I miss you my friend.
Dear Ryan,
Why did you have to leave us so soon? Maybe you had accomplished everything you wanted in this life and wanted to move on to bigger and better things? So many beautiful and poignant words have been written and said about you and they are all well deserved. I don't think you knew how many saw you as a father figure in this world.
I first met you as a patient when you came to me for your eye exam and then I proceeded to forget you. Sometime later when I became more active on Twitter you approached me and told me I was your eye doctor. Small world I thought, and shortly thereafter we became friends and formed our #dinnercrew. Thank you for welcoming this guy from the east coast with open arms to Hawaii. I can only hope that we contributed to your happiness as much as you contributed to ours. As I mentioned on your Facebook page, you are an inspiration to me and to countless others.
According to the Kubler-Ross model of The Five Stages of Grief, the first stage of dealing with grief and tragedy is denial. I can't remember how many times I've said "This can't be happening" or "I feel fine" these past two days. Right now for me anger and bargaining are much further down the spectrum.
Please realize your legacy here will live on with me and many others. I'm making a commitment to ask myself "How would Ryan help this patient?" whenever I am in clinic. It's the minimum I can do for everything you have done for us.
I've caught myself in moments looking up in the sky and thinking of you smiling and looking down on us. On my back is tattooed the last phrase of Psalm 23, "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever." And I'll think of you wistfully Ryan, whenever I hear that read.
I miss you.
Your friend,
John Noblezada
Although I moved to Hawaii from New York City, I consider the Washington, D.C. area my home. It's where I received the bulk of my education, where I own a home, and it's currently where my parents and my brother and his wife reside. It was nice to be home for nine days this past March.
One of my favorite restaurants in D.C. is Cafe Atlantico in the Penn Quarter. They have great Latino cuisine from Chef Jose Andres.
A friend and I spent a couple days exploring the markets this city has to offer. Our first day we stopped by the Maine Avenue Fish Market. It was unseasonably cold so we got some New England clam chowder and Maryland crab soup to warm us up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_Avenue_Fish_Market
That evening we had a nice dinner at Bangkok Joe's and cupcakes and coffee for dessert at Baked and Wired, both in Georgetown near the waterfront.
http://bakedandwired.com/offerings/cupcakes/
The next morning we went to the Eastern Market, in southeast D.C. near the United States Capitol building. They have various arts and crafts there along with fresh produce and other food items.
For dinner that night we went to TenPenh. Great food there best described as Asian-fusion.
http://www.tenpenh.com/main.htm
I love the Washington, D.C. area and I'm lucky enough to have family and friends there with whom I can share these experiences with. I am certainly looking forward to heading back again later this year.
My favorite city in the world is New York City and I was fortunate to have lived there for three years before moving to Honolulu. It's always a good time whenever I head back to visit family and friends and this time around was no exception.
I met up with one of my Twitter friends, Maria Celis (@mariacelis on Twitter), to explore some restaurants and bars in Brooklyn. We ended up having an amazing dinner at The Brooklyn Star and ended the night drinking Dark & Stormy's at The Richardson. You can find out more about these establishments here:
Although I am not a foodie, I feel New York City is arguably the greatest dining destination in the world so I also stopped by a few other fine eating establishments in Manhattan:
Here is the lobster roll at the Standard Grill in the Meatpacking District:
The Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle houses some good restaurants and I had brunch at Landmarc one morning with a good friend. Here is the Landmarc egg sandwhich with gruyere, ham, and sausage :
http://www.landmarc-restaurant.com/
The Oyster Bar is inside the Grand Central Terminal and some friends and I stopped by to have some great seafood:
http://www.oysterbarny.com/If you like Spanish tapas stop by Alta in the West Village. Reservations are difficult, but if you can get one it's worth the wait. They make amazing jalapeno margaritas and sangria too.
http://www.altarestaurant.com/
There are numerous bakeries in the city and two of my favorites are Balthazar in SoHo and Amy's Bread in the Chelsea Market. Here was the daily bread selection at Amy's Bread when my friends and I stopped by:
I'm looking forward to heading back to New York to continue my culinary experience later this year.
I love museums and one of the things I miss about living here in the east coast is access to the great musems of the world. My favorite museums are the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (I love Van Gogh).
On Friday, March 25th, a friend and I toured the The Arthur M. Sackler and Freer Gallery of Art, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution here in Washington, D.C. Currently they have a beautiful exhibit exploring the Buddhist cave temples of Xiangtangshan. Check it out if you're in the area. You can learn more about it here:
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/xiangtangshan.asp
Photo of Buddha statue courtesy of the Smithsonian Institute
Bookworm. Orchestral trumpet player turned eye doctor/clinical professor. Consistently searching for courage, self-awareness, and wisdom.
