Pouf!

I was trying to post this pic with my LAST post... but my computer was being fiesty and didn't want to upload any photos that day... so here you go.

This is what the croquembouche is made of. They're like a crispy outside, soft cookie texture inside and filled with four different flavors : vanilla, chocolate, cafe mocha, or grand marnier! And the drizzle coating you see here, is CARAMEL! what's not to like? Can I get a big OUI OUI?!?! hehehe YAYYYYYY :)

Croquembouche! French, for wedding cake :)

So yesterday morning I met with the fabulous Pascal Tiseur - a real Lyonais transplant who owns 4 diferent bakery cafe locations in town. He'll be making our cake for our wedding - I say cake-for-our-wedding instead of "wedding cake" because neither Ryan or I LIKE regular cake. And the traditional French wedding cake called "Croquembouche" (translation: cracks open in your mouth... hehe) is a nice shout out to my beloved Franceland... and Ryan is getting HIS favorite desert - in the form of S'MORES as an alternative desert at the wedding as well. If you've never seen a Croquembouche, a simple google image search will give you an idea of what the tower cake compromised of little puff pastry balls filled with whipped cream look like. For my taste-test with Monsieur Pascal, he made me a PLATE of 12 puffs!!!! I ate ONE and took the rest home... and will be bringin the other ELEVEN in to work with me tomorrow, as I do NOT need puff pastries laying around when my wedding dress fitting is 3 weeks away! LOL But let me tell you, come August 14th, they are going to be worth the extra calories :) Our croquembouche will have four different signature fillings: chocolate, vanilla, coffee, or grand marnier flavored whipped cream inside each of the puffs! Who knows what flavor you'll get when you pull one off the tower at the wedding... but trust me, you can't go wrong with any of them. They're amazing! Can't wait for you all to be at the wedding in August - and maybe taste your first Crouquembouche too :) xoxo Mego

7.5 down, 2.5 more to go!

I'm updating the blog by popular (or not-so-popular- who really reads this anyway?! lol) demand, merely because I feel I SHOULD post an update since it's been 2 weeks, although - to date this rotation has been - while FUN and EDUCATIONAL... simultaneously, pretty... well... boring! haha But of course, now that I've actually put that to TYPE, I'll be reporting back next time with multiple days of gore, mayhem and my own fumbles and incompetence... For now though, things are blissfully calm. I am working a 7-days on/ 7-days off schedule in In-patient medicine. My preceptor is an older English gentleman named "Ian" (whatelse would his name be?). He is a GREAT teacher, and has an even better sick/ sarcastic sense of humor. He jokes around with me a lot, pimps me a lot, and always buys me lunch - which is SUPER nice, but also makes me uncomfortable, as he is treating me EVERY day. Really, too nice. After our first week together, he told me in his thick Manchester accent : "Meghan, I think you're practically BRILLIANT... I just don't want to see you get your ass-kicked on your boards".... with those words of encouragement and wisdom, I have set out to read the ENTIRE Washington Manual of Critical Care in my 7 days off... it's going... welll, average. Time will tell on retention! But at least I'm getting a first shot at exposure... and it'll DEFINITELY take REPEART exposures to the material to get it cemented in my little Meghan-head before I take my Boards in August. And truth be told, I've been 'balancing' (generous "balancing") between studying and getting some of the loose-ends taken care of for the wedding. 2 of the 3 girls have their bridesmaid dress. I've got a START on their gifts. The invitations have arrived - and are awaiting assembly. I have meetings with the caterer, vineyard and frenchie cake-maker in my next week off. So I've been takin' care of some FUN business on the side too :) Speaking of which, while work remains "status quo" I suppose there are some interesting 'personal life' developments worth updating! The first of which is: Ryan got approved to "separate" from the Military... this means he gets to get out of his current Active Duty contract and become a Civilian! This is what he was hoping for and we are super excited they are actually LETTING him! This way, instead of hammering out 1-2 classes/ semester as he serves Active Duty full-time, he'll be able to walk away, free and clear, and just be a "regular" civilian. This fall semester, he'll be a full-time college student for the first time in his life! We figure if he can take a 16 credit load, he should be able to take the MCAT for Med School in about 3 semesters. This exciting turn of events doesn't mean that he'll be done with the military for good (he hopes and plans to go to USHSU (pronounced: "you-shoes" - the Armed Forces university for med school in Bethesda, Maryland). If he does that, he will of course owe time in service back to the Air Force when he completes his residency. But all that is several miles down the road, for now, we're just pumped that he can buckle down and focus on school where he'll be enrolled at Old Dominion University when we move to Virginia this fall. As for me, my assignment in Virginia still stands (hence why we're driving out there!). As soon as I pass my boards ( I plan on testing ASAP post graduation- hopefully, within 14 days) I can leave for the next possible ODS (Officer Development School - get used to me talking in all these abbreviations for the next 3 years! lol) that is, the Navy's version of bootcamp for officers in Portsmouth, Maine. ODS is only 5 weeks - and thank goodness - because once I graduate, I won't be getting a paycheck til after I graduate ODS! So with THAT pressure on me to pass my boards, I better wrap up this benign post and go study. Miss and love you all! And whether I see you in my travels in the next 2.5 rotations, or at the wedding this summer, I can't wait to see you all! Know you are very missed and loved! xoxo Mego

PPS week!

So I haven't blogged in a week, because I've been too busy enjoying trailer park life with the Bears at the Elks Lodge. We were back on campus all last week for our "PPS Week" - which is just a fancy acronym for a weeks worth of seminars on professionalism, resume writing, and various pertinent topics in medicine. It's actually kind of enjoyable - well, the sitting still for 8 hours is hard to get used to again (can't believe we did that EVERYDAY for the first 12 months of our education!)- but the plus side is, versus the school year, there's no homework or studying once class is dismissed! So it's just show up for face-time, and punch out and go play shuffle board and drink $3 (strong) mix drinks at the elks with the bears! :) I start my next rotation on Monday, but I don't yet have my schedule. I've heard through the grapevine though, that it's a 7 days on/7 days off schedule- which would ROCK! I spoke with my preceptor earlier in the week and he seems like a very nice British gentleman. I'll have more to blog about once the new rotation starts, but for now I'm just dividing my time between the gym and playing with the bears! Just wanted to check in with my loyal followers and say, all is well, and more adventures to come! xoxo Mego