My Dentist is Better Than Your Dentist!

One of the best things I like about being a dentist is catching up with my patients.  Most of them have been coming to see me for over 10 years.  I get to meet their friends, co-workers and family.  We chat about upcoming vacations, road trips, graduations, new motherhood, dads teaching their kids to ride a bike and grandchildren.  We love laughing at fun moments of our lives as we grow older together.

This most recent article I wrote for one of the Japanese newspapers highlights one of those particular fun moments I had with one of my patients.  Read and enjoy!

My Dentist Is Better Than Yours!

Today I saw Mr P today; he was one of my first patients when I started as a dentist. He asked how my kids were.  This patient had known me before I was a Mom.  He was surprised to hear that my kids are now 16 and 17 years old. Wow!  It really puts things in perspective of how long I’ve been a dentist.  He laughed and told me I still look the same.  I laughed also and told him likewise. We both know that we’re lying to each other!  20 years is 2 decades!  Gray hairs, wrinkles, it’s all OK and part of living a long happy life!

We both remembered that when I was initially working at an office on the west side, he had been coming as a patient for a few years when I asked him if his new wife wanted to be a patient at my office as well.  He said he had asked her but she didn’t want to leave her dentist.  “No, I would never leave my dentist.  My dentist is better than yours! She’s the BEST!”, his wife said.  “Oh no!”, my patient replied, “MY dentist is SO much better than YOURS! She’s the VERY best!  I’m NEVER leaving my dentist!” The newlyweds argued back and forth and finally agreed not to change dental office but to stay with their own “very best” dentist.

It wasn’t until a few years later when I changed offices and am now working with Dr F that we realized a very funny coincidence!  When I left the west side office, a lot of my patients had followed me to this new office and one of those was Mr P.  After his first appointment at this new office, he went home and together with his wife, realized that now both their “very best” dentists are together in the same office!  I told Dr F the coincidence and she said it made sense. She had also asked Mrs P if she would like to introduce her husband to the office and she said he had refused saying that he would NEVER leave his dentist for another one.  That was 8 years ago and now, Mr P, Mrs P and their 6-year-old daughter, Miss P, are all patients here and they tell everyone they come to the VERY BEST dental office!  

Chinese New Year SAVE!! Table for 2.... or more: Dong Po Pork 东坡肉

 Chinese New Year Fail..... Chinese New Year Save!



This is what happens when you're out of touch with your Chinese roots.

My Dad is staying with my brother this weekend  and my MIL is in Cali again.  We have Chinese New Year dinner plans for this coming Sunday so I thought I was all set. I don't have a Chinese calendar around so I had to look up when the actual New Year Day was.



OK , it's Saturday. A long ways off.



After teaching at NYU Dental School in the morning on Friday, I went to my private dental office to do some leftover paperwork. The oral surgeon's office had left me a message on the machine but when I called him back, no one was in the office. Strange, I thought, they're usually the busiest on Fridays. It didn't even occur to me that since they are Chinese, they were closed for Chinese New Year's Eve. On hind thought, everyone leaves early to celebrate with their families!



There was also  a social gathering at the school in the evening so I went with a co worker and had a bit of food and drinks. I called and told the kids they were on their own for dinner. By the time I got home, they had eaten already and I wasn't very hungry so I had a cookie and a pack of seaweed snacks and a handful of sunflower seeds. Hubby had eaten some salmon he found in the fridge and my son had eaten a pack of instant ramen with radish and shiitake mushrooms. Daughter had bought herself a fresh pineapple and cut it up to snack on.  We ate our mish-mosh dinner in front of the TV watching "House, MD" on Netflix.



It wasn't until later on in the evening when I was checking my email and checking FB that I saw everyone's Chinese New Year dishes!  OH DEAR!  That was supposed to be TONIGHT?! What a Chinese New Year Fail.



BUT, WAIT.... looking back at all the random things we ate, there is HOPE!  After all, seaweed is supposed to be an auspicious food.  So is the shiitake mushrooms..... and so is fish!!  Somehow, I hope the pineapple fits in too.



This morning, I felt bad as a Chinese Wife and Mom thinking that I failed to impart some culture into our already Americanized family. Ever since my Mom passed we haven't really been doing anything really deeply cultural. Dad doesn't seem too interested in it unless we are into it.



Sitting in bed, I had a flash of inspiration!  Actually, it was in the form of a post from Wendyinkk's blog , "Table for 2... or more".  She always has great easy recipies. I came across this yummy recipe for pork belly.  Table for 2.... or more: Dong Po Pork 东坡肉  Hopeful that our local Chinese supermarket was open, I ran out and got the pork belly. The rest of the ingredients were at home, surprisingly.



I would post a photo but hers came out so much prettier!  I did mine in the slow cooker and then transferred it to the steamer for the last step.  I also did 2 dozen of hard boiled eggs to soak in the rest of the flavor overnight in the slow cooker. I'll have something to bring over to my brother's for Chinese New Year's dinner. Yummy pork belly (Thanks Wendy!) AND yummy eggs!



After all, that's what Chinese New Year's is all about, spending time with family, friends (even if it's a long distance blogger friend), and EATING! This has NOT been a Chinese New Year Fail, it's totally a Chinese New Year SAVE!!!



Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! Wishing you all the best things for 2017 and beyond!

Click on the link above  for Wendy's recipe for the pork belly and other delish dishes!