Stepping into the gutters on a dry autumn day isn’t grimy at all. The crisp crunch of fallen maple and oak leaves on campus takes home the message that summer is over and gone. The sunshine blazes for now, but for how long? It’s Vancouver, after all.

I’m finishing up my 6-year undergraduate degree this school year. Will have finished an environmental microbiology lab, microscopic human anatomy, neuroplasticity & behaviour, virology, health psychology, marine microbiology, perceptual processing, microbial genetics, and a year of choral music in women’s choir by May 2015. Though I am both anxious and excited to be so soon finished my double BSc, there’s a lot to be done before then.

Med school applications are due in a few days, and a few weeks. I hope friends and family pardon my being on edge from now until (hopefully) May. This is a big deal, and I don’t think I’ve wanted anything quite so bad as this little hope of mine. Lingering inadequacy fairies flitting about, begone! It wouldn’t be the end of the world should I need to apply once more next year, but here’s hoping that won’t be necessary!

Finishing my co-op term with ophthalmology research at BC Children’s Hospital was bittersweet. I think it really was my most positive work experience in my life so far in many aspects. Everyone was so lovely, and taught me about what a good clinician looks like in manner and expertise. The orthoptists there loved to teach, and though all the talk of ocular deviations made me rather hypochondriac, I realized how much further there is to go – to better treatments and assess current methods.

And the ophthalmologists were legends, seeing so many patients each day, maintaining grace and focus. I didn’t get to interact with them too much, but it was nice seeing what I could one day, perhaps, aspire to…

Ending on a sweet note, I made some eyeball-iced sugar cookies with lots of butter for my last day at BC Children’s Hospital this summer. Don’t eat the royal icing by itself (ick)! But paired with buttery cookie, it looks lovely and tastes delicious.

Sugar cookies – 2 dozen

Get ahold of – 1/2 c butter (softened), 1 1/3 c all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 3/4 c white sugar, 1/2 egg, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/190 degrees C.
2. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
3. Dans un grand bol, écrémez le beurre et le sucre ensemble jusque qu’ils sont bien mélangés.
4. Beat in egg and vanilla and gradually blend in the dry ingredients from the small bowl. (I used a KitchenAid mixer)
5. Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls and flatten them a little bittle.
6. Place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. (I used a pizza sheet heh)
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes (I used 9 minutes, at the middle rack of my big oven) in the preheated oven, or until golden (see what’s best for your oven).
8. Let the cookies stand for 2 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to cool on wire racks.
9. Enjoy! The cookie should be slightly chewy and crumbly.

Royal Icing – enough to ice maybe 50 cookies, scale down if you like

Make sure you’ve got – 2 egg whites, 2 lb. icing sugar (sifted – you may not need all), 1 tsp vanilla extract, and FOOD COLORING TO MAKE IT FUN! It will also be advantageous to use an electric mixer. Have saran wrap handy!

1. Combine egg whites and extract in a bowl. Add some sifted icing sugar and start mixer. Start slow to prevent powder being flung up to the ceiling, and gradually increase speed.
2. Keep adding sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks like thick whipped cream and makes soft peaks, the icing is at piping consistency.
3. To make flooding consistency icing, simply remove some icing into a separate bowl and add a few drops of water at a time. Let it rest to diminish bubbles which look bad when dried.
4. Make batches of icing of your desired colors, and make sure to keep them in containers with saran wrap tightly secured over top between use! This will prevent the icing from drying out and becoming gross & difficult to pipe.
5. Now, I don’t have a piping bag, so I grapped a ziploc bag, pinched off a bit off a corner and used that. Whether you have the legit apparatus or not, first use the piping consistency icing to outline your design. Then, use the flooding consistency icing to fill in the gaps.

I wish I had more time to bake.