Ghetto-Gourmet: Cardiac Un-Conscious Sunday French Toast

For those who want a heart- tongue-smart starter to their day, whatever time of the afternoon that might be.

Ghetto-Gourmet: Chicken-of-the-Seashell Pasta

A sauceless way to use up those cupboard staples that accumulate: pasta and canned tuna.

Ghetto-Gourmet: Local Gin Jello

For when you want an easy dessert with pizazz and class (and no effort) waiting for you and your friends at the end of a meal.

Ghetto-Gourmet: Shell Pasta With Scavenger Sauce

Poor meal planning can sometimes lead to delicious leavings that are combined into something tenfold more awesome, a veritable Megazord of deliciousness that would make Dr. Atkins spin in his grave.

Ghetto-Gourmet: Sambal Bacon Perogies

An unexpectedly delicious marriage between the Philippines and the Ukraine that won’t dent the wallet too badly. (And your Cooking skill barely needs to have 5 XP in it.)

Farewell Victoria, With Love

Nothing opens your eyes to the subtle charms and uncharted sights of your city like the realization that everything you take for granted will be no longer accessible to you in a very short time. Once I leave, I don’t know when I’ll ever come back here.

So how do I make the best of my time?

Time To Tumblr

In my Professor Seagull-like need to feel like I’m building some chronicle which will withstand the fallibility of memory – and also to simply point out the diamonds buried in the dense mulch of the Internet -  I have created a Tumblr.

You can see it here.

I suspect it will see more action than Bourchol, as it’s far easier to recognize and point out something interesting or great than it is to say something interesting or great about it.

Epidemic History Context: Swine Flu

Many medical historians choose to focus their studies on the social history elements of the history of medicine. Certainly, they may use quantifiable history and other techniques to support their thesis, but ultimately the majority of questions medical historians ask are intimately connected to the idea of how humans respond to disease, and why.

I had the pleasure of learning all about historical human responses to disease in a semester-long course about the history of epidemics. From the Black Death to AIDS, we looked at how diseases have been constructed and combated in both pre-scientific and post-scientific societies.

Naturally, my interest was piqued when I heard about this potentially pandemic swine flu.

Vesalius’ Fabrica – In English!

Aside from the Northwestern University’s (apparently halted?) efforts to translate Vesalius De Humani Corporis Fabrica, the final volume of the anatomist’s work (part of an ongoing translation effort by Dr. William Frank Richardson), has been completed. The books are available both in regular and collector’s editions here.

*rubs hands together* This will make systematic analysis of the Fabrica possible for us peons unable to read Latin!

Handling The Text: Vesalius’ De Humani Corporis Fabrica

I’m lucky enough to be in a situation where I love the career I’m building for myself. I didn’t always know that I wanted to be a historian, though. One significant moment which affirmed my choices happened this past fall while I was enrolled in a course on the history of the early printed book at the University of Victoria.  The class was tasked with engaging an early modern printed book in a hands-on project; rare enough at the undergraduate level, but made particularly special for me because the special collections department of the library just happened to have a book I’d particularly wanted to get my hands on for some time.

Vesalius’ anatomical masterpiece, the De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem.

Smart Playlist 2008

2008 was a year filled with music for me. My first concert-going experiences, new artists, and a taste of spotlight for myself. Dress buttons were torn off, bootheels were broken, cities were left and gone to, all for music.

So it’s not surprising that, thinking back on 2008, I came to wonder what songs I had listened to most, and whether or not the year might be boiled down into a token of my musical experiences.