These past days have been a madhouse in terms of lab work. Looking back, I could barely remember anything except for what I’ve eaten. And since my blog is more or less a journal of my culinary adventures anyway, I’ll just leave you a taste of our recent eats:

East Manor, a huge all-you-can-eat pavilion right off Rte.1 in Saugus, served up some above-average food for a Chinese buffet. The decor was surprisingly elegant, if not for the makeshift gift shop in the lobby with el cheapo stuffed animals strewn about.

Shanghai Gate in Allston offers an eclectic menu of various authentic Shanghai dishes many of which we’ve never even heard of. Even the sights and smells from the neighboring tables were enough to warrant another visit… at LEAST!

Located right on Newbury St., INQ Bistro and Bar looks chic from the outside. But with its sharp red interior and dim-beyond-romantic lighting, it gave more of a 50’s stucco-gone-haywire feel, or as Barbara puts it, “kinda like hell.” The generic American menu was equally uninspired.

Castle Hill, where Junne and Dave got married this weekend, is better known for their beautiful gardens and rolling hills. However, the reception dinner wowed us with hor d’oeuves like braised duck on a lotus chip or a portabella and leek pâté on a warm toast. Even the main course was blessed with a slab of juicy filet mignon with jumbo prawns stuffed with crabmeat. If only all weddings were like this…

With its shabby but utilitarian decor, with hand-drawn signs of menu items plastered along the walls, Men-Tei gave the promise of an authentic ramen experience. But one sip of the salty soup and a bite of the dried char-sui and soggy noodles convinced us otherwise, sending us home ready to give up all hope.

This weekend disappeared with the blink of an eye. Although I did get to attend a wedding, shoot some pool, and even catch a movie, the days were also interspersed with chores and errands. Some were beyond my control (lab work, laundry), while others were kind of self-inflicted (Kaplan project, vacation album). I wonder how I’ll ever survive returning to the wards, when work time will nearly double. Fortunately, last evening afforded us the opportunity to enjoy some comfort food in Chinatown followed by an evening at the Opera House for none other than our favorite musical, the Phantom of the Opera. The newly renovated Opera House, costing a hefty $35 million, is certainly a feast for the eyes with its rich and extravagant interior details. The show itself was excellent, and still carried its deep emotional impact even though I must’ve heard it more than a dozen times, seen it performed in NYC, and even watched its Hollywood rendition. Some of the singers were a bit too operatic, but Gary Mauer totally owned the show with his portrayal of the phantom delicately blending the anger and angst of the character. If you’re in Boston, I’d highly recommend catching it before its limited engagement is over.

Lab work was busy today, though I still managed to attend some of the talks at a Symposium on Memory and Dementia sponsored by the HCNR. Though the list of speakers was impressive (Eric Kandel, Tom Sudhof, Carla Shatz), the talks were pretty bland overall. A labmate came back and said, “once again, I discover that science is not interesting.” The dean of the med school, however, gave a brief but interesting closing remark. According to him, a neurologist no less, Michaelangelo’s famous painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel depicted god as a sagittal section of the human brain! If you look carefully, you may even see a spinal cord and pituitary gland near the stalk. That’s amazing considering that it preceded Vesalius’ anatomical drawings by more than 20 years. There are some evidence that Michaelangelo indeed dissected human cadavers to study the human form for his artwork. Perhaps what scholars over the past five centuries have interpreted to be God bestowing intellect on man was actually a depiction of the brain imparting this gift upon humankind.

It’s been a wet, dreary weekend. Despite the light rain, we took a trip to Arnold Arboretum yesterday morning, hoping to check out the spring blossoms. Being an arboretum rather than a flowering garden, unfortunately, most of the trees still retained the bare, lanky appearance of winter. I guess the extra time will give me a chance to start working on my photo scrapbook for Hawaii. For those of you who know me well, this little project will most likely take between 20-30 hours of my time spread over 1-2 weeks. I don’t really know how this started, but my vacation albums have evolved to become more and more elaborate over the years. You think maybe it has to do with the need, as we age, to hold onto our memories? Or am I just obsessive in that way? Ermm… don’t answer that.