I'm a star!

Haha, kind of...

I know I haven't posted in a while, and I really should update everyone! But for now, here is a link to a video I was in at the VA. It is going to be played at 6 VA facilities on the West Coast in all of the waiting rooms and patient rooms. The whole thing is very long, and I am only in about 2 minutes of the video (if that!).

I come in at about 7 minutes an then again at about 19 minutes. Not much, but it was a lot of fun!

Vitamix and Breakfast

I don't know if you all have noticed that I haven't really been posting much on my cooking blog. I think the last post I made was in 2009. It isn't that I don't cook, I do. Often. But I have been in a little bit of a rut. I find that for dinner, I make a different variation on the same thing every night (usually a piece of meat/fish/poultry and a side vegetable).

That is until I got my Vitamix...

I have been wanting one for a long time. I saw demos at the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo and fell in love with it. This blender is an industrial blender that is used at Jamba Juice and Starbucks, so it makes incredibly smooth frozen drinks. It also serves as a food processor, so it is really easy to make salsa and pesto. It also will liquify whole vegetables, so you get a lot of flavor, fiber, and phytochemicals in very few calories. You can either juice vegetables or blend them for a longer amount of time and turn them into a soup. The interesting thing about this machine, is that if you let it run for a long enough time (about 5 minutes if you start with cold water, 2 minutes if it lukewarm) it will heat up the soup with friction.

Here is a link for some demos:

http://www.vitamix.com/household/infocenter/livedemo.asp

Anyway, point of the story is that it really has inspired me to make new dishes and try new things. Interesting how one new kitchen appliance can inspire you to try so many new things. I actually might go blog about the breakfast I made this morning (without the vitamix even!)

The most successful creations I have made are the pineapple salsa and roasted red pepper hummus. I also made some walnut basil pesto that I put on top of walnut crusted chicken. It was pretty good! Another big success was the chicken tortilla soup (which was really the reason that we purchased the appliance).

One of the things it does is make is ice cream and sorbet. Here is the vanilla ice cream that I made with the vitamix. I thought it was pretty good, more of a frozen yogurt taste.

Below are pictures of the very first thing we made with the Vitamix...cream of broccoli soup. The recipe calls for so many vegetables, and all you need is non-fat milk (or soy milk or whatever your choice is).

Before Blending

After blending

It is a great way to eat healthy. Not only is the food chock full of vegetables, but most recipes have salt as optional and encourage you to try the food before adding salt, which leads to lower sodium food items. It is a nutritionist's dream :-)

Internship Update

Interns with Internship Director (Left to Right): Amanda, Sylvia, Hai Van, Kristin, Jen, Tere, Sarah

Hello! Just thought I would let everyone know that things are going very well in my internship.

It started in August with about 2 weeks of orientation and learning the policies and procedures of the hospital. After that, we started our administrative rotations, which go from September to Mid-November. In that time I have had rotations with the supervisors, cooks, diet aides, diet techs, chief and assistant chiefs, and the administrative dietitian. I also went to San Diego Hospice for a week and the San Diego Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. In that time I have done SO MANY projects and it is pretty awesome to see what all I have accomplished.

My favorite rotation so far has been with the Administrative Dietitian, where did a sensory presentation for 4 new food items. We also made a theme meal for patients in the community Living Center. My partner, Sylvia, and I were in charge of a "happy hour event" and we made it a fiesta theme. We made mini empanadas, chips, salsa, churros, watermelon balls with lime and cilantro and then "virgin strawberry margaritas" (which were delicious and made of just frozen strawberries and 7-up). That is also the RD that we created menus for, did costing for them and made procurement sheets, which is pretty fun stuff.

Serving patients at the CLC theme meal

Our decorated cart

I also have done a business plan on the new domiciliary facility, a plate waste study, and a massive evaluative study on one of the current procedures. The internship has a concentration in Patient Centered Care and this year we have a special project that relates to patient centered care. My project that I will be working on all year is creating a newsletter about patient centered care. It is pretty exciting because the department doesn't have a newsletter, so I get to design it and create the content for it.

This week I am doing my staff relief in the kitchen, which basically involves making sure the food service workers are doing their job and checking on temperatures and keeping different areas locked. Nothing major, but the hours are 11-7:30, which is a little late for me. Jeff and I wake up at 4:45 every morning, so after I get home at 8, there isn't much time for anything else. Today is my last day of that schedule though. Next week I am going to be at the School District, working with the RD there to develop nutrition programs for elementary school kids. It should be a lot of fun!

