Second stop: Toronto, Ontario

Greetings from Toronto!  We've had the great pleasure of stopping in this great city for a few days before taking off for our European adventure.  Fortuitously, it was cheaper for us to fly to Vienna through Toronto than directly from Washington DC, so it was a nice opportunity to meet up with some of my extended family in Canada that we hadn't seen in a while.

We stayed with Neel (technically an uncle by Bengali terminology but more like an older sibling to me) and his lovely wife, Tiasi.  They have two adorable kiddos, Anik and Avani, pictured below with their proud Papa.

We only had a few days to spend with everyone, but really got to do/see a lot.  Our first day in Toronto was spent at the Historic Distillery District, which started out as a grist mill in the 1830s, later became a whiskey distillery, and is now a mixed retail / restaurant area surrounded by condos (a small part of the area houses a currently functioning distillery, though).  

Cool sign we saw at the distillery.

A sampler of four beers at a local brewpub called Mill Street brewery,
where we also stopped for lunch.

I'm very unskilled at taking selfies but I wanted a picture with Neel.

Atlantic salmon with beer broth, chickpeas, and various other veggies.

Delicious pasta with beer-braised pork sausage in a rich tomato sauce.

We also walked along the waterfront in the Humber Bay area after lunch since it was a gorgeous day!

The Humber Bay Bridge

A view of downtown Toronto from the waterfront walking trail.

We came home that afternoon and grilled up some meat, potatoes, and corn for the evening.  Actually, correction: Neel cooked everything and we did nothing except play with two really cute kids.  By the way, we really had a ton of fun getting to know Anik and Avani.

Me with Avani.

Joe pushing Anik around on a scooter.

  

The next day, we headed to the Ontario Science Center for a few hours, then over to Neel's parents' house for another fantastic cookout and a bit of a family reunion.  Coincidentally, my parents were visiting Toronto so we got to spend the evening with them as well!  My mother and Neel's mother (her aunt) were also very close growing up so it was nice that they got the chance to catch up.  

A Ghosh family photo at the Rainforest exhibit in the Ontario Science Center.

From left to right: grilled chicken kabobs, tandoori chicken, and spicy grouper fish.

The food spread of deliciousness continued.

Chaanachur is a tasty fried snack but some mixes
are better than others.  This one is specifically
a Bangladeshi mix made by "Ruchi" which is
barbeque-flavored.  The bag was almost empty by
the end of the night!

A fantastic family photo.  From left to right: Joe, Neel, Anik, my dad, my mom, Neel's father (Dadu), Tiasi, Avani, and Neel's mother (Dida). 

Everyone loved Anik's little sister, Avani.

I think this picture is so cute! Check out that little belly.

Avani playing peek-a-boo with her grandmother (Thamma).

Sadly, we had to leave Toronto this afternoon but we are off on a new adventure -- this time, to explore Vienna, Austria!  It turns out that that our flight is delayed four hours and we'll miss our connecting flight to Vienna from Brussels due to a large-scale power outage in the area.  Yikes!  So, we'll be stuck in the Toronto Pearson airport for several hours, but it could honestly be way worse. 

For example, I coincidentally sprained my right ankle this morning (which is actually sort of crappy) so Joe (and others) encouraged me to ride around in a wheelchair to prevent further injury and inflammation to the area.  I was initially averse to the idea but agreed that it was better to rest up before we start walking around a whole lot.  Also, since people in wheelchairs receive priority in airport security, we got to skip the lines, woohoo!  We also received dinner vouchers because of the delay in our flight.  On top of that, with Canadians being the nicest people on the face of the planet, we've gotten to use the free wifi at the amply available iPad stations around our terminal.  If you don't believe me about how nice Canadians are, check out this sign:

Restaurant purchases not required?!  WHAT?! This would never happen in the US.
Notice the rows and rows of iPad stations behind this sign, by the way.

We'll update more on our travels when we finally get to Vienna!

