Food of the year, 2009

The calendar's turn from December to January brings about reflection of the past year, fond memories, painful regrets, hopeful aspirations, and of course, Eric's announcement for Food of the Year.

This is the 4th annual award. You can read about past posts, but allow me to summarize the previous four recipients:
2006 = pita and hummus
2007 = guacamole
2008 = homemade smoothies

Many people speculate and try to predict which edible delight will win. None will do so correctly. I say that because this year's winner is a dark horse. So dark, in fact, that you may have never tried these two items together. But this new combination of salty and sweat is so tempting that it unseated a previous year's winner for my favorite after school snack! (sorry 2006, but 2009 is tastin' fine!)

My Food of the Year, 2009 is........
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PRETZELS WITH PINEAPPLE COTTAGE CHEESE!

Hold on--I know what you're thinking: that sounds kinda gross. When Sarah first introduced me to pretzels and cottage cheese, I thought the same thing. Weird, right? And I've always disliked cottage cheese my whole life! Well, one week, Sarah bought the pineapple cottage cheese flavor. I tried it with pretzels, and I loved it. The salt dances with the sugar in the pretzels to form a delicious duo. What's even more wondrous is that it's a healthy snack: each serving has 2% of my daily fat with 24% of the daily protein. So crazy!

Here are a few pictures of how I like my Food of the Year. Make it your New Year's resolution to try one in 2010:

Asian Carp crisis

This weekend, I learned about a crisis happening in the center of the Midwest: the Asian Carp migration.  Apparently, some folks in Arkansas brought in some scavenger fish from Asia to help clean.  The fish escaped into the main water source and have been traveling north along the Mississippi River ever since.

The problem with the carp is that they reproduce quickly, move fast, and destroy the natural food chain.  In addition, they get agitated when boats go by and jump out of the water.  This can cause injury and scares for boaters.

See this video for a rather vivid demonstration:


Right now, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio are battling Illinois in the Supreme Court to block the passage from the Chicago River into Lake Michigan.  The states argue that their ecosystems are in danger of being ruined by this invasive species.  Illinois doesn't want to block its locks because it has an economic interest in keeping trade open with other Great Lakes states!  And so the battle continues.

New Chicago Bears fight song

This pretty much sums up the last few years in Chicago Bears football:

(for reference, here is the official theme song, which makes it funnier)

Bargain hunters

This weekend, Sarah and I found one of our favorite paintings in the bargain bin at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  The painting is called The Singing Butler by Jack Vettriano.  We couldn't believe the price...until we saw hole in 

the bottom-left hand side of the painting.  Still, our marriage's decorating committee (consisting of Sarah--I'm on the technology committee) decided this was a wonderful opportunity for our apartment.

Tonight we hung our new masterpiece!  

If anyone has any suggestions for how we can cleverly conceal our hole, let us know.  =)

Grandparents Day

Here's a video my principle took and I put together for our school's grandparents day yesterday. Pretty special. =)

What is a browser?

This is a great, short video to help explain what a browser is!  Helpful for those who are confused between the difference between a browser and a search engine.

101 and counting...

The Chicago Cubs were officially eliminated from playoff contention this week, which was terribly disappointing given their success last year and amount of money they spent on their payroll.  (an ESPN poll recently showed that the Cubs season was far more disappointing than the recent loss of the Olympics)  I had been following the team closely until the last two weeks...at which point I realized they wouldn't make it again.  Being a Cubs fan is a lesson in faith.

Here is a graphic by the Chicago Tribune that shows the last 101 World Series winners since the Cubs last won it all.  I'll now turn my patronage to the Phillies for the remainder of the 2009 baseball season.  Go Phils!

Beer thrower turns himself in

The photo on the Tribune's website was correct: that was the guy who threw the beer at Victorino. Here he is after he turned himself into police.

