Thursday, September 27, 2012

Firsts

Am assigned to the Colorectal Department for the 4th week of the surgery semester and it has been quite eventful.
  • On Tuesday morning, I performed a per rectum digital exam (and no, digit doesn't mean numbers in this case). Also, got to insert a rectoscope into a patient...although not really, since the surgeon was actually the one guiding it --- analogous to a child with their hands on the steering wheel while the parent drives. 
  • On Tuesday afternoon, I was in minor surgery. 
    • The surgeon made the initial incision and then I extended it a little. I got to feel around inside the patient's side for the lipoma (benign fatty tumor), but the surgeon did the real work since it was positioned close to blood vessels and nerves. Got to place 4 sutures. Was originally supposed to be 3, but one broke when the surgeon tightened it.  
    • Accidentally got local anesthetic squirted on my face and wondered if I would gain surg cred if I let it be.
    • Prepped and administered local anaesthetic. I know it's odd that I haven't done this before now. However, when we've worked with anaesthesia in the past, it's always been in groups and the more confident or experienced students have taken the lead.
    • Wrote an operative note with coaching from the surgeon. The only operative notes I've read before were for major surgeries and writing one of those seemed rather intimidating.
    • May not seem that impressive, but as I wrote on facebook, "4 midsize stitches for patient...1 psychological breakthrough for Einakind." I'm Chicken Little anxious, so it was important to prove to myself that I can hack it. 
  • On Thursday morning, it was time to observe a major operation. Earned brownie points for noticing that the air hose had fallen out of the warm air blanket. Stood beside the primary operator and got to wield the diathermy machine for a few zaps. Unfortunately, I had to step out after an hour as I was starting to feel funny because I hadn't had time for breakfast and had nixed liquid intake to avoid unnecessary bathroom visits. I actually wasn't feeling that bad and I wanted to hold out for 15 to 30 more minutes since my fellow student and I would have to leave for the next class then anyway, but it's a good thing I stepped away from the operating table when I did. I started to feel panicky as I struggled with gown and glove removal and as my classmate and I were heading to the water cooler, I had to stop and sit in the wash room for a bit to recover. Am confident that next time will go better though with a hydrated and well-fed Eina who knows what to expect.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Mylo Xyloto pics

Was at Coldplay's concert at Stockholm Stadion yesterday. Have uploaded the photos on facebook and set the album as public. Clickety-click!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Happy birthday to me!

I have a special fondness for breakfast (which I've previously blogged about here and here), so I figured I'd treat myself to a nice breakfast for my birthday and that I'd throw a little champagne into the mix. 
                            
Well, technically, sparkling wine since the grapes used didn't come from the Champagne region. Anyway, I snapped a photo of the bottle and the receipt because it was my first purchase ever from Systembolaget (Sweden's liquor monopoly) and I would say it's something of a feat that I've never bought anything there before since a lot of people probably head there as soon as they're of age (20 years old). Also bought stemware and a corkscrew yesterday. As it turns out, I didn't need the corkscrew since the 200 mL bottle had a screw cap. And to think, I even watched an instructional video on using a winged corkscrew! :-/


Aside from the bubbly and the slice of cake (prinsesstårta), I went with standard and easy-to-prepare breakfast food. Didn't feel like slaving away at the stove today. Headed over to the Brother and the SIL's place for dinner bearing lasagna, garlic bread, and the pink prinsesstårta you see below --- all frozen! Oh, the horror! :p


I was actually supposed to buy a strawberry mousse cake that's new on the market and that I've been wanting to try, but the store was out. Anyway, the important thing was that the cake was pink. I had plans for it, you see...    


Pink prinsesstårta (a little worse for wear post-transport) + pink marzipan + 2 chocolate coins = 


P I G G Y   C A K E ! ! !

The little parcels contained a few chocolate coins and lollipops for the nieces and I had some balloons left over from the crayfish party last year. Thought it was so cute when The Big Niece asked "Faster[=me], does Farmor[=my mom] know that it's your birthday today?"

Many thanks to everyone who greeted me and to the Brother, the SIL, The Big Niece and The Little Niece for celebrating with me and for the presents!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Because watching ANTM makes you want to go grab a soda?


Spotted at the store today. This product tie-in just seems so random.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Yup, still alive

...but that bird isn't.

"Eh, what bird?" you ask. The one I spotted a few days ago on a rare occasion when I opted for the stairs over the elevator. I looked out the stairwell windows and was greeted by the sight of a dead bird on the overhang above the building's secondary entrance. What has been seen can unfortunately not be unseen although I strangely enough felt compelled to take a second look.

