Dear Eduardo: The Food Entry

Dear Eduardo,

I bet you'd just about given up hope of me writing to you again, huh? I'm sorry to have ignored you and the blog which you so meticulously maintain for so long; I've been busy to say the least. There are so many new developments and I don't have time to discuss them all now (I'm busy after all!), but rest assured I'll find some time over this coming weekend to regal you tales of West Coast happenings such as Bay to Breakers Freedom Day, Celtics in the NBA finals, three new roommates, field epidemiology training, kickball in the park, The National at the Fox Theater, and of course my trip home to Rhode Island (I guess that's more of an East Coast happening).

Anyways... this entry will be short and delicious, since its devoted to food. Why food? Two reasons:

1. Now that school is done for the summer, I suddenly find myself with time on my hands. I've been filling this 4th-dimensional gap by cooking more often. I've really missed it.
   
2. I saw this story on NPR's website today and was filled with feelings of nostalgia, homesick-ness and hunger. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127481915

Providing that link to the NPR story was half the reason for this post. The other half is to inform you that I recently made some pulled pork that I was particularly proud of. I used a North Carolina-style vinegar sauce for the first time and think it came out pretty well. Of course, anytime you have the patience for something to cook in the oven for six hours, it better be tasty. I'd provide you with the recipe, but I forget what it was. Plus its nothing special. I also shredded a head of red cabbage and mixed in a bit of cider vinegar to go with it. Yum.

So I've spent the past few days doing my best to consume five pounds of pulled pork without getting sick of it or because of it. Some of my solutions: pulled pork sandwiches with cabbage (duh), pulled pork omelette with cheddar and red onion, pulled pork and cabbage on polenta patties, and finally tonight pulled pork soft tacos with shredded NY extra-sharp cheddar, peach mango salsa, chopped bacon bits and of course, shredded red cabbage. Stick that with a limited-release Lagunitas 'Undercover Investigator Shut-Down Ale' that weighs in at 9.75% ABV and you've got yourself a solid Friday night dinner. Here is a picture of said meal before I conquered it in less than 10 minutes...

Until next time...

Happy New Years: '010 (+15/365ths)

I took a break from blogging during the past month for a couple reasons. (1) the middle of December was dominated by end-of-semester nonsense and a multitude of exams, for which I'd never studied so hard in my life (not that that's saying too much) and (2) I've been getting burnt out on email and the internet in general.

I enjoyed my winter break in Rhode Island, helped out with the H1N1 effort there, visited Boston, spent a few days on an island up in Maine soaking up the bitter the cold, and got to see all the best people in the world (missed a couple, see you in March). I also got a RI flag for Christmas that I'm quite excited about, because as one friend here in Berkeley told me, my love for my state is highly unnatural yet pretty amusing.

Anyways, I'm going to try and dispense with the forced essays from here on out, because who has time to read them (I don't have time to write them). I'd like to keep the focus on health and education, but will attempt to keep it a bit shorter and more organic. Besides, my guess would be that about 4 people read this, so I'm just doing it for myself essentially.

Some New Year's related thoughts...

• How do we verbally abbreviate 2010? 'Ten' sounds terrible. 'Twenty-Ten' doesn't really do it for me either. I like 'oh-ten' ('010), so lets try and get that into the common lingo.
  
• I got the H1N1 vaccine while I was in RI. I even insisted on getting the 'flu mist' form, which people seem to fear as though its the plauge because its an attenuated (weakened) virus, rather than a killed one like the shot. I'd like to report that I am still alive, experienced zero side effects, and in fact, the vaccine seems to have made me faster, stronger, and better looking. I'd highly recommend it.
  
• I really missed riding my bike, I think a month away from it made me fatter. I guess New England winter will do that do you anyways because who the hell wants to be outisde?
• Zanzibar (the semi-autonomous island off the coast of Tanzania) where I hope to do my summer internship focused on malaria eradication, has been without power for 3 weeks, and likely will remain so for another month. Their 30-year old undersea power cable from the mainland is busted.
  
• My New Year's resolution is more of a theme: Discipline. I really have very little self-discipline so I'm going to work on that this year. I've always lived by the Buddha's words: 'everything in moderation, even moderation', essentially giving myself an excuse to party whenever I wanted. Can the concept of self-discipline be reconciled with the second half of that statement? I guess I'll be attempting to be disciplined in allocating my moments of non-moderation.
• I really love technology, to think of how far we've come even in my short lifetime is crazy... rotary phones to iPhones, the Berlin Wall to globalization, typewriters to email, and cassettes to mp3's. However, the social media/Web 2.0 frenzy has got me on the defensive a bit. I'm going to start thinking about how to balance the utility of new technology with the overbearing invasiveness of it. A couple interesting things I intend, but have yet to really check out can be found here and here.
• God have mercy on the people of Haiti right now. I would strongly suggest donating to Partner's in Health, a Boston-based international health nonprofit that has been operating in Haiti for 30 years that has become the model for how to make gains in health outcomes across the globe. There are many organizations in Haiti worth donating to and doing great work, but I think PIH is best equipped to make immediate use of funds sent to them. You can learn more and donate here.
  

This is Berkeley...

A brief photo tour of my new home, Berkeley, CA...

Berkeley Bowl... no its not a bowling alley. Its a grocery store and their produce section (as you can see) is enormous. Having dirt cheap produce only 4 blocks from my house gets two thumbs up.

