It was wrong…it was scandalous…it may or may not have been some incarnation of evil itself. And yet, I still couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it. On one hand, it was the most diabolical creation in all of the culinary arts, and it might single-handedly oppose all that I work for as a healthcare professional. On the other hand, it was delicious.

These were the thoughts that went through my mind as I sampled the “deep fried mac n’ cheese on a stick” at the Iowa State Fair.

I could just feel Hippocrates shaking his head and looking down with shame from the heavens, and somewhere in the DMU wellness center, I’m sure Joy Schiller was doing likewise. She must have known, somehow. Such a great and treacherous force of unhealthiness couldn’t possibly escape her attention.

I don’t regret it, of course – it really was delicious. Better yet, my heart started beating again just in time for me to move on to the “deep fried candy bar…on a stick.” See, I look at it this way – going on the treadmill once isn’t enough to make you healthy, so eating at the fair once shouldn’t be enough to give you type II diabetes. Besides, it was a special occasion (we’ve finished up our first ever exam of med school!)

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We’ve finally done it. We survived high school, we made it through college intact and endured one of the most rigorous academic selection processes in history. But now, all of that’s behind us. Now, we get to enjoy our reward – four years of mind-ripping semesters packed with 26 credits each, a rapid immersion into the most profound and vexing disciplines that are the biomedical sciences, and countless 80-hour work weeks in the company of our predecessors while we strive to make literal life and death decisions on 4 hours of sleep. Truly, one can’t deny that it does take at least a small measure of insanity to choose this path, but for most of us, any other future could never compare. The road will be difficult, and the chance remains that some of us will not see its end, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

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What a deal! Free PRIME membership if you have a .edu email address. This includes unlimited free 2-day shipping on books! Plus, what can’t you buy at Amazon?

Thanks for the alert, Melissa Odermann, D.O.’11.

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I just saw this clip on Yahoo and I am amazed!

Imagine being a medical student on rotations and not having to worry about where to live – a portable house! Yes, it is less than 100 sq feet (yep, one hundred) but imagine the possibilities. You don’t have to worry about mortgage, utility bills, cleaning, and all that stuff.

Stuff!! It seems like the more space there is, there more STUFF fills it up. Isn’t that the truth. How sweet it would be to go on rotations and not have to pack and unpack every month. What do you think of the tiny house? To crazy for you? It is for me!

There’s more info on YouTube.

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I’ve spent so much money on spices without finding a go-to combination of spice so I’ve resulted to another ultimate lazy meal. You think you get a good meal out of ramen noodles? Try making it into TWO meals.

What I’ve done is saving the broth and cooking up another batch of noodles (try egg noodles or mung bean noodles to change it up – the Double Dragon grocery store on 2nd Ave. has a wide selection of noodles) making it meal #2. I really don’t drink the broth and just need it to soak some of the flavor for the noodles, so I do this a lot and it saves me so much time. Give it a kick with some frozen veggies and left-over meat.

Any pointers on stretching a meal?

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Have you ever read a book that has affected you in some way?

My current read is the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan and I’m only about halfway through it. I am really enjoying the book because it talks about my favorite subject, food, and the agricultural industry too.

There were moments in the book where I felt compelled to be vegetarian but have come to the conclusion that eating meat is not bad as long as the animal was treated right.

The book also reveals some startling facts regarding the food industry and how consumers are blinded by the source of their food and how it was produced – and how interesting that this is completely acceptable! For instance, how many cows goes into one McDonald’s hamburger? Before reading this book, I didn’t even know a hamburger could be from several cows! Or that a chicken nugget is hardly made from a chicken. There is a big mention of Iowa and corn (no surprise) but it is surprising to learn how corn really is everywhere in your food and even in your gasoline.

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