Anyway, figured that I should inform the building superintendent seeing as it would probably rot, start to smell and attract who-knows-what and also so that I can use that door again at some point. Logged in to check on the progress and it says that the bird was stuck so hard that they would need to try again when there were two people available to do the job. I wish them well and hope that none of them share my ornithophobia.

In the meantime, I'll be sticking to the elevator and here's hoping the main entrance stays bird-free.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Not like the movies

First gig as a movie extra yesterday. A casting agent e-mailed me the day before to check if I was available and informed me that the shoot would be on a cruise ship. "Ooh!" I thought, "cruise + buffet lunch, why not?"

Was running late and had a little trouble finding out where to go since all we were given was the name of the ship, M/S Baltic Queen. Passed a terminal, but the ship wasn't there, so I kept walking in search of the next terminal. Finally spotted the ship which had yet to moor and happened to meet a nice older couple who were also going to be extras. Turns out I had to double back to the terminal I'd passed earlier.


When I got to the terminal, it was time to line up for the passport check, which dragged on a bit. 


Once on the boat, we were directed to the cafeteria. They'd cordoned off an area for the extras and there was coffee as well as toast, ham and cheese for assembling your own sandwich. Didn't eat anything since I'd made sure to eat breakfast at home ( My sleep schedule has been messed up lately so I'd been awake since 6:00 PM the previous night.), but did amuse myself with the ceiling mirror.


The scene was a disco scene shot inside the Tango Lounge. They needed some of the extras to dance. Of course, I didn't volunteer for that and sat down at one of the tables instead. There was a prop drink on the table which wasn't meant for consumption. Wonder what was in it and how long it's been sitting there. During breaks in filming, someone from the crew would go around with a pitcher of water and plastic cups and had to make sure to collect the cups before the next take.

I knew that film shoots involved a lot of waiting, but I was surprised to realize that they only shoot a few seconds to a minute at a time. Less than an hour after we'd entered the Tango Lounge, it was time to break for lunch. They announced that the extras would eat at the buffet and actor Kjell Bergqvist quipped "You'll eat buffet, we'll eat gourmet."

I was partly in this for the buffet, but while we did eat at the buffet restaurant, the only option you had was mashed potatoes or rice. Have been soda-free since Monday and thought I might be tempted to break my streak, but the soda machine was off limits.


Our part of the shoot finished way ahead of schedule, 2:00 PM instead of 5:30 PM. 


Passport checks and customs signs, notwithstanding, we never even left the dock. :)

Lots of construction going on in Stockholm lately


Even this statue outside of Stockholm's Central Station has gotten tired of it. Cute concept and so easy to execute...just add earmuffs!


The text at the foot of the statue can be roughly translated as "Geez, so much noise."

More (and much better) pictures can be found on the ad agency's site: http://www.garbergs.se/#/jernhusen---horselskydd

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Back to basics


Fried some chicken fillets today to use in a salad. Nothing fancy, just sprinkled them with salt and pepper. After they were cooked, I snacked on a few pieces as I was shredding them into strips and was struck by how delish it was. 

The explosion of food shows, magazines, blogs, etc. have made gourmet food much more accessible, which is great but has also spurred the tendency to overcomplicate things...use exotic spices here, employ froufrou techniques there. Today I was reminded of the merits of good ol' salt and pepper.

I'm not saying that I'll stop experimenting in the kitchen, but today it was nice to be reminded that simple can be good too...and that's applicable even outside the kitchen.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Signs of life

Have mostly been cooped up at home trying to get school-related stuff done with little success. Today has been fairly productive though --- did  laundry and errands --- and now I'm sitting here eating chicken pasta.



Happy birthday to the Brother! He turns 32 today.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Rubber ducky!



Was at Uppsala Castle on Saturday and was amused to find a rubber ducky by the fountain in the castle garden.

Santa Maria Tex Mex Tapas



Är med i Buzzadors kampanj för Santa Marias Tex Mex Tapas sortiment. Quesadillafyllningen består av kallrökt lax, philadelphiaost, koriander och lime juice.  Använde en tesked för att fylla cherry peppers med skinkvarianten av philadelphiaost. Var initialt skeptiskt när det gällde cherry peppers men de var förvånansvärt goda.

