Liver Life Walk

This morning I enjoyed the most beautiful day in Chicago so far this year walking in the Liver Life Walk starting at Grant Park. Many of the patients who've received transplants and their families came to the 2 mile walk/fundraiser. One of our patients gave a speech prior to the walk which was truly tear jerking. My attendings and nurses brought their kids who enjoyed jumping on the pump up thingy (you can tell I dont have kids) and eating flavored ice; while the adults danced the electric slide and took pictures with the happy liver! It was a great start to the day and a good way to ring in my liver transplant fellowship, which starts in just over a month.

The Bedford

Jay and I made a spontaneous decision to check out The Bedford on Friday night. This restaurant/lounge opened a few weeks ago in a historic landmark building circa 1925 which was the original Home Bank & Trust. The bank vault is a cocktail lounge and dining area walls are lined with saftey deposit boxes. On the opposite walls are framed photographs which pay homage to middle-america, with Napolean Dinomite type boys pushing lawn mowers and shooting guns.

The food was delish, but small portions. I was dissapointed that they had only 4 cocktails on the drink menu, for a place which is marketed to have a fantastic mixologist. Overall, the crowd was bit odd. Mostly hipsters and a fair amount of the over 60 crowd. This could have something to do with the fact that Jason and I eat dinner at 7:30 on a Friday.

I was really excited to try this place, mostly because it reminds me of some strange encounters exploring a deserted bank basement in Grand Rapids years ago, but wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped. Cool idea, just not executed quite right.

Annie, Annie, Are you O.K.?

Today I had the pleasure of recertifying for BLS (basic life support), a.k.a. CPR and the Heimlich, for what seems like the 100th time in my life. The first time I took this class was when I was a pre-teen taking a babysitter certification class at St. Mary's in G.R. I have to renew this every year or two in order to keep my ACLS (advanced cardiac life support) up to date.
At this point all this is second nature, but they do change recommendations every so often. As I don't spend much time with infants and children, the refresher is helpful. In class today, I was thinking, shouldn't everyone know this? Do people outside the medical community learn CPR? I imagine teachers, parents-to-be, strippers learn it as well? So I looked it up.
The American Heart Association offers a class called Heart Saver. This is for people with little or no medical training to learn basic CPR and how to use an AED.
Maybe you want a refresher?

BYOB Discovery

After discovering this great blog BYOBandits featuring a group of young guys reviewing different BYOB restaurants in Chicago, I decided I'd start featuring my own every once in awhile. You all know I love eating out and the swanky new places Chicago has to offer. In an effort to stay out of credit card debit, I've been discovering some equally noteworthy BYOBs in the last few months.

Last week I tried The Bento Box which is located in Bucktown on Armitage and Oakley (between Damen and Western). I had read about it on the BYOBandits and suggested it to some friends. They also saw it listed as one of the Top 50 new resturants in Chicago Magazine this year. They dont take reservations, so we arrived at 7:30. We had to wait until 8 to be seated.

This place is tiny. We are talking 6 two top tables max, that they push together for larger groups. The menu changes daily and offers at least one vegetarian choice. They update their facebook sight with the menu daily. Entree prices ranged from $14 to $17 the night I was there.

Each Bento box comes with sticky rice, a choice of meat (or veggie dish) and two sides including ginger slaw, kimchi, salad, and sweet potatos. I ate Korean Red Chili Jidori Chicken w Ginger slaw and kimchi. Every bite was packed with flavor and amazing. I had never had kimchi before but absolutely love it.
Worth a visit sometime before this place becomes popular!!

Exhibitionist

While in Bali we came across this bat. We were quite shocked and impressed by his genitalia.

It reminded me of a little friend we came across in Beaver Creek years ago.
This guy was featured on Get Ready to Chill. a few years back.