Our first stop...the Washington DC area

And we've embarked on our trip...first stop, the Washington DC area.  We actually decided to fly up here for a wedding before starting our Europe trip.  Joe has known the groom, Mahan, since high school and we met his now wife, Teresa, several years ago when they started dating.  Mahan's family is Persian and Teresa's family is Korean, and while the wedding ceremony mostly showcased many Persian traditions, it was lovely to see everyone in their respective traditional clothing.  Some of the Persian traditions carried out utilized food to "signify and emit sweetness, love, joy and prosperity to the couple," which I thought was absolutely beautiful.  For example, various family members came up to the front to grind and sprinkle bits of sugar cones on the lovely couple to symbolize sweetness in the marriage.  Various foods, including painted eggs to signify fertility, nuts to symbolize strength, and flatbread for prosperity were offered to the couple on a large, ornately decorated table.  We had such a great time celebrating with them!

The next day was actually our second-first (Joe and I had two weddings last year, so it's the first anniversary of our second ceremony) anniversary, so we celebrated by watching Pitch Perfect 2 because my husband is awesome and I love acappella.  I have to say, it was a great movie but not nearly as classic as the first one, which I suppose I should have expected going into it.

Afterwards, Joe's parents took us out for an amazing Japanese buffet which included everything from fresh sushi to ramen and udon noodle soups to pan-fried gyoza!  We all needed a nap to recover from that dinner.

Finally, we got to meet up with our dear friend, Victoria, for a lovely hike on the Billy Goat trail in Great Falls Park.  This trail offered amazing scenic views of the Potomac River but also was fairly challenging with some serious rock hopping.  We only did the Billy Goat A part of the trail, which was only 3 miles, but it took us a good two and a half hours to finish Part A of the trail and walk back on the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal path back to the parking lot.  What a workout!  Here are some breathtaking pictures from our hike this morning:

Afterwards, we all felt exhausted (but accomplished) so we re-energized with some Afro-Portuguese food from Nando's, featuring the amazing peri-peri (piri piri) chicken.  Even though this is originally a Portuguese prepartion, it turns out piri means "pepper" in Swahili and refers to a type of pepper that is generally grown in southern African countries.  The chicken is evidently marinated for twenty-four hours and it is absolutely delicious!

Roasted chicken, buttery mashed potatoes, and green pea mash
with cilantro and mint.

Thanks for meeting up with us, Jared and Victoria!

Please do not judge my protruding belly, which resulted from eating
too much delicious chicken and mashed potatoes.  

Next stop, Toronto!

To graduation and beyond!

Well folks, it happened -- I graduated with a doctoral degree in epidemiology, after five grueling years of hard work.  There were moments that I felt nothing during the major graduation milestones, like when I turned in a paper copy of my dissertation, or even when my doctoral degree was posted in my academic report.  But then there were other times where I felt overcome with emotion, like when I cleaned out my cubicle, my comforting desk space for the last 3 years.  Or when I got to see my family waving proudly at me while I was on stage with 200 other Emory PhD graduates.  Even then, even when I look at my now framed diploma, I don't feel like it's real.  But it is.  And that's pretty magical.

Hip, hip, hooray!

What a special moment!  Both sets of parents came to celebrate.

I made my husband stand next to me
in my sweaty robes. I hope they dry clean
those things!

It was hot and steamy as all hell but I wanted a picture
with my parents, gosh darn it.

Yay!  I'm being hooded!
(Photo credit: Devang Dave)

...Because I had to include at least one picture with food
(this was at Folk Art in Inman Park). PS - It was delicious.
We love Folk Art!

Me in front of the Emory entrance gate.

I had a moment a few weeks ago when I found out an old mentor of mine passed away.  Presumably he had been ill for quite some time, but I actually hadn't spoken with him in over a decade.  His passing reminded me of the power of mentoring and how our biggest heroes, those we choose to emulate, can shape who we are, who we become, and how we effect (hopefully positive) change in the world.  It truly humbled me.  It also empowered me in a way.  We can all choose to contribute positively to society and create opportunities for others to do so.  I sure hope I can make a meaningful difference in someone else's life, or make a powerful impact in the world.

