Cookies Make It Better

It’s Tuesday already!  When did that happen?

Breakfast consisted of pumpkin pie oatmeal made with banana, pumpkin, vanilla protein powder, homemade pumpkin pie spice, and almond milk.

I topped it with coconut butter, maple syrup, and sucanat.  I also toted it right out the door because I was verging on late.  I devoured it on my walk to class and while it was good I never enjoy oatmeal that I eat on the move quite as much as those oatmeal bowls that I eat sitting down.  I think it has more to do with being able to sit and savor rather than eating on your feet while navigating the rest of the world.  Anyways, it was still yummy.

Foundations class at 9am dealt with patient letters, physician letters, medical and general reports, and letters of medical necessity and predetermination.  Basically the lecture consisted of a few hundred grammar lessons, some tips to make sure we stay compliant with billing services, and a few “case reviews” where we looked at actual letters/reports to get a feel for how everything works.  It was an information heavy class but I think a lot of it is common sense so I’m not super stressed over it.

We were assigned our two exam projects today which made everyone a bit nervous.  The first one is a fake case prep much like the one I have already done on Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome except this time I drew a patient with a deletion at 22q11.2 (verified by fluorescent in situ hybridization [FISH]) whom I have diagnosed as having DiGeorge syndrome.  I need to prep the whole fake case, find two primary literature articles, as well as support group and lay literature information by Tuesday.  Also on Tuesday, I have to take my professor’s pedigree at speed to prove competence.  I then have to provide on the fly risk assessment based on the pedigree.  Oh man.

After class I hunkered down at my desk for five hours of work.  I did the new class case prep work but mostly focused on my role play preparation for tomorrow morning.  I am sooooooooo incredibly nervous/scared/anxious/worried about it.  I know the stuff, yes.  I know what I need to say, yes.  We can even have notes and our outlines with us, awesome.  I am most unnerved by my perception that my information does not flow well at all.  I don’t want to have to bounce around but I also don’t like the original way I presented the information.  Geeze, this experience is closing in on my in less than 12 hours but hey, at least after that it will be done!

I had lunch around noon before getting to deep into my workload. On my plate today: hickory smoked turkey, smoked gouda, sweet hot mustard, and sundried tomato sandwich on 10 grain bread with some grapes on the side.

Loved the smoked gouda.  I can’t wait to melt some all over a pizza.  Yes please!  I continued my work and all of sudden it was 3:30 and I was hungry again so I snacked on an apple with hummus and a chocolate hazelnut ball. 

This kept me full when we went over to the research poster session that was going on from 4-6.  There was all sorts of free food from pizza to giant cookies, veggies to cheese and crackers, and lots of fruit and soda.  I managed to avoid all of it.  Our attendance was required and I will admit I knew very little about any of the research.  It just doesn’t make all that much sense to me and it really reinforced why I am becoming a genetic counselor rather than a lab worker.  Yay for the right career choice for me!!

After the session I walked home, fighting off the wind at every turn, and when I arrived I promptly turned around and went to the gym.  I did the elliptical today for 30 minutes and burned 304 calories while I was basically conducting a counseling session in my head.  I had my notes for the role play propped on the elliptical’s display so I could test myself and work on my knowledge of the material.  It seemed to work and I felt a little more prepared afterwards.  I may have to attribute some of that calmness to the endorphins I was getting from the exercise but however it came about, I’ll take it.

When I left the fitness center Scratch Truck was right outside the front door.  It was a really good thing I didn’t have my wallet on me because their menu looked tasty but I just kept reminding myself of the dinner I already had planned.  I eyed the menu, figured out what I eventually wanted to try at some point in the future, and went home.  Dinner was made promptly to help me refuel.  I cooked up come farfalle (bow tie pasta’s fancy name) in boiling water and threw in some julienned broccoli stems to cook as well.  When those were done I coated them in sundried tomato infused oil and add in some nuked leftover lentil meatloaf that had been crumbled.  The final touch was a couple shakes of parmesan cheese.

This was so delightful.  The half tablespoon of oil I used was just enough to coat everything with a heavenly flavor and tie the whole dish together.  Loved it.  Post-dinner time included a shower and more role play prep.  I also decided to make cookies because those monster ones at the poster session had made me really crave some.  Also, cookies never fail in making my outlook on things level out.  So with this role play looming large tomorrow, little mounds of heaven were most certainly in order.  I began the recipe with the hardest part: creaming the butter and sugar together.  Normally this wouldn’t be so bad but I don’t have a stand mixer so I did it by hand.  Ladies and gentlemen, let me just tell you, if you want an upper body workout skip the mixer.  Do it yourself!

Look at that beauty.  I added in the flours/cocoa powders and such and final tossed in both semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips.  I spooned out rounded tablespoons of dough, enough for 15 and a little baby 1/3rd cookie.

Into the oven they went and 14 minutes later I got these scrumptious looking bad boys:

Can I just say yum!?!?!  I can’t remember where I got the recipe but I modified it so I’ll post it tomorrow for your dining dessert pleasure.  Trust me, these won’t last long but at 71 calories a cookie, I’m okay with that.

To try out the cookies properly I constructed a sundae.  Dark chocolate cookie on the bottom, Blue Bell Birthday Cake and Marsh Moose Tracks ice cream on the sides and chocolate syrup on top.

This was awesome, especially with a hot-from-the-oven cookie.  I could have eight, easily.  In addition to the bowl of greatness I had a marshmallow topped with some coconut cajeta fondue.

All in all, decent night I would say.  I still have a bunch of prep to do though so I’m going to get back to that.  Before I let you all go though, you need your Tune Tuesday song!  Here it is:

Question: When you bake cookies do you eat the whole batch yourself or get them out of the house by spreading the love with family and friends?