Midway

Last peer mentoring session on Monday. I'm actually surprised most of them turned up every week, I remember my peer mentors were pretty lazy, and I only saw them max twice. Decided to shout the mentees for some snacks.

Wedges-$8
Aragorn Pizza-$14

The wedges were so nice and thick cut with a lot more potato than the Quad ones. There were also 6 slices of pizza, one for each of us. The pizza is a thin and slightly hard crust, and chicken was a tad dry, but still tasty.

After seeing Tracy's snap the other day, made an impulsive decision to go buy doughnut (well, I missed my bus for the millionth time so had time to spare to go buy a doughnut).

L: Matcha Made in Heaven-matcha and raspberry

R: The Butternut: burnt butter and pistachio

I was deciding between the 2 flavours, and then decided on Matcha, but I think she heard me say 'one of each' which kind of sounds like 'matcha' since it was noisy. I asked again and said I just want matcha, and she's like 'yeah, one of each' whilst I was holding 2 boxes (she probably thought I was stupid). When I tapped my card/checked my account later, it said $6. So she only charged me for one....I also got a stamp card as well, so I have 2 stamps on it, which makes me feel like I should buy 6 more just to get the 9th one free...

Anyways, the doughnuts did indeed taste fresh. They were baked not deep fried (which makes it healthier already lol). The website says the doughnuts you buy aren'y older than 3 hours, and should be eaten within 4hours. There was plenty of dough to blanace the sweetness from the glaze, and super soft dough as well. Kind of like a brioche bun, but not as bready. I think for non-Asians, there wasn't enough of the Matcha/bitter taste, there was matcha when you had the icing itself, but the sweet type of matcha. Couldn't really taste the raspberry in it/ The pistachios were pretty good on the other one, just not enough of that burnt butter taste, more like the normal glaze for this one. It was still worth my money (:  Doughnut Plant in NYC still remains my fav-they are flavour bombs rather than just sugar.

Finally made it to the end of the boost game (after a week lol)! Got my 2nd free boost, and should have 2 more coming up. The ending is kind of lame and cute, Janine unzips to be a banana then unzips again to be Janine whole stole the fruits (aim is to 'free the fruits). Btw, save up to 10k of fruits to be safe to get a free boost. It takes about 2 complete games (which is half an hour wasted, but that's about how much time I spend waiting for buses...). After getting my 3rd free boost (it was a disgusting protein shake), after blending 10k of fruit 3 times after, I only got crap vouchers like buy one get one free and $3 off ): wasted time saving up fruit and no free boost

And finally got a kebab to end the week, although it doesn't look as meaty compared to photos of people's food back in 1st yr...

had a prac exam today. idk, they're very unpredictable. last sem, i thought i didn't do great at one set of pracs, but i ended up getting an A for it. the other prac, i knew i did really bad, so i got a D for it..today i kind of faked it...and i think the examiner knew, so she checked my reading, and argh, why did she have to check mine? she didn't check the others...hopefully i don't get too marked down on accuracy. in the feedback right after in the led, she mentioned to people not to make up readings, and the pracs were on during the week...so fingers crossed i wasn't the only one who did that...it's more of the time constraint that you want to hurry up the process. again, this prac isn't worth much (5%) for a 5min prac (actually, time wise, it's worth a lot, like 60% finals in 2 hours,s till about 2min per %...), but it's more the pass mark which worries me most. the "important" pass marks/checkboxes you need in their secretive marking things...

i have such bad luck. get my cornea stained 2 times this week. screw it, still going to wear my CL tonight, need to see at work tomorrow...

haven't done an iOS personal opinion review yet, because i have yet to upgrade. yes, shock horror, i don't have the newest iOS. even though if you connect to your comp to download, i'm still a bit wary of the download space, and apparently it drains your battery more...but i will refs upgrade when Yosemite comes out for macs. i don't use dropbox, so this new feature of starting a document or anything on a mobile device and then finishing off on your laptop just sounds so time saving! like if i get an iPad, i don't have to carry around and worry about my laptop whole battery life cycle decreasing, and it'll hopefully last me for a lot more years to come.