So, onward.  What's next?  Well for me, I'll be spending the next two years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a fellowship (the Epidemic Intelligence Service) designed to train public health professionals how to respond appropriately to public health emergencies.  Basically, I get to learn how to be a professional "disease detective!"

Also, Joe and I decided that we have been tired, cranky, and aching for a vacation for quite some time, so before I start my position in July, we're taking a month long trip around the world!  Okay, so we're not really traveling the entire world, but we do get to visit some really great cities.  We're leaving tomorrow, and starting off to a quick weekend trip to the DC area for a wedding, flying up to Toronto to see some of my extended family, then heading to Vienna, Prague, and various parts of Italy, Greece, and Turkey.  We're pumped!  We're utterly exhausted from wrapping up work things before we leave, but luckily, we get to leave all of that behind for an entire month!!  I've never been so excited to set up an out of office reply on my email accounts.

I'm hoping to document the highlights of our trip in this blog when we get breaks (and when I dump all of my camera photos onto the laptop).  So stay tuned, y'all!  

A quick getaway to Destin

After a several month hiatus, I'm back, folks.  Not that anyone reads this thing anyway, but I've been a bit removed from the blogosphere the last several months because I had been working hard (VERY hard) on finishing my PhD dissertation, which I recently submitted a few weeks ago!  Three cheers for me!

Evidence that I publicly defended my dissertation!

...and that I submitted my dissertation online.  

...Oh!  And that I submitted the paper copy of my dissertation to
the graduate school.  Wahoo!

In celebration, Joe and I took a weekend trip to Destin, Florida to get away and generally disconnect from the CDC/Emory world that has been especially consuming our lives over the last year.  We initially booked this vacation to Destin because it was cheap, and going to the beach seemed like a splendid idea (primarily because the weather would be ideal for reading a book on the beach without getting baked in the sun).  Part of me was a little hesitant about taking a beach vacation on a weekend which coincided with both Easter and Spring Break (for some), but we decided to book a room a few miles away from downtown Destin in hopes of having a bit more peace and quiet.

Basically, we had one of the best vacations ever, guys.  Blue skies for most of the weekend, white sandy beaches, pristine waters, and oh -- REALLY awesome seafood.

Don't believe me??  Just see for yourself!

A steamed seafood platter "for two" (in actuality, probably
should have been for a family of four, at least!)

...the aftermath.

One of the BEST seafood restaurants in the Destin area, Dewey Destin.
It's not a super fancy place, but it's fantastic!

I've never had such unbelievably delicious gumbo. 

This had shrimp and giant pieces of crab (see spoonful of
delicious crabmeat).  All seafood is locally caught.

Um, guys, I loved the gumbo so much, I literally went back
for a second bowl two hours after I ate the first one.

JUICY cobia fish sandwich.  I hadn't even heard of this (locally caught) fish!

Doesn't have to be fancy to be a
great restaurant!

The menu for another phenomenal restaurant we visited twice
on our trip, Stewby's Seafood Shanty.  This place had the
cheapest, freshest seafood we've had in a long time!

Fried seafood platter with shrimp, oysters, and some white,
flaky fish (I can't remember the name of it).  We got
potato salad with bacon and ranch dressing (YUM) and
cheesy grits (so Southern).  

Grilled ahi tuna salad.  Amazing, and SO fresh --
despite the tuna being (supposedly) caught
somewhere close to Destin, I think
we paid $8.99 for this GIANT,
entree-sized salad.  Whoa!

Grilled shrimp tacos.  'Nuff said.

Oh, and the views weren't so bad either. :)

The view right outside our hotel.

This is the path that we took to get to the beach from our
hotel every morning.

Breakfast on the beach, courtesy of Publix. :)

Some of the scenery we encountered while hiking alongside
the beach in Henderson State Park.

Beach rosemary!  This isn't actually rosemary, but 
it does grow on the beach, and it smells (and tastes) divine.
If we were local, I definitely would have put a sprig or two
of this in a hearty lamb or pork dish!  This stuff was everywhere!

Just a few miles away from the beach, we
saw lots of pine trees on another hiking trail.