The Blog is Back!

I made pie. And it looks a mess, but that's okay because I'm mostly just excited to tell you that I'm back and I love food and cooking and sharing food with the people I love.

So, this summer I ended up disappearing because I was studying for a cute and fun little test called the MCAT. Ha. No. I did study for and take the MCAT (no score yet), but it wasn't cute or fun. I think the test went well, but getting to test day was mostly filled with frustration, crying, and too much coffee. (oh yeah, if you follow me on Insta you know that I like coffee now. not sure what that's about, but.....).

Anyway, here's some thoughts on the MCAT, medicine, and life in general. 

If you saw the hot freaking mess I was during Spring semester, you're probably wondering how and why I ended up studying for the MCAT anyway. Well, here's the thing. I never really stopped wanting to be a doctor. I had an exceedingly rough Fall of my junior year, and emerged with a new major and a whole lot of sadness in my heart. Basically I felt like I'd failed at being a biochemistry major and a premed and was, honestly, worn out and tired of spending every second of my life in the library with anxiety and exhaustion clouding my brain. Science, particularly medicine, had come to symbolize everything I wanted and couldn't achieve. 
In a lot of ways, I stopped thinking I could do it. But it never left my mind. Thinking about doing something other than being a doctor, while exhilarating at first, terrified me in more than a "fear-of-the-unknown" kind of way. It hurt a lot.
Finally, after a semester of watching my wallow, my mom gave me a piece of mom-wisdom in a Mexican restaurant, and I cried and decided to try again. The mom-wisdom? "You're selling yourself short if you just walk away from this and don't even try. There's no reason why you can't be a doctor as a psych major." Thanks Mom.
And then, something amazing happened: I realized that I actually like science. I actually love the human body. I love knowing how metabolism works. And, weirdly, I kind of love studying (when I'm not caffeine crazed and hyper-emotional). I was studying because I wanted to, and taking the MCAT because I wanted to. And it felt so good. I remembered why I wanted to be a doctor in the first place.

On test day, I walked into the testing center feeling more peaceful than I would've thought possible. The test was my victory lap at the end of 4 long months of hard studying. It was the cherry on top.

And so, pie. I made it awhile ago, I know peaches aren't really in season anymore. But please appreciate it anyway. I'll have something a little more seasonally appropriate soon.

Blueberry Peach Streusel Pie
Ingredients
crust:
12 graham crackers, pounded into crumbs
1 stick of butter

filling:
4 peaches, cut into chunks (I didn't peel them)
3/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp corn starch
juice of 1 lemon

streusel:
1/2 cup oats
1/2 stick of butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

1. Melt the butter and stir in the crumbs. Mash into a greased pie pan, making sure you get the sides. Put into the fridge while you make the filling.
2. For the filling, gently combine the fruit with the other ingredients. Let sit for 5 minutes so the fruits can release a little juice.
3. Add filling to the pie pan.
4. To make the streusel, melt the butter and stir in the other ingredients. Scatter on top of the pie.
5. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. If the top starts to burn, cover it with foil. We ate this with whipped cream, but vanilla ice cream would be pretty amazing too. Enjoy!