lol at iPhone 6 plus bending. still can't hate apple because their devices are the most beautiful (:

my friend volunteered at the mercedes benz fashion festival! so lucky-helping dress the models, and be up close and personal backstage. and then she got pretty good seats for a few days just watching the shows. all the models' clothes are just divine. too bad i'm too short to wear that stuff (and i'm not willing to fork thousands just for a dress). still have yet to ask her how she got the job, since you need experience dressing models beforehand, but still pretty cool since she sometimes gets free stuff from all those designers there.

got a free boost today, even though my name isn't really lisa. if i got served by this other person, i know i wouldn't have got it, since you could feel she was strict with these things. i got wonder melon, and it smelt and tasted liked those circular red and white striped strawberry milk lollies. this drink was very bland, maybe because it was free so they put more ice in, or they just watermelons are still yet to be in season...also got free subway just from volunteering...why am i telling you this? free stuff makes me happy (: not a big fan of subway, but it's free.

as i said, my mid sem break is non-existent. so behind on everything, and even when i catch up, it doesn't mean i know anything. i do need to back though, since my almond meal is going to expire. unfortunately, i don't have the time to make amcarons from scratch, nor do i have the time to experiment with my kitchen aid hand blender-it's still sitting there waiting to be used D=

decided to stop dancing for next term, hopefully she won't get mad D=

but this means i actually have to make an afford to keep fit. did you know, i bought a pair of nikes last time i went hk, still have yet to go jogging in them...

Grill'd Take 3

ended up gong to rouse hill with my mum for free grill'd burgers. it's actually not that far away, around 20ish minutes, and it was my 2nd time going there. next time when it's not so cold waiting outside and we're not waiting for free food, i shall go there and walk around again.

i thought oh rouse hill, it's a hole, no one goes there.

nek minute, the line goes in a circle and snakes. so many parents with their kids, and they each have 3 or 4 kids or babies with them. 

the line moved at an ok speed, waited for about 1.5 hours, but grill'd is more worth compared to meatballs imo, even if the price isn't as expensive

free boost samples while waiting-cookies and cream and a strawberry something

the line behind me.

we got there at 5.45 and they opened at 6, so the people at the front probs got there at 4.30...either way, they still had to wait 1.5 hours.

service was lovely as usual, even if it's free and we didn't order any sides. decided to get really different ones, since i've had most of the usual avo, relish, salad, bacon, cheese, mayo toppings with lamb/chicken/beef. i think these ones took longer compared to other people since it's not the normal ones people would order. these ones probs aren't as "worth" as the other ones, but i like trying different ones when it's free (:

lamb: goats cheese and hummus, sweet chilli chicken

both were really nice. goats cheese not too creamy and heavy, balanced nicely with the salad and hummus. chicken was very lean, with a kick of chilli and so much salad. the burger/buns themselves have gone smaller. not sure if it's because it's free or things have just generally shrunk. compared to last year, my first grill'd experience initially i thought it wasn't very filling, but then by the time i left it was.

went shopping after back at towers, and yay, finally got a pair of shoes that i wanted/needed! they weren't that cheap, even if it was half price from myer. i know i've been saying i'm saving money, but some things need to be bought/eaten. this is my 4th piece of clothing/shoes this year, so i guess i haven't bought a lot which is good (:

when my uncle came over, he brought a whole luggage filled with clothes from my aunt. i've been so busy that i still haven't had time to look at the clothes after my exams. long story short, that aunt has decided to sell one of her houses in hk. there's 3 rooms in that house and 2 rooms plus the living room is filled with clothes, so she has to get rid of it before she can sell the house. luckily my uncle is a diamond member and can take heaps of suitcases from hk to aus, it's just whether he has time to come to sydney again/has the ability to juggle 4 suitcases. he can do 3 but not sure 4....and then for the clothes i don't want, hopefully i can join up with people to sell at markets, hehe.

supps come out tomorrow. so, so, so scared. have not had time to study since last thursday since i've been working. apparently someone "broke her back", coincidentally when kids are on school hols, the manager is on hols, and i'm on hols. hence, the state manager and others don't really believe her. that's the thing, i would rather not take time off during the exams, so i can maintain a "consistent attendance" even though work isn't like school/uni. if i do need to take time off, then it sounds better than taking time off on top of the other times you've missed...i don't mind working, it's just that if i do get a supp it's mixed feelings: i'm happy since i have a chance to redeem myself/super scared with oral theory tests/no time to study since i'll be out fri, sat and sun, and exam is probably next monday. or no supp-sad that i've failed completely.

