Boston Motorists

"Epileptic patients often have a hard time getting a license," one of my Neuro professors said as he was trying to teach my classmates and me about the psychosocial impact of epilepsy for those who suffer from it. "One can imagine the danger they can be on the road to themselves and others if they experience a seizure while behind the wheel. Their driving would be erratic and unpredictable with loss of car control." He then paused. I just knew he was about to drop a zinger.

"Observing motorist behavior on Boston roads, I would say that epilepsy must be incredibly prevalent here." He delivered the line with a sly smile.

Insensitive? Yes. Inappropriate? Yes. But still, that made my day.

Three Cheers for JNJ Turo-Turo

Just thought I'd make a plug for the only Filipino restaurant in all of Massachusetts, and potentially all of New England.

When Lawrence and I first moved to Boston in 2005, we looked up on all sorts of food forums where to try to find a restaurant that served our comfort food, our family food- Filipino food. "For Filipino food in Boston," I remember one particularly angry Filipino in Boston wrote on yelp.com, "go to Queens. New York." Disappointing, I thought, but not surprising; among other things, Boston isn't exactly known for diverse cuisine.

In June 2007, that changed. JNJ Turo-Turo in Quincy opened its doors. It's an absolutely lovely place that serves delicious, not too greasy, homecooked Filipino food. Lawrence and I have tried to go every other week since we learned about it in December 2008. We find comfort there, as if we were somehow home with our families. It's really helped unfriendly Boston become a little more livable.

Anyway, I'm only making this plug now since 1) I'm between blocks in med school and have time to blog and read the paper and 2) it's recently been written up in the Boston Globe. (Find the article here and their website with a menu here.)