Mimosa Grill

What a fantastic weekend it has been!  I'll be back with a weekend wrap-up, but first, I wanted to share with you a delicious dinner from Saturday night.  Since moving to Charlotte, I've been eager to try so many of the fantastic restaurants I've read about.  Unfortunately, many of them don't quite fit the "resident-in-major-debt-with-a-very-small-salary" budget.  Fortunately, my parents were in town for the weekend, so it was the perfect opportunity to enjoy a special meal.  After some intense research and menu comparisons, we selected Mimosa Grill in Uptown.

Mimosa Grill features "global cuisine with a unique southern twist."  The restaurant prides itself on the "farm to fork" concept and is "dedicated to artisans, farmers, and craftsmen whose passion for food creates the finest ingredients possible.

Little did we know, the Charlotte Pride Festival was going on this weekend, and it just so happened to be occurring in the street directly in front of the restaurant.  I'll leave the visuals to your imagination, but let's just say it wasn't the quiet and peaceful ambiance I had envisioned for the evening.

After our waiter rattled off a few specials, we selected the "Trio of Appetizers" to begin our meal.  It included Carolina Lump Crabcakes with Crispy Fingerling Chips and Grilled Red Onion Salad, Pan Roasted PEI Mussels, and  Stuffed Georgia Hushpuppies with Rock Shrimp, Crawfish, and Creamed Leeks.  Based on the description, we assumed it would be a small sample size portion of each appetizer.  Needless to say, we were a bit shocked when this arrived at our table!  All three dishes were delicious and a great start to our meal.

For our main courses, we elected to combine salads and small plates rather than order a traditional entree.  

Dad's Selections:  South Carolina Mixed Greens Salad + Low Country Shrimp and Grits

Compared to the other dishes, this was very disappointing.  Rather than shrimp and grits highlighting the dish, it was instead a pile of peppers, greens, and  overpowering sauce with 3 tiny shrimp and a spoonful of grits.

Mom's Selections:  Hydrocress and Strawberry Salad + Fennel Sausage and Fresh Ricotta Pizza

Absolutely delicious!.  Perfectly seasoned sausage (without the normal greasiness that I despise), creamy ricotta, and flavorful tomato sauce.

My Selections:  Seafood Gumbo + Roasted Wild Mushrooms

Very tasty soup and chock full of seafood.  Unfortunately, it was insanely rich and I only ate  a few spoonfuls before opting to save the rest for an easy microwaved meal later in the week.

The sauteed mushrooms were seasoned with garlic, shallots, rosemary, and thyme.    I'd consider this side dish to be only average.  While tasty, for $9 I expected a mix of wild mushrooms rather than purely plain jane white button mushrooms.

The service overall was good.  The courses were well spaced and food arrived promptly, yet without feeling rushed.  Our server, however, left something to be desired.  His specials "speech" seemed forcibly memorized and he never once made eye contact with us, choosing instead to talk towards the ceiling.

So, do you want the final verdict?  A unique menu with many highlights and a couple low-lights. I'd definitely be back for the flatbread pizza, and  would be interested in trying several other items on the menu that sounded tasty. However, despite many of the glowing reviews I read, I'm not so sure I'd agree that it's one of Charlotte's best restaurants.  The Cowfish and 131 Main still hold that spot in my belly!

Overall a delicious meal that we all enjoyed!  Thanks Mom and Dad for treating me! 

Nocturnal Eats

Working nights does some crazy things to one's appetite!  I'm half-way thru my stretch of 4 nights, and my stomach is completely confused as to when it is hungry and which particular meal is appropriate.  I've always looked forward to the next meal and rarely find myself NOT hungry.  On nights, though, I never really feel hungry and have to remind myself to eat something nutritious.  Fortunately, our hospital cafeteria is open 24 hours a day and has a decent selection of options even in the late night and early morning hours.  Here's a look at the past 24 hours of eats.

Friday
8am - kashi cereal, melon
     [ very unsuccessful attempt to get some quality sleep in the brightness of day ]
4pm - banana with peanut butter
7pm - hummus and veggie wrap
11pm - few chocolate squares (self-medicating my hatred of the pager)

Saturday
12:30am - baked fish, quinoa, tilapia
3:30am - fig newtons
7am - yogurt, kashi cereal, berries, decaf coffee

Looking forward to getting back to days and finding my appetite again!  Until then, let the vampire hours continue.

Multi-Grain Chia Seed Pancakes

I hope you were drooling over the pancakes I posted last week.  If not, you really should be.  They were that good!  I'm not a big fan of following recipes to a tee, so this is a combination of several recipes that I customized as I saw fit.  Enjoy!

