How strange it is to find comfort in the rhythm of your old thoughts. Did I really use to bake so much? Not really. Did I really decide to complain less in the time of my last post? Yes.

Blitz through the years and I have now come to my senses about my culinary skills – the simpler the recipe the better. And I am now a big Complainer as vice-president of my class at the University of Waterloo’s School of Optometry.

Now, this girl is no longer at UBC, but memories of the good and bad linger. The puddles, the construction, and the commute did not overshadow the quiet of Nitobe, the comfort of familiar rain, and the privilege of learning in a truly beautiful place.

I regret not blogging more in the time that has elapsed since my last entry but it was never in my personality to be a consistent journaler. I suppose this way I can decide that my limited memory space will focus on all the good that I was blessed with in my 9 months in Edmonton, rather than an otherwise psychologically and physically challenging time. You can often decide what you take with you – Edmonton was a different and incredible place to practice independence and decisions of what really matters to me. It was also a difficult year of applications, and of being a working girl and a singer, before getting into UWSO and spending time with family in Asia. After all those minutes and hours and days, and weeks, I feel I am no less silly or any more wise for the experiences of the last years. (But hopefully I have actually grown an ounce more in wisdom? I did gain weight after all…)

Thank God for always putting me in the right place at the right time. Life always makes perfect sense viewed in a mirror. But is it concave, convex, or planar? What image is my life, if it were an object, leaving in front or behind me? Optics is magic, but also one of the hardest things I’m learning here in Waterloo. What image is my life, if it were an object, leaving in front or behind me? Optics is magic, but also one of the hardest things I’m learning here in Waterloo. Lots more still to be learned, lots of feelings of inadequacy still to be conquered, and lots of nooks still to be explored in Kitchener-Waterloo. I honestly can’t wait.

My 2nd last undergrad exam schedules have come out this week – as much as I’d hoped, I’m not going to have an early winter vacation this year. Almost! – but no cigar – two exams on the first and third days of exams, and then one on the second last day. That’s almost 2 weeks between my second and last exam! Well, you won’t catch me being grumpy for too long, as I’ve made the conscious decision to complain less, with Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend.

Lots to to be thankful for, and lots to complain about, but here’s to hoping that the former will tip the scale in its favour. Much studying and reading this weekend instead of spending lots of time with family. My dad came back today though from a 2 and some-week long trip in China for a 30 year -reunion with university buddies. So nice to have family together for special times like Thanksgiving.

My priorities are in such conflict though – I dream of being a Science Scholar again this year, but don’t know how it will be possible. It has been nice living off the glow of an amazing previous year, with scholarship surprises and such, but the plugging on of the current one is hard. Expectations and competition are so high within others, and I must admit, myself. Competitive swimming when I was a pre-teen has really stayed with me, ha! But the stakes are higher and my ambitions are greater now that I’m older and just a little wiser.

With that said, I know I can only do my best and see where my fortunes fall. Now knowing my exam schedule, I’m fantasizing about a trip to see another horizon. To see the aurora from the Isle of Skye, or in the Yukon wilderness? To bask in strange winter sunlight in San Francisco or Australia? Adventure is good for the soul.

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.

And I wish I made the effort to do them more often. Write more in general. The plague of the human race, which is lethargy, has afflicted me for a long time, yet must be overcome.

So. Laptop in front of me, I’m pushing a reflection out like a baby from my fingertips. Here we go.

This summer has been full of growth. It started with a spontaneous 2-week trip to Zurich, Paris, Rennes, Schaffhausen, and London with my dear high school friend on exchange. Though lost and dependent on the lovely Kitty, pro-engineer, I learned I’m adaptable, though not always a good decision-maker. Heels to explore London 8am-11pm in, hello? I’ve always been weirdly imaginative and a lover of weird humor, and I think I found a humor-friend in MD and author Austin Ratner (whose novel ‘In the Land of the Living’ I picked up at Shakespeare and Co.). I admired other cultures and conceded that they were superior to my own in some aspects – beautiful public water fountains with delicious water, Swiss genius! And on a gloomy day, I think back on the majestic grounds of Versailles, which apparently has future-sensitive marble men who sing and dance to The Supremes in their marble minds.

