agates

today i joined the almond popping pharmD student and his brother for the agate days festivities. this weekend is agate days in moose lake. apparently moose lake is the agate capital of the world. what is an agate? these rocks with lines and other markings.

we went to the moose lake high school gymnasium, where agate collectors from all over were displaying and selling their rocks. then we had "homestyle cooking" at art's cafe. since i have been freezing for about a week, i had a "hot turkey sandwich". it was two pieces of white bread with turkey breast in between, topped with mashed potatoes and gravy, plus cranberry sauce. it was both disgusting and delicious. major tryptophan food coma after. after lunch we walked over to get in place for the agate stampede. agates, quarters, and a lot of other rocks are spread out on a segment of a street, and when the cannon goes off, everyone rushes out and tries to collect agates and quarters. it was kind of crazy. i found an agate. most people found a little bucket full. but i got no quarters! ;( ;(

later i went back to the moose lake city park to check out art in the park and back to the high school on a mission to find a pair of moose earrings. i thought that would be the perfect souvenior for my time in moose lake. alas i did find a pair, i don't super love them, but they will do if i never find another pair. there's not much shopping here.

even later i biked about 10 miles (to sturgeon lake-ish and back).

then i ate beets+beet greens+chicken breast+this purple root thing. and this morning before i went to the agate days festivities i bought another 2 bunches of beets for next week! my poo poo is going to be red.

friday night in small town minnesota

nick gave me the grand tour of bruno (population 102) and askov (population 368). then we ate at peggy sue's cafe in willow river (population 309). after, we watched his brother's bar league softball game in denham (population 40!!). driving back into moose lake and mercy, i kind of felt like we were getting back into the "city".

dress!

i was shadowing an anesthetist today, and the female surgeon in the OR had on a scrub material dress! cool!

funeral home, then duluth.

i spent a day in cloquet shadowing a mortician/funeral director. it was kind of a quirky day. i'm always the only student shadowing at each site everyday, but for whatever reason, today nick (another student in my class also doing this internship) was scheduled with me at the funeral home. i think it worked out really well, since while usually when i am shadowing it is nice to have the one on one attention from the physician or nurse (etc), today it was nice to have a buddy. it wasn't the dead bodies that bothered me, but the strange/strong personality that makes a funeral director. i think i might have felt a little uncomfortable there on my own.

that said, the funeral director was incredibly nice. he even bought us lunch at mexico lindo. which, coincidentally, someone had mentioned to me on tuesday as the best mexican food ever. it was decent. i had a chimichanga.

we were let out of there early since not much was going on, and since we were now only 20 miles from duluth, we went on a spontaneous adventure to duluth! we saw the waters of lake superior, saw the bridge go up and a giant boat go through, climbed big rocks, skipped little rocks, visited the visitor center, and browsed some shops. IT WAS SO COLD. but it seemed a shame not to go, so we braved it. canal park in duluth seems like it was be really nice and fun if it was warm out.

hearts

didn't get back until 7:30p, so just biked about 8mi (to sturgeon lake and back).

anyway, when i got back and took my shirt off, i noticed that the sunburn i had gotten a few days back had started peeling from the center of my back out. it formed a perfect heart shape! i wish i could take a picture, but it was just impossible to twist my arm all the way back there.

roots + greens

i don't know why, lately i think it's funny to cook roots with their own greens. tonight i had onions cooked with their very own green tops and chicken, plus some beet orange pasta from yesterday!

beets: my new favorite food!

got lazy today. after a day in outpatient oncology, i found myself in ER for a few hours. by the time i got back to walter's house at about 6:30p, i was hungry and tired. no biking, just made dinner. boiled round yellow beets and long red beets, beet greens, and an apple cinnamon brat.



then did i make mac 'n cheese?!



no way! with the left over yellow and red beet juice, i dyed some pasta orange! saved for the next few days. i tasted some; the flavor is SO GOOD!



back to blogging about my food. some things never change.