Cubs/Phillies, part 2

About a month ago, we got a group of 25 fans to go watch the Phillies battle the Cubs while they were in Philadelphia. The game went into extra innings, but the bad guys won (sense a theme with the last post?). Here's a clip from singing the 7th inning stretch:

Beergate

Last night, the Cubs played the Phillies at Wrigley Field. I watched the game while playing Quizzo at Urban Saloon--a local restaurant/bar in my Fairmount neighborhood. The game wasn't actually much of one, as the Cubs lost 12-5. But that wasn't the real excitement in the game. In one of the later innings, one of the bleacher bums had had enough: when Phillies player Shane Victorino tracked down a fly ball, someone threw his beer on the center fielder. Victorino caught the ball, but was doused in beer. Security saw a man heckling Victorino, thought he had done this indecent act, and escorted the wrong guy out of the stands! Here's a photo provided by the Tribune:

Booing the other team is one thing; throwing a beer at them is extreme fan interference. First the goat, then Bartman, now this beer-tosser...what's going to happen next at Wrigley?!?!

Sarah's graduation (a little late)

As I was glancing over my blog postings from the last few months, I realized that I hadn't posted about Sarah's graduation from medical school!  Tragic!!! 

Sarah ended her four year pursuit of a Jefferson Medical College medical degree on May 28, 2009.  The graduation took place in the Kimmel Center, arguably the most beautiful venue for the arts in Philadelphia.  Sarah was joined by 100+ fellow graduates who probably spent at least two of the last four years studying or learning in the hospital.  Sarah's parents, sister Elizabeth, and I were the privileged ones to receive Sarah's four tickets for the ceremony. 

It was quite something to experience all these students recite the Hippocratic Oath together and for them to officially become known as "doctors."  There was much rejoicing!!! 

We were all so proud of Sarah.  She worked so hard to get this degree in order to help people with their medical issues.  One of the reasons I am proud of her is her pursuit of primary care--specially family practice medicine.  While not as well respected on the East Coast in terms of prestige and paycheck, she wants to be a family doctor to develop relationships with her patients and their families to foster better care for their health.  The emphasis on preventative medicine and health education makes family practice the closest an MD will ever be to a teacher!  Or maybe I'm just biased.

City Hall surprise!

Monday afternoon, my parents and I took a tour of Philadelphia's City Hall.  The building is extremely ornate, with more carvings inside and outside of it than any other building!  It's also the largest city hall in the country; when it was designed, it was the tallest building in the world.  (during its 30 year construction, the Washington Monument and Eiffel Tower overtook it...but they aren't "buildings") 

About 20 minutes into our tour, we were outside the SE quadrant admiring the statue of William Penn.  Suddenly, people started flooding out the doors.  The fire alarm was going off!  Much to our dismay, we waited outside for about 25 minutes as all 700 rooms were evacuated, the fire department was dispatched, and order restored.

While we were waiting, we noticed several cars parked in front of the building.  An off-duty police office who was touring with us said that they were the mayor's cars, and that he worked in the very quadrant we were in front of.  Sure enough, Mayor Michael Nutter decended the steps and walked safely into the crowd around us!  After some coaxing from my dad, my mother and I walked up to him, shook his hand, and talked with him for a bit.  He was very friendly--despite all the PA budget issues--and was willing to pose for pictures. 

Our tour soon resumed, and we dashed in and out of several gorgeous rooms before ending at the tower: a 22-story elevator that takes visitors directly under Penn approximately 500 feet in the air.  What a view!

We managed to make it to the top and down before our parking meter ran out.  Thankfully, the tour guide refunded our money due to the tour interruption.  It was a City Hall tour unlike any other!

Parents to Philly

This weekend, our De Boer parents came to Philadelphia.  We had perfect weather for it!  Our fun events included eating outdoors multiple times, touring City Hall, going on an Old Original Walking Tour, watching the Phillies/Cubs game, and reshuffling our living room decorations.  Here are a few photos from the fun:

Improv Everywhere

Now I've mentioned the fun-loving urban prankster group Improv Everywhere before, but the mastermind just released a new book about his pranks (or "missions"). He was on the Today Show recently promoting it. And yes, this man is still my hero.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This was their latest prank: a random wedding reception for a couple married at City Hall!

Wonders of Craigslist

Sarah started her residency training this week at Jefferson Hospital.  Fortunately for us, we only live about a 1.3 miles away from the main location.  She's been biking to the training and hopes to bike to most of her rotations.  Since her bike is her main form of transportation, we're doing our best to keep it in top condition.

