Keep Calm and Carry On: The Diary of Foodie and Gourmet

After going MIA for about a month, I finally go to see my best friend, E. I hadn’t seen her in forever, mainly due to the fact that I was studying 24/7 for my finals and the MCAT. With the MCAT done and me completing my NYU post-bac program, I was able to have a life again! The first person I called….? E of course! Excited and relishing my new freedom (although it’s temporary because I now have to work on my medical school essays…) I set off to Brooklyn to meet E. I love Brooklyn, I really do. It’s such a cool place and the food is phenomenal. I met E at her house and also got to see her mother, whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time and adore. I was joking with both E and her mom, that after basically studying the whole month and not having a social life, I could slowly be rehabilitated back into society and be re-taught what social interaction is! Whilst at her house, E surprised me with a belated birthday gift. Very very sweet of her, and totally unnecessary! Just being...

A few months ago, I was invited to a “Tabélog Meet and Greet” event. Now, before I proceed, allow me to tell you what Tabélog is. Tabélog is an online restaurant guide. It’s sort of like a posher version of yelp. The company originally started in Japan, but has come stateside. I was asked to join Tabélog as a blogger/reviewer about a year ago. One of my good friends from college was working with the company and was helping it get set up in New York. Knowing that I am a massive foodie and needing help to launch the website in New York City, I joined up and began blogging and writing restaurant reviews. When I first started, I was very active with Tabélog, frequently posting pictures and writing reviews of restaurants, however, as school began to dominate, I stopped contributing. Despite this, the Tabélog team always kept in contact with me, inviting me to many of their social events. I was also asked to participate in their “Tabélog” awards, as a judge, was a very cool. Any...

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this fact with you all yet, so I’m going to go ahead and say it now: I love biochemistry. I really do. It’s hard and complicated, but of all of the science classes I took at NYU, this was by far my favorite. Ironically, despite being considered the “hardest of the pre-med course” and not actually being a pre-med prerequisite class, I think this was the one class that actually made sense to me and it was my most successful course! If I had to go back and major is a science, I would major in biochemistry. Hands down. Now, why am I telling you this? Well, I just like sharing the fact that I love biochemistry, but I think my love of this subject is due to the fact that I had the most phenomenal professor. Dr. G is not only a veteran biochemist and lecturer, he has 40+ years of experience in the field and has connections to every famous scientist ever (ex: Sir Hans Kreb, Dr. Christian de Duve, etc…), but he is also a hilarious and wonderful human being. He i...

You may have noticed that I have been silent recently, so I thought I'd let everyone know what's going on. I have just completed my two year post-bac pre-med program at NYU and now, I have been studying hard for my MCAT, which I take tomorrow! I can't believe how quickly these two years have flown by. I remember thinking back in 2012, "this program is going to take forever!", but now I find myself thinking, "where did the time go?!"  Last week, I took my biochemistry final and a physics exam and am now officially DONE with NYU! Now, I just need to stay focused so that I can do well on the MCAT tomorrow. Once the MCAT is done, I start applying to medical school. Wish me luck!!!! :D  practicing my organic chemistry functional groups

When I go grocery shopping or look for recipes online or just read anything food related, I'm bombarded by the image of one ingredient: KALE. It's everywhere and it's being hailed a super food. That's great and all, but I will freely admit, I don't love kale. This may be blasphemous, since I do know many people who swear by this leafy green, but I am just not a huge fan. It's ok. I don't love it.  That said, I have been craving potato chips, but I know they are fattening. My solution: kale chips! I see kale chips everywhere. I've bought them and they are ok, but not great. I find that the chips I buy tend to be over seasoned, which leaves me underwhelmed. Also, the kale chips I buy tend to be really expensive! I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own chips. I was pleased by how easy these chips are to make and how delicious they came out! If you are like me --- craving chips, but want a healthier option --- I recommend this re...

So, before the semester got too crazy, I thought I would indulge myself with an evening of culture. I really enjoy the theater and I love Shakespeare, so when I learned that the National Theater Live was screening Coriolanus , I jumped at the opportunity to see this production! For those who may not be familiar, NT Live is a great organization that screens British plays, via cinemas, all over the world. It is an amazing and wonderful system and I am so thankful that it exists! Moreover, since screening venues are limited, I am super lucky that NYU's Skirball Theater is a designated venue for NT Live events! The first NT Live I saw at NYU Skirball was Danny Boyle's critically acclaimed adaptation of Frankenstein , starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller. This visually astounding and groundbreaking stage adaptation of Mary Shelley's haunting tale is unique in many ways, but it's most distinguishing feature was probably the nightly alternating of the le...

Don't ask me why, but recently, I've been craving spaghetti bolognese. Not sure why, but it has been on my mind. With no recipe immediately available to me, I took to the internet to search. I'm sure that there are many wonderful bolognese recipes out there, in fact, some of you reading my blog may have special family recipes, but for my craving, I turn to one man: Gordon Ramsay. We all know I idolize him. He is my favorite and he has never let me down yet. I was delighted to find that my main man Gordon has a bolognese recipe. Not only did he have a recipe, it was super easy and fast --- perfect for a busy student. It seems Gordon cooked this recipe on one of his shows, so there was a youtube video and everything! I studied, bought my groceries, and was ready to go. Now, whilst the recipe I've written here is pretty much based on Gordon Ramsay, I've made some modifications. For example, instead of beef, I used a healthier ground chicken option. Good graci...