Also this week, I am giving an in-service to the food service workers on Consistent Carbohydrate Diets. Tomorrow, I am giving a 45 minute administrative seminar on Motivation theories and strategies. Hopefully all will go well and I don't stumble over my words too much.

I really am enjoying my internship. It is a lot of work, but so much fun at the same time. Also, every week and every day is different, so it never gets boring. I was a little nervous to start in the kitchen, because I don't have much experience outside of my own kitchen at home. But I am now super comfortable now and get along with the staff really well. I also LOVE the girls in my internship, we have all bonded so much in a short amount of time. During the admin rotation, we have a lot of rotations together, which is very comforting. In a couple weeks, we start our clinical rotations, which will last all the way until May. I am really excited to start that section of the internship, but the interns won't be all together anymore, which is a little sad.

Anyway - That's what's been going on for me since August. There isn't a lot to post about, and not much time...but things are going well!

Until next time...

Anniversary and Jeff's Birthday

Here's a quick little post about our anniversary and Jeff's birthday. We took pictures with our nice camera, which I will post in another post later on, so you can see Jeff's skill at mastering our camera...The ones you are about to see were taken with my iPhone :-)

For our anniversary, we rented a beach house on the bayside (the best side!) of Mission Beach. It was so peaceful and serene there. Such a nice get-away/escape for a couple days. We didn't have any agenda or plans, not even dinner reservations. We ended up going to a steak restaurant in Mission Beach called Saskas, and then went back to the beach house. We went in the spa and then walked up, about a mile to Blockbuster to rent a video...but the blockbuster was closed! So we got frozen yogurt instead, and walked along the bay back to our beach house. The next day, we just hung out on the patio practically all day, got really tan/burned and read a lot. So much fun!

Last night was Jeff's birthday. I made him a vanilla almond cake with vanilla frosting and blueberries in the middle. It turned out pretty well, but he came home from work in the middle of me making it (and the Kitchen looked like a war zone)! So much for my surprise...

I also got him some clothes and two Neil Young CD's. Oh, and a Bonzai tree to replace the two that recently died on us.

We went to Mazara's Pizza on the corner. Apparently every other restaurant in South Park is closed on a Monday Night. But dinner was delicious and we had a good time.

Well, Wednesday is my last day at Dr. B's office. It really is the end of an Era. Will probably post about that. My "going away party" was a month ago, so we are just going to go to lunch. It will be a sad day, but I am definitely very ready for it.

Cancun Trip

In June, Jeff and I went to Cancun. It was a great trip! We stayed at an all inclusive resort that was right on the beach and absolutely beautiful. Hopefully we will go back some day soon.

While we were there, we ventured away from the beach and went on a Book of Mormon tour of some Mayan ruins. It was given by a wonderful family who knows so much about both the Book of Mormon and the local culture. It was definitely a testimony builder to see the lands talked about in the Book of Mormon.

The Chichen Itza, one of the biggest ruins. Notice the clouds. It started pouring rain shortly after this picture was taken.

Luckily, the family we were on the tour with came prepared, and let us borrow an umbrella.

...Hybrid of a bag lady and a pancho lady...

Standing in front of the Chichen Itza.

Before we went to Chichen Itza, we went to Tulum, ruins on the beach

Jeff and I at Tulum

Jeff's picture of an iguana (they were ALL OVER down there)

Tulum

Entrance to Tulum

In between Tulum and Chichen Itza, we went to a classic Hacienda and had a traditional Yucatan Cuisine Lunch. Delicious!

Here is a view of our Hotel from the van.

View outside our Hotel room (inside the hotel)

Hotel Lobby

View from our Balcony of the ocean.

Another view of the ocean from our room

Graduation - May 21, 2011

Well, I guess it's official...I am a college graduate!

Although I finished classes in December, I actually walked in May. Here are pictures from the big day. I got to sit on stage during the ceremony and got a special award. It was really fun and an experience I will never forget. Jeff's mom and dad came down for the occasion, as well as his sister Jennie and her family. We had a great time, showing them around our neighborhood and spending quality time together.

Here are pictures of the day:

Before the ceremony, my dad and I went all around campus and did a little photo shoot at all the places that are important to me.

The walkway to the library

Then I met up with friends from my major and we all took group shots around campus together...

Super Cheese!: Me, Kim, Jennifer, Rachael, Annie, Isa, Marya

Annie, Rachael, Marya, Kim, Andrea, Jennifer, Isa and Me

Annie, Kim, Andrea, Rachael, Me, Marya, Jenifer, Isa

Then we parted ways and we got in position for the ceremony. Backstage was pretty cool. We had a special dressing room with refreshments (fruit, cookies, nuts, cheese and lots of different beverages). It was really cool. I also got to sit in between two of my favorite professors, and in front of my other favorite professor.

