Week in Review: I Keep Reminding Myself That It's Not Me, It's May (and a good recipe!)

This week was very May-ish with lots going on.  

Monday evening was spent at the Cathedral for Eamon's award, then Tuesday was an 8th Grade fieldtrip to the same cathedral for Xander and an NHS Induction that night.  We didn't have anybody getting inducted but Maggie had to help run the show as the incoming NHS Secretary.

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On Wednesday afternoon, the girl's tennis team came for ice cream after a game in our town:

This is our current Battle of the Tips question at the shop.  Maggie and I think 100 men would win, but all the men and boys around us said the gorilla definitely would.  It's been a tight race and a great conversation starter with our customers:

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Also on Wednesday afternoon was our nephew's (a senior) last tennis game at home, so we went to support him and another nephew (a freshman) who also plays on the team.

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The short story:

JP put down his deposit at DUQCOM, so it's official!  He'll be starting in July and what a wild ride it's been to get here, but as his uncle doctor told him...the hardest part is getting in.  

The long story:

JP had gotten into a med school in Maryland first, and they gave him a really nice $25,000 annual Physician Scholarship, and the school was near family and his girlfriend at the time, so he was excited and deposited there.  A few months later, he and the girlfriend parted ways, but he was still interviewing at other schools and the MD school was still looking like the winner.  When we went down to MD for Easter, we took a tour of the school and all liked it, but I have always had reservations about it being a brand new school.  I told those feelings to zip it because the school checked all the boxes - good location, family around, a scholarship, and it was his first and only acceptance for a long time before he heard back from the other schools.  

While we were in MD, Phil and I were talking to JP about med schools, and Phil asked him if he had officially heard back from all of them (he applied to a lot of schools).  He said he thought so but checked his emails and realized he hadn't heard back from Duquesne yet.  I had my heart set on Duquesne for him for lots of reasons, but mostly because it was JP's first choice.  I just got that motherly intuition that something good was about to happen for him.

JP wrote an email to the admissions people at DUQCOM and the Director wrote back right away and said they hadn't reached out yet because they hadn't gotten a recommendation letter from a physician in his application.  The physician whom JP shadowed last year had indeed written a letter of recommendation for him, but had sent it to the MD schools and not the DO schools.  It wasn't really noticeable because DUQCOM was the only DO school that JP had applied to that required it in their second application.  The Director said he just needed to get the physician to send it in, and upon reviewing JP's application, they wanted him to come our for an in-person interview the next week.  Well, it just so happened that JP was already going to be visiting friends at Franciscan on that day, and Duquesne's campus is only 45 minutes away.  Perfect!  

JP went to the interview/meetings that lasted from 8am to 3pm and said everything went really well.  He was even pulled aside to meet the Dean who wanted to meet "the Franciscan grad" who was interviewing.  The Director of Admissions met with him again at the end of the day and gave him a wink wink nod nod that made JP feel like he was going to be accepted.  The Director asked him if DUQCOM was his top choice and JP said yes, but that he had a scholarship from the MD school that would be hard to pass up.  The very next morning, the Director called JP to tell him that he was accepted to DUQCOM and that he got the Dean's Scholarship for $10,000 each year.  We were so excited!  JP then had to withdraw from the MD school (and they offered him another $5000 scholarship a year to stay) but his heart wants DUQCOM.

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As a mom of seven, my head feels like it's on a swivel and my emotions feel like they get whiplashed everyday.  It's constantly some news of extreme joy or sudden heartbreak and I have the gray hairs and wrinkles to prove it.  Further proof of how scattered I feel - I went to the gym after work and forgot to pack sneakers in my gym bag.  Elliptical in socks it was.  At least they matched!

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I'm going to leave you with the promised recipe of a slightly healthier, slightly less spicy version of Vodka Pasta that we had made last month.  I'm not sure we can call a recipe that includes heavy cream, vodka and pasta "healthy" but it's certainly "healthier" than the original recipe.  This version tastes even better in my opinion, but it's still a rich and hearty meal!

Vodka Pasta (Martin Family Healthier Version)

Ingredients:

2 TBS olive oil

2 shallots, finely chopped

6 small garlic cloves, finely grated

2 pounds of Italian Chicken Sausage**

2 cups tomato paste

1/2 cup vodka

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups milk

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

2 pounds fusilli (or pasta of choice)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 oz. Finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

Chopped fresh basil

Preparation:

Step 1

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium. Add shallot and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Then, add chicken sausage and cook until browned. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring occasionally, until paste is brick red and starts to caramelize, about 5 minutes. Add vodka and cook, stirring constantly, until liquid is mostly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add cream and red pepper flakes and stir until well blended. Season with salt and pepper; remove from heat.

Step 2

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Add pasta to skillet with sauce along with butter and ½ cup pasta cooking liquid. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly and adding more pasta cooking liquid if needed, until butter has melted and a thick, glossy sauce has formed, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add 1 oz. Parmesan, tossing to coat. Divide pasta among bowls, then top with basil and more Parmesan.

** Chicken sausage like this - raw and in links.  Then you take the meat out of the casing to cook it.**