On Tuesday, however, her tires were low.  We grabbed the carlighter compressor we keep in my trunk and tried filling up the tires.  Part of the way through, the compressor died!  We resorted to the hand pump we kept upstairs, but there were a few parts missing.  Where did we turn to next?  Craigslist.

I searched for air compressor and found one for only $10.  The only catch was that it was listed in the "South Jersey" area instead of near us.  When I called the woman, she asked where we live.  I told her near the Art Museum, and to my surprise, she said she'd drop it off at our house that night!  So, not only did we get an air compressor for our bikes that evening for a great price, it was delivered to us for no extra charge!  We were both thrilled.

In the spirit of this post, here's Weird Al's new song (courtesy of the Doors) called Craigslist:

Summer job

After school ends on June 12, I will be giving walking tours of Philadelphia!  My friend Libby is starting a company called Old Original Walking Tours.  We were even listed in Frommer's Tourbook!  Should be a fun way to spend the summer. 

Eric's graduation

Last week Sunday, Sarah hosted a graduation party for me! I had finished my coursework in September and received confirmation that I had graduated in January, but my diploma only arrived a few weeks ago. Our sister Elizabeth Gardner was staying with us for the weekend (she was presenting some of her research work for her masters degree in rheteric at a communications conference in Philly). Between the three of us, we put together a pretty nice graduation ceremony! It reminded me of my high school/homeschool graduation in that it was intimate, we designed the whole ceremony, it was meaningful, and graduates helped provide the music.

The weather was just stunning. We held it on our roofdeck on Sunday morning before church. A refreshing breakfast reception followed in our apartment. Personally, it provided a good deal of closure for my degree. Before, I had felt like graduating was somewhat anti-climatic, but this ceremony made it feel like I had accomplished a goal. Thanks to all those who came to support me!

Here's a video I spliced together from pictures and movies from the event:

April Fools

I just love the fact that every April Fools Day, Google does something crazy on their homepage.  I look forward to it annually!  This year, it's CADIE and Gmail Autopilot.  Other websites get into the fun too: Expedia says you can book a trip to mars.  Hotels.com lets you rent a room on the moon. 

This begs the question...what did YOU do for April Fools Day today???

The Match

Thursday I had the privilege of observing an event that was unlike any other I think I'll ever witness: 255 people finding out the next 3-5 years of their life...at the exact same time. As you could imagine, there was a great deal of nervous energy in the room. Parents, significant others, and doctors crammed into the lecture hall at Jefferson's new building at 11AM for the match ceremony. (Spruce Hill let me leave school to attend the event with Sarah, for which I was quite thankful)

From 11-11:50, all the med students were talking with their friends, taking pictures, and filling out end-of-the-year surveys. At 11:50, the dean went to the podium and asked everyone to return to their seats. He asked all family members and friends (excluding spouses, thankfull!) to leave the room and close the doors behind them! After several minutes of comments and thanking folks for their work, he introduced the new dean of students. This dean congratulated everyone and told the doctors to pass out the envelopes. (it was a little strange since the doctors had the envelopes the entire hour we were there, but they weren't allowed to pass them out)

Sarah accepted her envelope, then we scurried down to the front to meet our friends Krista, Will, and Michelle. Thankfully, they all got their first choices! I'll let the pictures tell the story:

Some folks weren't as fortunate. Sarah picked Jefferson because they have one of the best family medicine programs on the east coast. While she couldn't believe they picked her, I was very proud to see her be affirmed professionally. I'd pick her as my top choice too!!! Actually, I already did...

The rest of the day was filled with Jefferson parties. I had to return to school for parent/teacher conferences, but I was able to catch up with the rest of the crew in time to watch Michigan win their first NCAA tournament game in over 10 years! Our home group took us out for dinner the following night to celebrate. It was a great reminder why we believe that our time in Philadelphia isn't finished. Thank you all for your concern and prayers for us. Please keep them coming! Who knows what the next three years will bring?!?

The next three years of our lives (aka Match Day)

In exactly a week (March 19), medical schools across the country will have "The Match"--a term used to describe the day graduating medical students are matched with a residency program. At high noon, every medical student will receive an envelope with the next 3-5 years of his/her life inside. For family medicine residency students like Sarah, this means her next three years will be spent in a specific residency program. She ranks her top programs, and programs rank their top students. If Sarah's top choice lists her as a potential resident, she matches and is assigned to their program. If her top choice does not list her, the computer system looks at her second choice, so on and so forth.