Stop – in the name of love! – click through for the song. 

But who can beat home? I do have issues with cultural identity (is it okay to not feel aligned with my parents’ homeland?), but there is no question. Vancouver is where my heart is at this point in my life. Glad for my short escapade, and glad to be back, I am spending the rest of my summer as a research assistant at Ophthalmology Research at BC Children’s Hospital, where I am learning that ‘ophthalmology’ is an incredibly difficult word to spell for many people, there is sensitivity and lovability in the brattiest of children, and that I am a pretty good public speaker.

I also learned that though I am nonchalant about some things, like cooking, (hence the failure of this blog as a food-focused one. I thought I was being clever…) there are some things that I realized I hold sacred. I’d be lost without my faith in Jesus Christ, awe of humanity in joy and pain, friends who correct and encourage me, and intense scientific curiosity. All of these things, all threaded in and out of each other have made a quilted message for me, for my path ahead.

The start of my last undergraduate year of studies is in less than 3 weeks. The last five years have been formative and looking back, I can’t believe I’ve done so much. Complete craziness. One more year to go, and then we’ll see where life takes me.

In the meantime I will plan to update this blog sporadically, but regularly. Maybe I’ll get the hang of writing without a deadline. Maybe I’ll finish that short story. Maybe maybe maybe. I just know I’m excited for school to start.

Wrote this post upon my return to Vancouver. I forget that having a blog means having to update. Fall is in full swing and it’s getting rather chilly, but what a great reminder this salad is of how incredible Summer 2013 was.

I’ve returned! I love Vancouver. You don’t necessarily realize while you’re here. We get angry about Translink and the rain can suck sometimes, but when you return from some other place, the mountains captivate, the green strengthens, and the freshest air in the world fills your lungs. I feel very fortunate.

Not to say that Montreal wasn’t enchanting in its own way, with rich culture, cool people, and great scope for biotech industry, however, for natural beauty, Vancouver would win everytime. If it were up to me.

Over the past week, I think I’m slowly becoming a local again. At first, I forgot that I had to press a button to cross the street, resisted the urge to say merci! when getting off the bus, and other shenanigans. But I’m adapting. I even found a store that carried Edensoy. My inner Asian recalls my beloved Bio Terre in the Mile End that sold it for a dollar cheaper, but alas…

Not a baking post today, I went grocery shopping and picked up some cool stuff. Doing groceries gives me joy.

This salad was made with baby kale grown locally in Downtown Vancouver on the top of a residential building or something. Yeah urban farming! Technology! Also found these cute little watermelon radishes. The bite of raw radish and the tang of kale combine well with the creaminess of the yogurt dressing. Super easy and great as a side or a quick lunch. I dunno, I always feel like salad can never be a meal. But if it works for you – !

So make this salad, perhaps turn on your summer jam! – and feel the excitement. Summer is here! The radish in this is great to cool down after a long day.

Creamy Baby Kale Salad with Watermelon Radish

Ingredients:

Two handfuls of baby kale

Half an avocado

1 watermelon radish

1 little regular ol’ radish

Olive oil

Juice from a lemon

Spoonful of greek yogurt

Apple vinegar

Black Pepper

1. I like to make the sauce first. Glug glug glug 1/2 tbsp of olive oil into your serving bowl. Add the spoonful of greek yogurt. Add the apple vinegar. Add the lemon juice.

2. Stir stir stir.

3. Clean the kale and radishes. Cut the radish into paper-thin circles (I am terrible at this.)

4. Arrange  in the bowl with avocado and add black pepper if you wish.

5. Mix the sauce into the veggies and gobble. Or daintily eat each leaf and radish slice at a time (I prefer the former.)