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.

It’s only been a week since I started trying to adjust my diurnal cycle to match Melody’s schedule as a resident, and already I’m noticing big fat rings around my eyes. This certainly doesn’t bode well for my return to the wards. Speaking of rings, I just found out that an old friend of mine from college just got engaged, shortly after my roommate, too, popped the question to his girlfriend earlier this year. On top of that, we’re attending a wedding in 2 weeks, another 2 weeks after that, and then another in September. Altogether, that’s 3 weddings and 2 engagements this year… and it’s barely past April! Only 2 years ago, I still remembered hanging out with the guys and tackling the singles scene. How quickly time passes…

I was transforming some bacteria today when I realized that we heat-shock competent cells at 42 degrees. FORTY-TWO! Why, that’s the meaning of life, the universe, and everything! Now THERE’s something to think about. Well, until that movie comes out, I’ve been taking more advantage of my Blockbuster online membership lately. Among the better flicks I’ve watched were Ray and Ocean’s 12. I also saw… Saw, which had an interesting plot, but horrible acting. I even got some episodes from the first season of Star Trek: TNG to relive my bygone days as a high school geek. Btw, is it just me, or have any of those guys actually aged since the series began? Beside Jonathan Frakes growing a mustache, I don’t think they’ve changed at all!

Since returning from vacation, I’ve been consumed by the desire to recapture the ramen experience which made the trip to Hawaii so memorable. A visit to Sapporo Ramen at Porter Exchange yesterday, however, was less than satisfactory. Though the noodles were fresh and springy, they were drenched in a bland, uninspired soup base with an uninviting herbal odor. With Boston being so deprived of Japanese noodle shops, I’m beginning to fear that our options are dwindling. I also got a chance to pull my tennis racquet out of hibernation for the warm spring weather. But after an embarrassing hour of play, I feel like I’ll be needing a LOT of practice. By the way, for those of you who wanna see more pics from Hawaii, check out the travel page.

When I returned to work this morning and people asked me what the best part of my Hawaii vacation was, I naturally replied “noodles.” Yes, noodles. More specifically, Japanese noodles. After spending a week in this Pacific island paradise, I’m convinced that our 50th state is really just a small piece of tropical Asia colonized by the U.S. to cash in on Japanese tourists. Even at the airport, I noticed that signs were printed in English and Japanese (not Spanish). Even more, among the usual McDonald’s and Burger King at the airport was a noodle shop! I knew then that I’ve come to the right place. We arrived late Saturday afternoon to explore Waikiki, where we dined on authentic shouyu ramen in a shop that was actually run by real Japanese people (what a concept!). We spent Sunday morning at the beach and had some freshly-made cold soba for lunch before our day tour of the island. The evening concluded with a dinner cruise along the Honolulu skyline, which would’ve been okay if not for the roar of rowdy high school punks on one side, and squealing Japanese girls on the other. Monday was a bit more laid back with a tour of Pearl Harbor, a hearty nabeyaki udon bowl for lunch, and a lazy afternoon at the Waikiki Aquarium and beach. Actually, we had originally intended on going snorkeling at the picturesque Hanauma Bay, but alas our plans were foiled by the evil jellyfish (curse you and your squiggly tentacles!). And since it was Melody’s birthday, we took her out for a fancy sunset dinner at Hoku’s, overlooking the Mandarin Oriental Hotel’s private beach on the Diamond Head. On Tuesday, we hiked up to Manoa Falls in the morning, and spent the rest of the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, which despite its educational-sounding name, turned out more like a low-budget amusement park with Tahitian hula-dancers, Samoan fire-eaters, and a spectacular evening show. Our last day was spent on the “Big Island” of Hawaii, where we got to wander over vast spans of crusted lava flow at Volcanoes National Park as we pondered the power of mighty Pele. This is no joke, as you can witness from this novelty pen I found in a souvenir shop. The thing I hate most about vacations is the trip back. Not only do you realize that your long-awaited week of pleasure is over and that you’ll only have work to look forward to, but that you’re also at the farthest possible time point from your next vacation. The absolute farthest. Any earlier, and you’d still be on vacation.

It’s been a while since I last remember seeing sunlight before heading to bed. This week, however, has given me plenty of opportunities to revisit those good old times. Hello, sunrise… we meet again. Over the past week, I’ve been surviving on less than 4 hours of sleep each night working first on that journal club, and then my fellowship which I managed to submit right before the due time of noon today. Heck, I was EARLY. It’s just 11:58am right now 😉 I’m actually surprised I haven’t crashed yet. In fact, I’m running on so much adrenaline I have trouble going to sleep! Anyway, I just have to present my poster at the HST forum this afternoon and then do a review session for my Pharm class this evening, and it’ll soon be Aloha from the Pacific!

My mind’s been so cluttered lately I don’t even know where to begin. I’ve got a study card due tomorrow, though I’m still not sure what to take. I also have a fellowship due next week which, after staring at it for 2 weeks, I’m just too tired to care about anymore. On top of that, I’m supposed to present the departmental journal club on a paper that’s about as interesting as a small block of wood. Meanwhile, I’m also juggling like 8 different experiments which I can’t keep track of ’cause my boss keeps asking me how they’re going. By the way, if this is beginning to sound bitter, that’s ’cause I am. For some strange reason, I’ve also got this old Red Hot Chili Peppers song stuck in my head. You know, the one that goes: “How loooong… How loo-ooo-oong will I slide… Separate my siii-iii-iiide…” It doesn’t help, of course, that I keep it looping on my mp3 playlist, but such is the way of the obsessive-compulsive. All in all, the week’s been turning into some really warped acid trip for my little brain.