Scattered Thunderstorms

it was supposed to be sunny today! i even said it was good weather for a boost! today for vibe members, if you sang out your order, you could get a free boost. the uni people are really lenient, they don't even check if you are a member, and i can't sing so i just said my order and their ingredients in a really weird way lol. so many fruits i'm not supposed to have which are on all the drinks of boost, so today was another "cheat" day. i decided to go "lean & green" and try the Carribean Green (mango, passionfruit, banana, spinach, mango nectar, coconut milk, coconut water & ice)which i haven't had before. they said if you don't like it after 2 sips, you can exchange it. tbh, i didn't really like this one, but ceebs exchanging since it was free. it kinda tasted salty from the spinach, and wasn't sweet at all even though it had mango nectar...

but unfortunately the boost did not make up my day. i was caught up in this:

unlucky unsw is in the eastern suburbs where there were flash floods and sever thunderstorms. had a lecture at 5 and had to make to to lower campus without an umbrella. it was poring, and even walking undercover, you still get wet since the wind was blowing crazily. bumped into people who had umbrellas, but it still wasn't very useful. main walkway has really bad drainage, and you can't really walk around the main walkway, so just had to walk through the ankle deep water. first time having my shoes and socks soaked ))): they need some sort of bridge/shelter from the left side to right side of campus. like from the science theatre area to connect to the red centre area...

what was worse was that buses from uni didn't come for almost 30min. even buses to town hall. i read later on the news there was a car crash and flash flooding etc, so 3 buses to central all came at the same time at 6.30. basically took 2 hours to get home, then fully changed and rushed back to church. new leaders this time. apparently they went on a lot of socials involving food. i would love to join...but i promised myself to save money...oh, sold my textbook today! people actually do go on those websites...sold it for about $17 less than what i bought from the bookshop, which i guess is alright. 

ahh, my feet hurt for walking 3 hours today putting up posters, and then wearing soaked socks and shoes for another 3 hours ):

Boost Challenge 2013

boost challenges! i think i got instagram at the right time. last time they had a happy lab promotion, this time they announce the clues on insta first, but then they also put it on fb, and then released the challenges a day ahead, i think too many people complained.

#what is study. free boost>study.

Fairy Friday:

brekkie to gogo.

if i ever try a weird one, it's always on my free boost ones. this one had blended bits of meusli, wasn't even sweet, tasted super healthy, filled with bananas and milk. wouldn't recommend you to buy it, but if you want breakfast, it's super filling. didn't even have lunch.

left: two and five juice. right: skinie minie melon smoothie.

with the juice, it was freshly squeezed, as you would expect. they didn't add any of their "base" juices. you could see them churning out two carrots, celeries, etc. it tasted quite nice, it's better than those supermarket juices which have a horrible balance of fruit and veg. when the veg is too prominant, it's gross (well for me). skinie minie melon was good (:

Teddy Bear Tuesday

lychee crush.

on the poster it looked pink. turns out it's yellow. tasted like tropical juice, very subtle hints of lychee. sweetest boost i've had in a long time.

left: watermelon crush, right: berry berry light

both were good as usual. 

my friend's should become fashion designers!

we were going to give our beas to other friends to use, so it'd look different. they didn't get it in the end since they couldn't be bothered to walk to boost from the library, which is pretty close....if i didn't have a bear/they didn't write my name down, i would've totes used a bear with a plastic bag. my bear had clothes, but we stripped it, and made a plastic bag toga. the asian bear then used my clothes and elastics as belt. 

i think i've become quite the pro in taking boost home, i have this cooler bag which perfectly fits two original sized boosts. like when i got home, both boosts were still ice cold. i take them home because i want to have more flavours at once, but i don't want to consume so much sugar at once. (sugar from natural juices in such large quantities is still not good).

i've had all the boosts now except the lemon crush, orange juice and the protein ones, except they're the same flavours just with blended protein power. i've created my own juice thing before, but i shall try mixing random ones together, like ginger, and blueberry and other stuff which won't match to see how it's like. btw, don't get the chocolate one, or raspberry chocolate ones. i'm so glad the choc one was on a free boost, since it's pretty gross. you can't have healthy chocolate, it just doesn't work.

you know the week before the challenges, i had a passion mango. it's cause i had a voucher from o-week, which made it a discount of $1.50. i also had another voucher, but it expires end of this month. never had the time to use it, so gave it away.

some challenges are too inconvenient to do at uni. oh wells, 6 boosts is good enough. oh, i'm pretty sure the westfield one is owned by curries, since most of them work their, and they're more stingier. like, they made me make my teddy bear order, and made me wear some sort of head piece (luckily i brought it in case) when i got a free boost, and took my photo. unsw took my photo as well =/ at the galeries, i only half took my bear out of my plastic bag, and they were like, "what would you like". so if in doubt about a challenge, your best bet is galeries>westfield. i didn't bother with world square this year. the other two are closer, and i'm still in mid-sem exam period.

