Anesthesiology Residents Cooking Class

Monthly Community Service Hours Completed: October : 4 hours

Cumulative Fall Semester Service Hours Completed : 5.5 hours

                       

This time around, I got to volunteer with Tulane University School of Medicine Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine. The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine offers cooking classes for the community to learn various recipes ideal for children, for patients who may be looking to lower their blood sugar level, and those easy on the wallet just to name a few.  The student population for this particular class was Tulane's own Anesthesiology Residents taught by Chef Heather Nace who is a Registered Dietician. 

The class began with a classroom portion that covered topics such as the nine-point scoring system and the Mediterranean diet. Next, Chef Heather covered how important incorporating fiber content into the diet is. She compared energy dense food versus nutrient dense foods, and how sometimes a food item can be both. One interesting point she made was that if you keep a well-stocked pantry, you can focus a shopping trip to simply the perimeter of the grocery store paying particular attention to the produce, proteins, and dairy sections. 

Black Bean Veggie Burgers, Hummus Sandwiches, 

and Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

Next, the students got to practice making an assortment of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even some snack/dessert recipes to go along with it in various teams. My duties and responsibilities including assisting with the cooking, bringing items to the different cooking teams, bringing dirty dishes to the sink, washing dishes, and clean-up in general at the conclusion of the class. A nice perk to the volunteer work was that we all got to try some of the food produced by the different cooking teams. Some of my favorite items prepared by the students were the Black Bean Veggie Burgers, Balsamic Marinated Mushrooms, and the Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies. Everything I tried was pretty yummy and I look forward to the time I get to volunteer with the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine next month!

Overall, the Pharmacology program has been going well. I got to perform microdissection of a murine lymph node and then image the tissue using immunofluorescence staining under confocal microscopy which was incredibly exciting! The lecture content can be a bit challenging at times, but I think that is because it is just the first time I am being exposed to it. For instance, I used to work in an Emergency Department at Advocate Trinity Hospital in Southside Chicago, Illinois, and I have seen a lot of EKGs before as it was my role to document the recordings. However, this is the first time I am learning about what the different leads, waves, and intervals mean. Nevertheless, I am enjoying learning about all of these new topics and will keep on working hard to reach my goals.