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Oops at not posting very much this week. I’ve been really busy with school. Midterms have started. I had anatomy yesterday, and physics today. ONLY 21 more midterms to go. :/

from physicians.fraserhealth.ca/

We have been doing some fun things too though. Yesterday afternoon I had my first hospital visit. Gillian, Lesley and I went to tour the outpatient nuclear medicine unit in Surrey. They split the three of us up and we each followed a technologist who was doing their regular work. I saw a few bone scans and heart scans, and a couple others. I got to ask lots of questions, listen to all the things the technologists say to the patients, and see how they position the patients and the cameras and things. It was really neat. I even had to call in the next patient and ask them to use the bathroom and help them get out after the scan was done.

That department is soooooooooo nice. Everything is brand new and clean and fast. They can do a CT scan in 13 seconds! I would consider doing one of my clinical placements there just because it is so modern and nice there, and all the people were really friendly and treated us students well.

from sellesmedical.co.uk

Then today in nursing class we learned about vitals. We learned how to take blood pressure the old fashioned way! I did not get it all the first time: I opened the valve too fast so the cuff deflated really fast, and all I could hear in the stethoscope was my fingers moving around. But then the second time I heard what I was supposed to hear. I’d say I was within ±10. More practice needed next week.

My blood pressure was quite low, but my heart was beating fast. I think I was a bit stressed out again about the morning’s midterm. Plus a little more exercise probably wouldn’t hurt.

So happy that it’s the weekend. Unfortunately I have three difficult midterms next week so I’m probably going to spend the whole weekend studying. It would be nice to get out to try a hot chocolate from the Hot Chocolate Festival before it ends though! I have my eye on a salted caramel hot chocolate, or a  hazelnut hot chocolate (hopefully Scott will also want to try one of those so I can taste both) from Thomas Haas, but it’s all the way in Kitsilano so we’ll see.

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from quantifiedself.com/

Today at school I learned about butter.

We dissolved butter in ether and water. The fat and other fat-soluble components (like Vitamin A) dissolve in the ether, and the milk solids and salt and other stuff stay in the water. Then we separated it by draining out the water, and then evaporated off the ether. This left us with a lovely dish of fat.

About 84% of butter is fat!!!

The internet tells me about 1-2% of salted butter is salt.

No wonder it tastes good.

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Oh my. Our house smells sooooooo good right now. Scott made blueberry muffins and despite me not liking cooked fruit, I am drooling all over the place.

We also had a lovely dinner. Banh mi and some excellent homemade fries on the side. Nice work Scott!!

Yesterday revolved around dips. Scott made jalapeno cheddar hummus, I made guacamole, and spinach and artichoke dip, and Rosemarie made 7 layer dip. We ate everything with baby carrots, corn chips, and crusty bread. We also had some spicy wings. All while watching the Superbowl playing boardgames and having a few drinks with the Superbowl on in the background.

The hummus was nice!! I wouldn’t make it for an every day snack, but it was a nice change from regular hummus. I never would have thought of putting cheese in hummus, but it was goooood.

Unfortunately we took no pictures of the food. Blogger fail.

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I went from having very little school work to A WHOLE LOT of school work very suddenly. Five midterms in the very near future, including three in a row. AHHH. A lot of assignments. So… I think I’m fully back to school life.

If you haven’t seen it already, Scott posted his February post on his blog!

Out of all the holidays that food blogs “celebrate” (ie. EVERYTHING PUMPKIN IN OCTOBER/NOVEMBER, or ALL peppermint Christmas desserts, or Chinese food OVERLOAD for Chinese New Year) I actually really enjoy the pre-Superbowl season. I LOVE party food, the grosser the better. Bring on the liquid cheese.

Scott is definitely watching the Superbowl this weekend but it is unclear whether I will have time or not to watch sit on the couch with my laptop. I may just have to whip up a dish of jalapeno popper dip, a bowl of guacamummus (guacamole + hummus), and a pot of queso blanco liquid cheese ANYWAY.

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I tried another Budget Bytes recipe yesterday. Slow cooker non-fried refried beans!

I don’t have any pictures (not very photogenic) but they turned out awesome!!! SO much nicer than canned refried beans, and way cheaper. Also they must be pretty healthy because the only ingredients are dried pinto beans, water, onion, garlic, jalapeno and some spices! No oil whatsoever, they just cooked in the slow-cooker for 8 hours and then I mashed them.

The recipe made about 5 servings of beans for less than $2. I bet I could even get cheaper dried beans if I bought a bigger package or got them in bulk. We ate yummy shrimp burritos last night, and we froze the remaining four servings for another time.


Scott did end up making the choc ripple cake. He whipped the cream by hand!!


It was tasty. I ate it with breakfast….. I’m still off chocolate after the morning. Actually speaking of sleep I’ve been pretty good at it lately! I fall asleep much quicker than before, although I still do have the occasional insomnia night when I’m really anxious/nervous but it’s really way less frequent than last spring/summer.


Dinner last week. Quinoa with shrimp, avocado, butternut pumpkin, corn, red pepper, green onion, lime. I made the quinoa in the rice cooker, stir-fried all the vegetables, removed them and seared the shrimp, then mixed everything together, added avocado, and doused it all with the juice of one whole lime. YUM YUM.

I’ll be back with another awesome gift post later today.