Standing on stage during the ceremony. Can you find me?

After receiving the award for "Outstanding Student in the Nutrition Major": Dean Grattas, me and my "most influential teacher", Dr. Beshgetoor (Medical Nutrition Therapy Teacher)

After we received our award we had to stand in front of a green screen and have our pictures taken. This was my end result...Always gotta pull a face, just ask my mom...or husband...

After the ceremony: Dave, Carole, Me, Jeff

After the Ceremony: Chris, Mom, Me, Grandma

Me and El Jefe

The Happy Parents

Everyone minus Me, Bradley and Jennie: Chris, Grandma, Dave, Jeffrey, Carole, Mom, El Jefe, Lenny (photo courtesy of Jennie)

Carole, Lenny, Bradley, Jennie, Bradley, Me, Jeff

Graduation Present from Mom and Dad...Part One

Graduation Present from my mom and dad...Part Two. Amazing!

After the long, long, long ceremony, My friends Marie and Doug met us at Mazara's, an Italian Restaurant down the street from our house.

Group shot. The food was delicious. We had a great cake afterwards. I felt loved and was surrounded by awesome people the whole day.

Blessings All Around

Hello!

It has been quite a while since I have updated thing thing, eh?

Well, a lot has happened...

I finished up my grueling last semester at San Diego State in mid-december. I ended up graduating magna cum laude with distinction in the major (but don't walk until may). That was a pretty cool moment when I heard that news.

The next step after graduating was to put together all my application materials to apply for a dietetic internship. This is a necessary step to become a licensed Registered Dietitian (which is the only legitimate licensure in the field of nutrition). Because the profession is growing exponentially, these internships are immensely competitive and hard to come by. To put things into perspective, the less competitive internships get about 200 applications and accept 40 interns. The more competitive get double the amount of applicants and accept only 6. Only about half of the people who apply to these internships get matched.

Knowing this going into the process, I knew that I had to make myself stand out. I got my letters of recommendation and wrote my personal statement and made a website (http://amandahibshman.weebly.com). I spent SO so SO many hours working on my application. Eventually I hit "send" and waited 6 weeks to learn my fate. I struggled in the time in between graduating and learning about my internship, because I did not know what my future looked like. I could not answer the question "what will you be doing in 6 months" and it kind of freaked me out.

My number one internship pick was the VA Hospital. It is highly competitive because it is one of the only internships that offers a stipend (of $12,000) instead of having a fee to participate (anywhere between $8,000-$50,000). It is also in an awesome city that people want to come live in...so it is competitive on a national level. Only one SDSU person usually gets accepted each year. Aside from the pay, It has a strong clinical emphasis, which appeals to me more than other internships...so it would have been my #1 regardless. My other two options were "distance internships" that are based in other parts of the country, but I find my own preceptors in San Diego. I was completely prepared to get matched to my 2 or 3 choice...but I was matched to the VA Hospital. I could not believe it. When I saw the computer screen saying that I was matched, I screamed, and cried, and screamed a little bit more. Jeff and I immediately called our families. I still am a little in shock about the whole thing.

Then, today, out of the blue...A woman from the dean's office at San Diego State called me. She said that I have been chosen by the faculty and staff as the "Outstanding Student of the Foods and Nutrition Major" and I will be awarded at graduation, and I get to sit on the stage, and get to chose the most influential faculty member, and they get to present me with an award...all at the graduation ceremony! Apparently it is a really big deal. She asked me to write a 2-3 page biography which will be submitted to a committee. They will then chose one person (I guess there are about ten of us in my college) to speak at graduation. So I have a 1/10 chance of speaking at graduation! How cool is that? Another cool thing, is that I will get special tickets for my family at graduation to sit in a special place (I think it is just down close).

I just feel so relieved. I used to always say "I am kinda good at everything, but not great at anything." I am a good singer, but I'm not great. Same with dancing, and acting, and every other hobby I take up or career path I follow. I have always felt just mediocre. But I finally found something that I really truly to excel at and can be great at...and get acknowledged for! After years (and years) of being rejected in the theatre world, and journalism world, it is so incredible to be so welcome in the nutrition world. I really feel like I have been incredibly blessed and know that this is the path that I should be on. To top it all off, through the nutrition major at SDSU, I have made lifelong friendships with some amazing people.

Anyway, I just kind of had to get this all out there. I am really reluctant to share things on Facebook or anything like that...so all of you get the pleasure :-)