VCMC here I come! And, Medical Acupuncture in Pittsburgh!

Hi everyone! So, I haven't blogged much after I got back from Cambodia... man, I've just been so busy. So, good news... I have matched to my number 1 choice for a broad spectrum family medicine residency program at Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC). I fell in love with 2 programs: VCMC and In His Image (IHI). There are both very unique programs and have strengths that are unmatched by any other programs out there. I love both of them, however, after careful consideration and prayers, I have chosen to rank VCMC #1 and IHI #2. I know I will love either one. God had open the door for me to go to VCMC.

So, on Match Day (3/19), I was on a plane to Pittsburgh for my 2nd clinical week of my Medical Acupuncture training. It was such an awesome week there. I learned so much and do feel pretty comfortable with needling and most of the concepts and metaphors of Chinese Medicine and treatment through acupuncture. I can see that there are many practical uses for patients that conventional western medicine does not have answers to. I am excited to incorporate both in my treatment of patients.

Here are some pictures of my trip there... enjoy! Keep tuned in for pictures from Costa Rica... I am going there next week! I will be gone for 1 week and will hike into the Jungle to bring medicine to the Bribri people. Please pray for me and the team.

Sun setting over Pittsburgh on Mt Washington! What a view. Pittsburgh is known as the 'city of bridges'... man, they weren't kidding.

The famous Duquesne Incline... it used to transport worker and material up and down Mt Washington. Now, it is a ride that anyone can take. All aboard!

Beautiful night scene from the top of Mt. Washington. I also ate a very good dinner at a restaurant "Georgetown Inn" at the top that gave me the same view! It was awesome. I had to celebrate that night, because that was the night I found out that I got matched to my first choice of FM residency at Ventura County Medical Center! I had dinner with Jesus. It was very serene.

Having dinner at Pimanti Brother's sandwich (stack of beef, fries, and coleslaw) with my roommate Dave and my friend Valeska. We also got some 'bubble tea' at an Asian restaurant.

A church and the 'Cathedral of Learning.' There is a room on the top I heard is really neat, but I didn't have time to see it this time.

Me and a statue of Christopher Colombus! I took about 1 hr before I had to go to the airport on the last day to visit the famous conservatory. It was very pretty!

I didn't know pineapples grew out of a stalk! Each 'spikes' on the side is a bunch of flowers, and the green 'top' is a complete 'seed' to a new plant. You can just chop that green top off and plant it! I think I might try it.

Every room in this conservatory is completely temperature, moisture and sunlight regulated. All the blinds and shades are computer controlled. Amazing place!

Foods from Cambodia... yum!

So, finally, here are some food pictures! It has been about 6weeks since I got back from Cambodia, and I am still drooling dreaming about the food. Even the airplane food from EVA if you can imagine that. These pictures are taken 30,000 ft up in the air, in markets in Phnom Penh and Battambang, and in various restaurants in the cities on the dirty country roads... So, I won't keep the connaisseur waiting...

I love EVA air! They have the best service, the best food, and a wonderful Elite class seats! That was Seafood Noodles for breakfast and the American Continental breakfast.

Khmer breakfast: (Cambodian=Khmer) BBQ chicken with rice and a bowl of Khmer soup base. The next picture is stolen off the internet, it is a traditional Khmer breakfast noodle. This includes rice noodle stretched over lead pipes in the village, and some yummy beef balls or pieces of thin sliced pork. The most unique thing about Khmer cooking is the 'gray fish paste.' It is an essential ingredient in all the foods. It gives the distinct flavor of what's genuinly Khmer. It is what makes this bowl of noodle soup different from the Vietnamese Pho soup. This soup is my favorite in all of the Khmer cooking... Now, I do wake up every morning craving a bowl of soup.

Khmer food has some influence from Thai and Indian traditions... So, you can find some curry. So, here is chicken curry with rice... and some 'very poached' egg with chicken in heavy sauce.

Here is another very much traditional Khmer dish, the 'Fish Amok' which is in the little banana leaf bowl right next to the coconut. The Khmer ice coffee is also very good and very strong, about 20% sweetened condense milk and 80% pure caffein! The coconuts are always freshly opened, about 1 liter of fluid inside. The next dish is 'garlic chicken,' which also is a part of the Khmer tradition, lots of Chinese influence.

Another traditional Khmer dish: the 'Beef Lok Lak' on the left. Basically, some nicely marinated cooked beef in special sauce with an very poached egg over it and rice. It is very tasty! The dish next to it is just a beef noodle soup.

Here are some Thai influence: Seafood noodles with coconut sauce and pinapple fried rice with egg rolls on top.

Ok, the following are some snacks, weird foods, weird fruits, and some desserts!

Little sweet and sour plum balls, very common in Asia. Then, some roasted bugs! It is said that on the road from Battambang to Phnom Penh, one can find roasted Trantulas... yikes! I hate bugs!

Fruits: Rambutans (very good, like Lycee), and some 'rubber nose' fruit... also very good.

A Jackfruit tree... never seen one before... Jackfruit taste almost like sweet potatoe, but without the after-taste. It is not to be confused with the picture on the right! That is a very stincky fruit called Durian... YUCK! I can't even get near the fruit... but, supposedly if you can get pass the stentch, people say that it actually taste really sweet and very good. I don't believe any of it.

So, always have to finish off with the dessert... here are some baked goods, very much with French influence. On the left, ginger banana and some rolled pastry with sweet stuff on the inside. Oh, we also found some good gelato icecream too.... Got to have snack!

There are still so many other dishes I didn't get to take pictures of, I guess you just have to go there to have some with me one day :)