Dasheen

I was just reading up on native foods and I’m already thrilled about the Dominican staples — dasheen, tannia, and yams. According to wikipedia, the name dasheen is French derived from de Chine, meaning from China. See the strong Asian roots? I call it taro. I’m predicting many yummy dishes from this starchy vegetable.

On another note, Phytophthora plagues this crop! Poor thing. In undergrad, I briefly worked on the effects of P. sojae on soybeans. Many websites still call it a fungus but I know it’s been reclassified as a fungal-like Oomycete. Ha! I did learn something in all those years of schooling.

As recently as last month, I was contemplating going back and applying to graduate school. I decided against it, only because I think that I would contribute more to society as a doctor than a researcher. (My scientist skills are so-so.) Still, I find it intriguing that every once in a while, random science facts permeate through me.

For instance, yesterday I was ’splaining the resemblance of making mayo to emulsion face creams: the suspension of one liquid into another to create a semi-solid? Hello0o0o0o0o0o0.

PIC: Taro rolls! The flecks of color are shrimp, carrot, vermicelli noodles, and dasheen.

Peanut butter

This is my entire food supply from the US: two 40-oz jars of crunchy peanut butter. If I can’t figure out how to feed myself after those run out, then I need to reconsider my ability to work in medicine.

Hello world!

My name is Lisa. I'm either overweight or underheight, but most people will agree that my legs are little. I will be moving to Dominica--not to be confused with the Dominican Republic!--for school in January.

Well, I’m already perturbed because I am continuously told how naive I’m being about moving to the third world country of Dominica for school. How bad can it be? I know how to hold a skillet and boil water, so I think I’ll live. Besides, there are people who live there. Thus, by extension, I will survive.

In fact, I just perused the wiki page and it reads that ‘Dominica has a relatively large number of centenarians. As of March 2007, there are 22 centenarians out of the island’s almost 70,000 inhabitants—three times the average incidence of centenarianism in developed countries.[16] The reasons for this are the subject of current research being undertaken at Ross University School of Medicine.’ Bam! The locals eat so well, they live longer than us! Look at that!

PIC: One super old lady - my paternal Grammy