19. Birthday Free Food Haul (Elisa's Guide to Free Birthday Food)

19. i can't believe it's been a year already! today's date somewhat has a pattern (: i don't like the number 19. it's prime and ugly, 17 sounds and looks better, but 19 is =/ doesn't feel like it's my birthday. from primary to high school, i used to be like, guess what!? it's my birthday in two weeks! and then remind people. now i think i'm at the stage where i'm like meh, not as excited as i used to be/don't want people to know how old i am. i bet my face can still pass as a 14yo.

it's mostly because i didn't have a party that it felt like it was my birthday. it kind of feels good not organising any parties, although i would love one, i don't have the moneys. i have to pay for some of my 21st if i have one. then again, i would rather not have any parties and save it all for my wedding. yes, i'd rather go all out on my wedding than have a few parties here and there.

before uni, there wasn't a lot of chances to go to the city, but since uni started, i go city everyday. i figured this year is the year to go after free food, since next year uni will be super busy (more on this later). such nice sunny weather today (: i've always loved august (totes no bias here lol) since it starts to get warm, not a lot of rain, and not too hot (:

Lowenbrau Keller

first time having a proper German meal. originally we were only going to share a free meal, but that seemed to cheap, so we got two plates. everyone ordered a massive pork knuckle (signature dish), but the crumbed skin of the pork knuckle would make my face even worse...lol.

this place is a must to go on your birthday! just make sure you book. the restaurant is massive inside. you can choose any single plate on the menu.

top: lunch special of haus-made sausage, mash potato, some special onion with some sauce-$14.50. bottom: Original Zwiebelrostbraten, Char-Grilled 300g Sirloin Steak with Cheese Spätzle, Apple Onion Confit & Red Wine Glaze

being asian, i tried to maximise my free meal, so i got the steak. it's $35 (on the website it says $38). i asked for medium, but the sides were a bit chewy. the apple things on top was quite interesting, so was the floury things. it reminded me of gnocchi, but more flavourless, so you needed to have some sauce with it. this flour was a bit dense-ish, but it was nice in its own way. i didn't actually hear the proper name for the lunch special, but for 14.50, that wasn't too bad. the sausage was sooo good! meaty, not overly flavoured, didn't feel like there was a skin on it, big, no fattening/oily feeling. no wonder why during aroma festival, hordes of people lined up to get a super duper long hot dog for $10. the mash here was pretty nice, onions had this sourness to it, and the sauce was good. i've had a lot of sausages from various butchers before (still have yet to go snag and stand), but this one is one of the best!

coffee was 3.50 and was decent (i had a chai for 3.50 at uni earlier, and it hardly had any spices and the cinnamon was just spooned on top of the milk-disappointed). btw, hot water here cost $1.50 (also at uni in that cafe i went to, hot water was 1.00. ridiculous).

walked past the Masterchef pop-up restaurant. literally pop up as it was a tent/marquee. probs heaps fancy inside. kinda like our exam centres, where it's actually nice inside. the place around the site smelt of fertiliser/sewage, i walked past at around 4-ish, and today is the opening night, so no idea how they would get rid of the smell on time. their bar wasn't opened yet, so couldn't see what the bar menu was ): no time to trek to the rocks again.

walked to darling harbour since free shuttle bus ended at 3.30. i guess that makes sense since if i was a paying customer, i would be so angry at those free shuttle buses causing even more congestion during school zone/peak hour. anyways, we were super full, so a good half hour walk was pretty good.