[TRANSLATION: Am part of the Buzzador campaign for Santa Maria's Tex Mex Tapas line. The quesadilla filling consists of cold smoked salmon, cream cheese, coriander and lime juice. I just spooned ham-flavored cream cheese into the cherry peppers. Was actually initially skeptical of the cherry peppers, but they were surprisingly good.]


Thursday, May 24, 2012

The M of Happiness

"Look, it's the M of Happiness!" I declared upon spotting McDonald's Golden Arches during a car ride with the Brother and family. Weeks later, The Big Niece told the SIL that a friend's birthday party was going to be "EXTRA special [...] because it's going to be at McDonald's, the M of Happiness." I found it rather touching that my little throwaway comment stuck with her. Aww, impressionable young mind! :)

As I was pouring M&M's into a bowl today, I realized that there's more than one M of Happiness.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Let me eat cake!

Sweden's Princess Estelle was christened today. A number of bakeshops are selling special cakes or pastries in honor of the occasion, just like they did on the day she was born. On my way home from school, I stopped by Xoko to buy an Estelle mini cake*. Their version is a specially-decorated prinsesstårta (princess cake). Two years ago, Frödinge sold frozen princess cakes for her parents' wedding.


Finally found a fitting occasion to inaugurate my V&A Museum afternoon tea set. Couldn't resist buying pizza while I was there. Was choosing between anchovy&olive and spinach&onion confit. Anchovy&olive won.



In other news, presented my research project yesterday and served as an opponent today.

[*Well, two actually, if we're being totally honest here. :p]

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Hooray for a public holiday

Met my friend S in the city today and paid a visit to Ladurée Stockholm, which opened last weekend.



Then we headed to Mood Stockholm where I got a pulled pork sandwich, potato salad and rhubarb nectar at Vigårda.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Late lunch

The salad dressing label reads "Guaranteed satisfaction or your money back from Ken." Wonder if Barbie is okay with that.

Have been busy

Will be presenting my research paper next week and the show I talked about in my May 3rd entry was filmed yesterday. What an experience! Will write about that soon, but won't post it until after the program has aired. There was no confidentiality clause in the agreement we signed, but they requested that we not spill the beans to everyone before the show airs.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Finally started using Instagram



...and Pressbyrån, a chain of convenience stores, in Sweden started selling pre-packaged Starbucks beverages this week. I spotted the ad at a Pressbyrån in Södertälje yesterday and tried looking for the product closer to home, but couldn't find it. Turns out, I was looking in the wrong place because I thought they were selling hot lattes. Made a second attempt today and there they were...just waiting for me in the refrigerated section.


Starbucks now has branches in the central stations of Gothenburg/Göteborg and Malmö, which are Sweden's 2nd and 3rd largest cities, but oddly enough not in the capital. Ah, well, absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that jazz.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Little Eina's going to be on the telly

I've always thought it would be cool to appear on TV at some point. When I was younger, I went to a few castings in The Philippines because commercial modelling was a thing for mestizo (mixed race, Caucasian and Filipino) kids. Never managed to book an ad job though and never imagined that I'd pop up on Swedish TV instead. Then again, I was on the front page of a Swedish newspaper once upon a time...it was a little community, but still, front page is front page (or was it just the front page of a section, can't remember). :p

Anyway, was on location for a few hours today to shoot the first segment. It was surreal to sit on a window ledge beside this international TV personality. I mean this is someone I used to watch even back home in The Philippines and I never thought our paths would cross and suddenly there we are chatting about my life. There'll be another taping day in a couple of weeks and the show will air in the fall. 

Some tredpidation about putting myself out there. The show is in the reality category and though it's not trashy or exploitative at all, I do have to open up a bit. I hope I manage to make a positive impression. There was a part where I was being  interviewed and I was thinking "What I'm saying makes sense to me, but am I able to communicate that or am I inadvertently leaving out  necessary information (because I'm so used to thinking along these lines) and not making any sense at all?"

Oh well, here's me overanalyzing, but that's what I do. Anyway, reality check: unless the viewer is someone who actually knows me or I manage to make a huge fool of myself, my participation will hardly register.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Dessert for dinner

It's a good thing! Well, not on a daily basis or anything... :p



Finally used the ice cream bowl from Mumsy. Have actually had Häagen-Dazs Baileys Irish Cream sitting in the freezer undistrubed for the past 3 weeks, but chose to "tart up" vanilla ice cream instead.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Minestrone

I prepared this on Sunday but I'd made so much that I ended up eating minestrone on Monday and Tuesday as well. I was starting to get tired of it, but now that it's gone, I miss it already. Great way to get my veggie consumption up. 