What's nice (and stressful) about the process is that we ultimately don't make the final decision--that's up to God and the program reps with whom Sarah interviewed. We believe God is using us in our Philadelphia community and isn't ready for us to leave this city of brotherly love just yet, so we ranked the Philly programs as the first few, followed by University of Michigan and Virginia. Plus, the programs Sarah applied to in Philly are some of the best around in family medicine training. (we heard some strange statistic that one in every six doctors does some training in the Philadelphia area!?!)

Anyway, we would appreciate your prayers as the day approaches. I'll be sure to post an update Thursday afternoon!

Super-wanna be

SuperEric.  It's an accurate self-descriptor I learned from Rob Bell in Velvet Elvis.  Rob described a time in his life at Mars Hill when he was trying to be everything to everyone and it was burning him out.  When I read about his experience and heard his words of exhortation to "put down this book and kill your super-whatever inside of you," I realized that he had nailed me.  This has been me!  In college, at First Reformed, here in Philly.  I try to be SuperEric.  And it's stressful.  I tried to kill off SuperEric like he said.  I tried to do it.  But it's hard.  And it's only something that God can do--not something I can do by simply trying harder.

You see, I like to please people, so it's hard to say no to things or to delegate when it's something I could squeeze into my schedule.  Yet, saying no sometimes is healthy.  I believe this is a lesson I'll have to remind myself of time and time again, but for now--I'm going to do my best to be Eric.  Nothing special, nothing super...just growing, imperfect, little ole me.

In a seemingly unrelated event, our friend Sandy had our home group over to his house today for a citrus brunch.  We had a wonderful time consuming two crates of fresh oranges he ordered from Florida.  After we had eaten our fill, we got a tour of his apartment.  One of our favorite parts was when he showed us his deck, complete with a ladder to go up to the roof.  Here are a few pictures of Sarah and me, ironically portraying superheros as we attempt to save the world:

Superwoman/Superman

Spiderwoman/Spiderman

Ski trip!

Tonight, Sarah and I returned home from a ski trip to Killington Ski Resort in Vermont.  We drove up with four other friends from Jefferson--Will, Michelle, Krista, and Adina.  The trip took about 6 hours. 

Going in, I wasn't too sure what to expect.  Sarah is the ski expert in our family, and this would be my third time skiing--and first in the last two years.  Plus we were going to stay with a family who has kids with basically built-in skis.  My main source of comfort was Will, who had never skied before. 

The slopes were gorgeous!  We had a beautiful day to ski.  My first few moments on the skis were less than flattering.  Thankfully, I had some great teachers in Sarah, Adina, and Michelle.  After some warm-ups on green circles, I moved onto blue squares...and eventually onto two black diamonds (note: I did not say double black diamonds...I did two separate runs on different, single-black diamond slopes).  I was so proud of myself!  Sarah said I looked far more comfortable on my skis than last time.  Both Krista and Adina had strong visual memories of how I skied last time (picture the Hunchback of Notre Dame on skis), and I was much more relaxed this time. 

Here's a picture of us on the top of Killington's slopes:

My friend Will and I played some NHL 2007 on Sunday morning while the rest of the crew went skiiing.  It reminded me how long it's been since I played "real" video games (Wii not included).  We had fun!  A bit later, Sarah and I hiked along a snowmobile trail that kept us looking for snowmobilers along the path. 

The rest of our time was spent playing bunches of games, eating, talking, eating, and giggling like middle schoolers during a sleep over (the six of us were in one room).  A wonderful way to spend President's Day weekend!

Valentine's Day at school

Spruce Hill doesn't have school tomorrow (teacher in-service day), which means that we celebrated Valentine's Day today!  Here are some pictures from our mini-party:



This weekend, Sarah and I are driving up to Vermont for a skiing weekend with Will, Michelle, Krista, and Adina (Jefferson friends).  We're looking forward to the long weekend and outdoor adventures!!  I'll be sure to put pictures up after the fact.

