five minutes with the foil removed, or until it is very slightly brown. While this cools, mix the lemon juice with the peaches and cranberries. Increase the heat of the oven to 450F. Mix together the dry ingredients for the filling and toss the peaches and cranberries with this as well. Roll out the remaining pie dough, and cut it into strips a little less than an inch wide. Once the bottom crust is cool, pile the fruit filling into it. Lay four-five strips of crust across the top of the pie, and attach them to the bottom crust on one side. Starting at one side and working across the pie, weave the perpendicular strips across the pie, over and under the other strips. When it is all woven, press the edges of the strips into the bottom crust. It should look roughly like this when you’re done.

Brush the top crust with a little milk and sugar, and bake for 10 minutes at 450F. Reduce the heat to 350F and back for another 40-50 minutes, until the pie is golden. Let cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

In addition to eating, we also went to the parade, joined by Ash’s mom Cindy. The weather behaved so well that it was an ideal first parade year for her!

The Detroit Mounted Police

The clown fire brigade

Grover visits Detroit