Multi-Grain Chia Seed Pancakes with Banana and Maple Peanut Butter Syrup

Pancake Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup oats (texture is best if you pulse them in a food processor a few times)

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 3/4 cups milk

2 tbsp chia seeds

2 tbsp flax seeds

Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder 

Syrup Ingredients:

1 part natural peanut butter

1 part maple syrup

Directions:

1.  Combine milk, chia seeds, and flax seeds.  Allow this to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.  The mixture will thicken slightly.

2.  Combine flours, oats, cornmeal, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder.  Mix well.

3.  Add honey and lemon juice to the milk mixture.

4.  Gently fold wet ingredients into dry.  Do not overmix.  If the mixture seems too thick, add milk to reach your desired consistency.

5.  Pour 1/3 cup mix onto a griddle heated to 375 degrees.  Cook approximately 2 minutes per side or until bubbling around the edges.

6.  For the syrup, combine equal parts peanut butter and syrup.  Heat on medium power in the microwave for approximately 30 seconds.  Stir to combine.

7.  Top your hot-off-the-griddle pancakes with sliced banana and peanut butter syrup.

Catching Up On Life

Today was my first day off in 26 days.  Needless to say, I've pretty much been living at the hospital.

It's amazing how long a to-do list can become when you've been too busy to deal with normal things for nearly 4 weeks.  While I was determined to make progress on the list, I also wanted to soak up the day and enjoy some sleep and relaxation as well.  Aside from the fact that the day passed way too quickly, it was a great day!

Sleep was a priority!  Sleeping until 7:45am (3.5 hours later than usual) never felt so good!

Multi-grain Chia Seed Pancakes with Banana and Maple Peanut Butter Syrup
(recipe to follow)
Perfect Lazy Morning = a cup of tea, pancake breakfast, and lounging in pjs watching The Today Show

Long run past the Myers Park mansions.
It might be the middle of August, but it was a beautiful 79 degrees this morning.

Afternoon nourishment:  Salmon salad, crackers with herb cheese, hydration, and a good book.
Now if only I could have kept my eyes open long enough to get past page 1.
Oh well, I've never regretted a nap!

At home, the grocery situation was getting to be pretty pathetic.  As residents, the hospital provides all of our meals.  The food is surprisingly good and there is typically a wide variety of options.  As a result, I eat breakfast and lunch there each day.  As of late, my hours have been on the long side, and so I've been frequenting the cafeteria for dinner as well.

For the first time in 2 weeks, I was actually in need of some food to cook for myself at home.  My refrigerator contained a variety of condiments, rice milk, a single container of yogurt, flax seeds, spinach, and an apple.  Not exactly dinner worthy.  I must say I was very excited to make a trip to the grocery store!  I love the process of wandering the isles and finding great deals, and have been known to frequent the store a couple times each week.  Can you believe I hadn't been to the grocery store in 3 weeks!?!

Tonight's meal was compliments of one of my favorite cookbooks:

Do yourself a favor and add this book to your collection ASAP!

Looks delicious, right?

My version.  Lots of prep work, but incredibly delicious!  My favorite tofu dish I've created.

No better way to end a perfect day!
Salted caramel froyo with waffle cone pieces, caramel, raspberries, and dark chocolate chips.

And now I'm off to bed.  Does my perfect day really have to end??  Back to the trauma bay in the morning.

1.67%

1 month down, 59 to go.  I bid farewell to the pediatric surgery service last night and officially marked the end of my first month of residency - 1.67% of a five year program is behind me.  Month one flew by!  The 59 months ahead of me seems a little daunting though, so I think I'll just focus on completing month one rather than on the long road ahead!

Tonight I start on the trauma service!  I've always enjoyed my trauma rotations in the past.  There's a degree of excitement that come with each unknown patient and scenario that rolls in the emergency room doors and I enjoy the fast pace and constantly changing circumstances.

With the new hours regulations for interns, my schedule for the month is a crazy mix of nights (7pm - 9am), regular days (6am - 5pm), and long days (6am - 8pm).  For those of you who don't know, the bigwigs who create the rules for medical education initiated a new set of work hour regulations for first year residents beginning July 2011.

-  Maximum daily work hours = 16
-  Minimum hours between shifts (8 = required, 10 = recommended)
-  Maximum number of hours per week = 80
-  Average number of days off per week = 1

Therefore, the standard 30 hour work day is a thing of the past and programs have had to retool and get creative to both meet the regulations and maintain superior patient care.  There are certainly growing pains associated with the new system - more hand-offs in patient care and discontinuity between day and night shifts.  All of us interns have heard plenty of jokes about being weak, needing our "naptime", and having it so easy compared to all of the residents who came before us.  I'm still not quite sure what part of working 80 hours a week is easy, but I'm trying to just go with the flow.  Somebody has to be the guinea pigs, and our intern class is just lucky enough to be the chosen few.

31 days down, 1794 days to go!