of things that delight the senses.

I've never really bought into the idea that austerity is somehow inherently superior to sensuality.

I mean, obviously, too much of either can be a bad thing. One makes you utterly boring and the other? Well, needless to say, after a while, you become THAT person at THAT party. You know, the one who makes everyone else feel just a little boring inside?

In hindsight, I'm not sure being that person is such a bad thing *snort*.

In any case, the fox has been growling at me for restaurant reviews and so, I shall deliver.

First up, Ras Dashen. A positively blissful Ethiopian restaurant that was about a 20-25 minute train ride from my apartment. After running around for a good 10 minutes trying to find the restaurant amidst a string of nearly-identical restaurants, my dining companion and I eventually found it. We walk in and immediately are confronted with this nearly transcendant scent of long-stewed meat and soul-warming spices. We looked at each other and grinned like little children in a candy store. We were seated, I decided on a glass of Malbec and he decided on an Ethiopian beer. We then proceeded to tear into a truly gargantuan platter consisting of a chicken dish (doro wat... the national dish of Ethiopia... after eating this, I understand why), a lamb dish (cubes of lamb cooked with onions, peppers and spices), a beef dish (beef cooked with berbere sauce, which appeared to be a more spicy version of a mole sauce), wonderfully stewed split peas (which definitely reminded me of my mother's cooking), silky sauteed spinach with garlic, and perfectly just-sour-enough soft cheese. The meal was wonderful. The conversation even more wonderful. Profoundly interesting people always make meals much more fun.

Now onto the second restaurant, Bistrot Zinc. Literally a 5 minute walk from my apartment. It was this delightful little classic Gallic bistro sort of place. I had eggs benedict with exquisitely cooked canadian bacon and my brunch companion had some truly decadent strawberry and nutella crepes. We each had a glass of champagne apiece (as one does when one is a lady who lunches with nothing more difficult to do on a Saturday than come up with a topic for her research paper).


As for the original topic of this post, namely, sensuality.

Let's just say that between the excellent food, excellent wine,  excellent conversation and excellent ahem-other-things that this city has been offering me, this particular panther is absolutely basking. ^_^ Chicago may be difficult to leave. 

the windy city

I am currently typing this from a 16th floor shoebox of a studio apartment in Chicago, with a fairly excellent view and a truly excellent location to recommend it.

I start my cardiology rotation at Northwestern tomorrow and I have to say, I'm simultaneously excited and terrified. A letter from Northwestern would definitely be gold and I would be making professional connections for a possible return here for residency. Enough to make Signor Machiavelli proud, I should think. That being said, it's also an entirely new hospital. In an entirely new city. Entirely new people. I am told that no one expects wonders from visiting 4th year students and that the expectations won't be very high. Theoretically that should make me feel better. I'm not sure it does. At the end of the day, people do remember what sort of student you were, no matter what the expectations are. Now that I feel like I have more energy to put into the rotations that I want to do, I'm not so sure that I want to skate by on the bare minimum.

Back to the excellent location of the apartment, it's right at the north end of State Street, which, as is known to visitors and residents of the Windy City, is one of its two main shopping/dining streets (the other being Michigan avenue, which is 2 blocks away). There are almost too many restaurants and adorable little cafes than I know what to do with. One month is clearly not enough to explore the city to my heart's content and I know that I could begin to love it enough to perhaps eventually move here. Fortunately I have encountered a companion who is certainly silvertongued enough to be blessed by the  Flute Player himself. I have a feeling that this month will be filled with enough adventures to sate even this adventurous soul. In any event, they have already begun.