happy st. raphael's day

Red velvet cupcakes I will be making tomorrow (Food Network recipe)

Apparently the Catholic Church says Valentine's Day should bear the name of St. Raphael (that's what the BBC says).  Who knows.  What I do know is I'm jet-lagged from my recent trip to Montreal, hence the silence.  I had a lovely dinner with my friends Basak and her boyfriend Nathan here in Oxford at Carluccio's (where I picked up some semolina, white flour, and a bottle of white truffle oil after our meal).  A very strange Valentine's date (albeit early).  What can I say, we're pretty progressive in this intellectual capital.  Others would argue we're simply screwed up.  Incidently, I went to a great party hosted by my beautiful Italian friend Katerina.   The whole circle of friends (Markos et al.) where there along with a special guest appearance of our beloved housemate (well, former now) Georgios who's visiting from Paris.

But I digressed.  So, this past week, I had the privilege of attending a fantastic meeting on the latest HIV research called CROI (Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections). I presented a poster, and had the opportunity to hear about some really groundbreaking work being done in the field.  Really enlightening experience.

I also ate very well in the Québécois capital.  Over the next few days I will be posting about some of my excursions in the evening after the meeting's events.  All I have to say is ravioli stuffed with lobster and white truffle oil. On that note, happy Valentine's (or Raphael's) day to all you beautiful people, and good night.