First day of school! And food at Peasant Cookery

For some reason, going to residency orientation felt like first day of school. I woke up extra early that morning to shower, do my hair and pick out my attire. I found the first two days of orientation a important but relaxing way of easing us into the swing of things. For the majority of us new residents, we had taken the last couple months off as a vacation and did not go anywhere near a stethoscope, much less see patients. Thus, a few days of reminders about policy and rules were a nice gentle jolt back into the life of a doctor.

Our reward was a fancy dinner with our program director and chief residents at the Peasant Cookery. Our dinner was scheduled at 6:30PM and I left my place with only ten minutes to spare. Okay, I will be honest: I was watching the NHL Draft and see who my Oilers were going to pick third overall. Nevertheless, I had Google Mapped the distance and knew I could make it in the ten minutes. Or that's what I thought.

Upon pulling out from my complex, I was immediately welcomed by a torrential rainfall. Winnipeg had been overcast and drizzling over the past few days but this was the first time where it downright poured. Gritting my teeth and cursing my luck, I set out to Peasant Cookery. What should have been a ten minute drive amounted to twenty, then thirty. I realized that Winnipeg, similar to Edmonton, has a pothole problem. When these potholes are filled with water and other cars drive through them, up comes a colossal wave of rain water that fills your entire windshield. Needless to say, I was blind q30seconds (that's medical talk for every thirty seconds). At one time, I could not see the road anymore so I had to slow to a crawl just to make sure I survived this drive. Case in point: give extra travel time when going somewhere unfamiliar.

I was grinning from ear to ear for the rest of the night though. The Peasant Cookery menu looked marvelous. And dining with my fellow residents and staff also made sharing a possibility:

I started off with a Stiegl Radler. My friends in Edmonton had previously taught me that a Radler was a beer mixed in with a juice or soda. Wanting something refreshing I got the Stiegl which is a beer mixed with grapefruit juice.

The first dish I shared with a few of my co-residents was the beef tartar. Delightful chunks of beef mixed with onions and seasoned perfectly.

The beet salad was light, fresh and refreshing. A nice accompaniment to my beer and contrast from the tartar.

Two of my fellow residents raved about the oysters at Peasant Cookery and constantly reminded us about the buck a shuck Wednesdays. Having heard about these oysters so much, I had to order one to try. Out came a freshly shucked beautiful oyster. Topped with my favorite condiments I can see why people go crazy about these


For my main I had the beef brisket. It came with mashed potatoes, green beans and beans covered with a homemade BBQ sauce. Overall this dish was a disappointment. My pieces of brisket were over 50% fat! The small pieces of meat I did have though, were delicious.

For dessert we shared profiteroles. I learned that night that these were souped up versions of cream puffs and were invented in the United States. No wonder I looked odd when trying to order them with an Italian flourish.

We also ordered a creme brulee. Very well done, nicely crusted sugar topping on top of smooth custard. No complaints, very tasty.













Overall an incredible meal with incredible people. It makes me more excited to share these next four years with them!