Snow day!

The snow days gods have smiled on Spruce Hill this year.  After going all of last year without a snow day, we have had snow days on the last two Wednesdays!  This morning, I got a call at 5:19AM saying that school was cancelled.  Like last week, I had a hard time returning to sleep due to excitement and mental analysis of how I was going to shift our schedule around to compensate. 

There are few joys in life that rival those early morning calls announcing the cancellation of school.  However deep the inner child is hidden in one's adult life, it springs to life when that news is heard!

We had several inches of snow last night, with icy conditions.  Whenever we have a snow day, I immediately think of West Michigan and try to decide of this amount of snowfall would have canceled Holland Public Schools where my dad and sister work.  Gauging from my 3rd story window, I don't think this would have been a snow day in Holland...but I'll take what I can!  (Philly is certainly less able to cope with snow than Holland.  There isn't any space to begin with--especially when snow is added to the mix!)

Last week, Sarah and I had some friends over for Trivial Pursuit and speed Scrabble (our latest game addiction...similar to Facebook's Word Twist).  Home group was at our house, so we never ended up leaving our apartment the whole day!  I think we'll go for a walk or something today to enjoy the sunshine and quiet city.

A new era

Today marked a new era in American politics.  Voters elected Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States.  While people around Philadelphia were--for the most part--extremely excited about this event, I know not all the country is not as thrilled.  But regardless of if people voted for Obama or against him, today was a historical event.  Part of me really wishes I had gone to DC last night to watch the Inauguration, but another part was glad I got to experience it with my students in West Philadelphia.

At 11AM, grades 3-8 walked down the street to the University of the Sciences building.  They let us use one of their lecture halls for the ceremonies.  After some sound issues, they got the technology working.  I have to say that I felt a little emotional as I looked around the room at 100+ African American students, so enthused and passionate about our country's new leader...one that finally looked like them.  I thought back to four years ago when I was teaching in the rural farming community of Hudsonville, Michigan, and how much deeper this meaning is for my students here in Philadelphia.  With the Phillies winning the World Series, the Eagles/Steelers making it to the conference championships, and Obama getting elected, this is a great time to be in Philly!

It's pretty cool that just yesterday we celebrated Martin Luther King day, and today we swore in our country's first black president.  As I showed my class MLK's I Have A Dream speech on Friday, I got choked up as I thought about Inauguration Day.  In a way, Martin Luther King's dream was fulfilled today at the same mall he shared it with the world.

Parting is such sweet sorrow

One of the tough parts of Christmas break for me was the organization of my old room at my parents' house.  They had several boxes of stuff just taking up space in there.  As a teacher and self-proclaimed pack rat, I have a hard time throwing anything away.  My motto is, "you never know when you'll need it again!"  Fortunately, God paired me with a spouse who is good as speaking truth into situations such as these.  Sarah was a champ at helping me cleanse my room from clutter with dignity and a sensitivity for my nostalgia.  For example, do I really need four pairs of old watches?  Old ticket stubs?  (granted, if I had kept all of them, I'd want them all.  However, I only have a few random ones) Trophies?  Now, I was able to talk Sarah into letting me keep a few trophies, but I had to throw away most of them.  As a kid, I remember being so proud of those trophies.  They were proof that even though I was homeschooled, I could make it in the sporting arena. 

Probably the best trick Sarah brought with her into this process was to take pictures of objects with sacred value.  Here are a few of our snapshots:

In the end, we made a lot of progress.  It felt good to create more space in my room, even though it cost me a few memories.  Does this mean I'm actually growing up??

(For my non-Facebook friends, here's a link to some of the pictures we took over break.)

Food of the year, 2008

The last year or two, I've talked with Sarah about my "food of the year"--in other words, the food that I discovered I LOVED and consequently consumed mass quantities of during the calendar year.  In 2006, it was pita and hummus.  In 2007, it was guacamole.  This past year?  *cue drum roll*

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2008 was the year of smoothies. The original inspiration came from our friends Mike and Anna, who introduced us to easy smoothies with just frozen strawberries, a banana, and milk in a blender.  Other fruits/berries can be added to taste, but that simple concoction goes a long way!  So, congratulations to the smoothie, my official food of the year 2008!