Friday, April 27, 2012

Nothing makes me more inclined to putter around in the kitchen

...than the fact that I really should be doing something else...but hey, a girl's gotta eat, right?!



And if one has to eat, why not have some roasted asparagus and prosciutto topped with a poached egg and hollandaise as well as some mushrooms, spinach and garlic sautéed in butter and olive oil? :p

Duh! points

Anticipating the delivery of the coffee maker, I made sure to stock up on coffee and milk. Even bought brown sugar. And yet, I managed to forget the filters and ended up doing a 2130 grocery run.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

What I had for dinner yesterday



Shrimp cocktail (used romaine lettuce for the greens), toast, crackers, camembert, fig marmalade and butter.

Injured

When I was doing the dishes yesterday, I made the mistake of absentmindedly running my finger over the edge of a knife. Since I'm still not completely unpacked, I had to rummage through my stuff to find the bandages. Well, at least I know the knife is sharp.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

It's all about food

Yesterday I finally managed to order satay from the food court next door. Have tried twice before, but they were out. That's actually only half of the chicken and rice, I put away the rest for dinner because their servings are huge.


While at the grocery store yesterday, I spotted plantains. I bought one and used it to make banana fritters for my afternoon snack today. Made the mistake of choosing a very green plantain, but it worked out well enough.


For dinner, I made Chef D' Einalo pasta which has shrimp, spinach and garlic. Had to run down to the store to buy chili flakes, but good thing it's literally next door and I didn't even have to put on a jacket. Since my food blogger aspirations are growing, I even have a "before" picture. :p



I realize that pasta + toast = carbs overload BUT the toaster I ordered arrived today, so I just had to use it.

My napkin drawer

Lambi tissue, toilet paper, etc. have codes which you can input on their website and then use to order various items. I got these table and picnic napkins in exchange for 14 codes.

When I was a kid, I'd always see various similar promos on cereal boxes and the like from the US, but of course couldn't participate. Also, in those pre-internet days, you'd have to cut out proof of purchase stamps and mail them in.

Yay, for free stuff!


Saturday, April 21, 2012

Not my usual food post

It's Kulturnatten (culture night) in Stockholm. Certain museums, theaters, etc. will be open until midnight and offer lots of free activities. My friend and I started with a meal at the Medieval Museum. The fish is strömming, which I'd never tried before. I'd say it's the Swedish counterpart of Philippine daing.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Den här bloggposten vaccinerar 95 barn

UNICEF vaccinerar barn i Elfenbenskusten (© UNICEF/Asselin)

Apotek Hjärta stödjer UNICEF i kampen för varenda unge genom att skänka 95 vaccin mot stelkramp för varje blogginlägg som skrivs om kampanjen och pingas på Twingly.  

Om du också vill hjälpa till kan du skriva ett blogginlägg om kampanjen senast den 13:de maj. Mer information om hur du ska göra hittar du här: unicef.se/sprid-budskapet/bloggkampanj

Eller ännu bättre kan du bli Världsförälder och hjälpa barn över hela världen att få vaccin, medicin, rent vatten och utbildning genom att skänka 100 kronor/månad. Du kan anmäla dig här:  unicef.se/bli-varldsforalder

[TRANSLATION: This blog entry will vaccinate 95 children. Apotek Hjärta supports UNICEF in the battle for every child by donating 95 doses of antitetanus vaccine for each blog entry written about the campaign and pinged on Twingly. If you also want to help, you can write a blog entry about the campaign by May 13 at the latest. Or better yet, you can become a Global Parent and help children throughout the world receive vaccines, medicine, clean water and education by donating 100 SEK/month.]

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Time for din-din


Marinated herring with mustard sauce, boiled potatoes, boiled egg, and Swedish crisp bread with butter.

Food from home

The SIL's sister flew in from Manila yesterday and Mumsy sent these over. Was surprised that Mumsy sent a tiny card along. I don't think she's ever done that before.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Croque monsieur for brunch

Isn't it great how a little butter and a few minutes on the stove can transform a ham and cheese sandwich?


Sunday, April 8, 2012

Condiments


Ketchup and mustard from IKEA, salt and pepper shakers from Lego. :)

Happy Easter!


Thursday, April 5, 2012

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Good morning!


















First breakfast in the apartment. The Gruffalo breakfast set is a welcome present for me from me. Don't usually eat boiled eggs, but just had to use the egg cup.


































Am tempted to rest today, but methinks it could be more rewarding to get everything done first.

No internet connection yet. :(