Cal has a football team. And a 72,000 person stadium. And a Heisman contender (Jahvid Best). Oh, and they're No. 10 in the country right now. I got season tickets.

It took me a few days to realize what the sign I often lock my bike to actually meant... 'NL' stands for Nobel Laureate, and yes, there are multiple parking spots.

Speaking of bikes, trying to find a spot at a bike rack here is like trying to find a place to park your car at on the URI campus, meaning if its past 10am, forget about finding anything convenient.

Sunset over the Pacific, taken from Highway 1 on the ride back from Santa Cruz...

Its A Small World After All

So I've started this blog... My original idea was to write about what I was up to out here in Berkeley, CA so all my East Coast friends and family could keep track of my exploits (and hoping that I would be able to keep from having to repeat the same stories over and over). Before I even started writing though, I realized that as a topic, my day-to-day life in Berkeley is going to be a pretty boring read, and probably even more dreadful to write about. So I'm going to refrain from chronicling my life out here.

There will be a sampling of life in Berkeley and my adjustment to the West Coast, but I'm going to stick mostly to public health issues, two of the hot items right now being H1N1 (one of the few things I can call myself an expert on) and health care reform (currently honing my expertise).

This first post will refrain from health issues to make one point: despite being a tiny dysfunctional speck of planet earth, Rhode Island seems to reach even the West Coast with relative ease, I'll explain...



Instance 1: My thankfully uneventful plane trip was made at least slightly interesting by the commonalities I discovered between myself and the middle-aged couple sitting to my right on board our Boeing 757 from Boston to San Francisco. Carol happened to ask if I was 'coming or going', I replied that I was going... for quite some time... and explained how I was starting an MPH degree at UC Berkeley. Upon hearing that I attended URI, Carol and her husband Neil inquired if I knew Professor Manchester... "well there is no professor Manchester at URI [to my knowledge] but I know a Margaret Manchester that teaches at Providence College," I replied, "and she happens to be a close family friend." 'Yes, thats it! We know the Frees... I teach with Scott at Berkley [School of Music]' replied Neil. The Frees lived next-door to the Manchesters for years as I was growing up in Barrington, RI, and both families were close friends of my own family, as most of us kids were around the same age. The Olmsteads (Neil and Carol) had been to the same beach houses in the summer and met many of the same folks I knew as I was growing up. I hope they enjoyed their vacation in San Francisco.

Instance 2: After arriving in Berkeley and moving into my apartment on Tuesday (Aug 18th), my roommates and I split up to hit all the yard sales in Berkeley that Saturday. Alex and I took his Subaru wagon around south Berkeley, while Bobby and Doug took the north. After getting a 'New England Discount' on a set of chairs for our dining room from a woman wearing a UMass sweatshirt (Alex is from Western Mass), our second stop was looking much less interesting. We did however find a functioning iron for $1, so I we happily made the purchase from the couple staffing the yard sale. When they inquired where we were from (I think my Rhode Island Ultimate sweatshirt gave it away) and I responded with 'Rhode Island'. They happily informed me that they too, were both from the Ocean State. Upon further discussion I found that Janet had worked as an RN at Rhode Island Hospital for quite some time (and of course knew a couple colleagues of mine at the RI Dept of Health) and was now the immunization coordinator for the city of Berkeley. When I informed her of my concentration at Cal in Infectious Disease, and my work on H1N1 back in Rhode Island, she gave me her business card. I'm excited to put it to use.

[Update: I'm currently in conversation with Janet working the logistics of having the Association of Public Health Infectious Disease Students (APHIDS) help staff flu vaccination clinics]

Instance 3: Three days later I was attending the 'Center for Public Health Practice' leadership day prior to the start of class. As they were busy pumping us full of accolades and promises of the many opportunities that lay ahead of us, I asked the other students of the table I was sitting at where they were from... Virginia, California, North Carolina...RHODE ISLAND!? I had certainly expected myself to be the only one at my table (indeed, in the whole auditorium) to be uttering that state name. It turns out the Divya, a 1st year Epidemiology MPH student, graduated from East Greenwich high school the same year that I graduated from Barrington High. She had been my college roommate's square dancing partner in Jr. High, she knew a co-worker of mine from the kayak shop in Wickford, and knew my friend Sushil (now a law student here at Cal) and highschool classmate Nick Bauer from when they attended Brown University. I had wondered if my immediate high-five to her for both being from RI was a little over the top, but apparently she has just as much pride in our tiny state as I do. The only people a bit perplexed were the rest of the students at our table... I guess you don't get quite as excited when you meet someone else from North Carolina.

Instance 4: Last but not least is Andrew, the sandwich shop counter attendant where Divya and I went to get lunch between classes. He happened to comment ('hey, nice shirt') on the Narragansett Little League t-shirt I was wearing, obtained from when Maria worked at their Parks and Recreation department. I was of course confused, because it is not a nice shirt. Seeing my confusion, he explained that he graduated from Narragansett High in 2000. Of course he knew both Toby Johnson and Carris Transue, Narragansett natives whom I worked with at summer camp.

It is indeed a small world. The one-degree-of-separation rule holds strong for Rhode Islanders, even ones transplanted to the West Coast. Every RI native I've met has had more than one mutual aquaintence. I take it as a sign that I'm on the right path...