San Churros

person was nice and said she didn't have to check ID. she didn't even look at my voucher properly. i made two emails, so got two vouchers, so i could have gone the day before/after my bday.

churros for two: 6 churros w/ dark and milk chocolate dipping sauce-$15

dark was soo much better than milk. looking at other tables, most people finished more of their dark than milk. the dark choc had a more intense/not as sweet flavour, and a richer smell.

was looking forward to this since i've never had them before. tbh, they weren't that great. the centre of the churro was still a bit doughy, yet at the same time, the whole churro itself didn't have enough dough and was skinny. it didn't have the lightness of what a churro should be. maybe it's because it was free so they didn't cook it properly...MOVIE WORLD CHURROS ARE THE BEST! no jokes.

Baskin Robbins

 now this was a "waste of stomach space". you see. by now i'm quite full and full of sugar, but i signed up to the club. i've never seen a non-asian run baskin robbins before (if you do, please tell me). that asian lady didn't even care about customers. what if we were paying customers? would you still continue to look at your phone and ignore people who want to be served? sooooo stingy these people, even more than towers. when i tried the red velvet, the man only gave me a tiny bit ie a speck of rice. how do i frikken taste it? all i tasted was plastic. then i showed my voucher and id to the woman. she fully stared at the voucher and my licence, sructinising every single detail up close. literally. she put the paper close to her eyes, then scratched her head (which is super unhygenic, esp when you're serving food WITHOUT gloves). i felt like she memorised everything on my licence. after about a full 5min, she says "you can only choose the flavours was the spoon" ie the crap flavours. i didn't want anything chocolate/caramel after the churros. 

Candy Stripes.

i got candy stripes which was orange and white choc mousse. sooo flavourless. it was served in the smallest, cheapest soft serve cone, even maccas cones are better. the scoop of ice cream was the smallest scoop of ice cream ever! seriously, not worth your time going to the Harbourside one. such stingy people. and they were the only people who didn't say "Happy birthday". every other place said it at least once. their attitude is horrible. never ever going to this one again. no idea what this is worth, i think it's worthless because even for kids cones, they don't serve ice cream in it, only soft serve ice cream. i didn't bother to argue with them to get a waffle cone, after the first contact i made with them for the tasting, i just wanted to leave baskin robbins.

Boost

my all time favourite place to go! i love boost. just join their vibe club. boost has really good members discounts time to time, and you really do feel good after drinking it!

Skinny Dip-$6.40 (or 6.90, there was only a sign of this flavour, but no actual price). it had apple juice, strawberry sorbet, yogurt, raspberry, banana, and probably heaps of other stuff.

the guy was so nice, he's like "don't worry, you'll definitely get an original". the one in harbourside opened recently, and so far, they're the only store to still other 3 sizes, other places only have medium and original. he was also very generous with the sorbet, i counted 4 scoops. normally i think it's 2/3. so refreshing and a ncie way to finish all that food. (i actually didn't finish the boost, splitted it with my mum). not enough time to see if i could get a free boost at other stores, but i don't think i can since their card is electronic.

Nando's

never have a bought Nando's full price. what's good about this is that you can get a member club without purchasing anything (unlike sumo salad). got takeaway since it was getting late/i needed to go dance. they let you have a "birthday meal"-how generous of them! you can choose any regular item, any side and and drink. too much choice!

lemon and herb half chicken, peri peri chips and tropical juice-$17.45

i think this chicken wasn't as freshly grilled compared to my last experience. they probably half cooked it, then grilled it more to make it warm when someone ordered it, since we only waited 5min, and last time at towers it was a 10-15min wait (according to my mum). i guess it makes sense since you need to serve heaps of people quickly in the city. chicken was quite burnt on the other side. the peri peri chips actually weren't spicy (maybe they didn't put enough spice in it).

Subway

got this the day before since i knew i would be too full today.

6-inch steak and cheese sub ($7.20) and coke (no idea how much bottled coke costs these days).

the unsw doens't participate in these deals/offers, so i had to walk outside. this wasn't toasted/warm enough and i think this 6-inch was more like 5 inch. oh wells, free lunch, can't complain. also, my bro came home with a $5 meatball subway w/ drink. it was supposed to be 6-inches, but the guy misheard, and gave him a footlong but he let my bro still pay $5.

birthday cake from zest patisserie-tiramisu.

this was a mousse and sponge cake, with super cute chocolate coffee mousse cups on top. it's not made on site, it's made in the other franchise in rozelle, but they deliver cakes to cherrybrook at around 6am in the morning. i've had over 10 cakes from here, so i've basically tried everything i've wanted. this tiramisu cake was good, except it wasn't as nice as the other cake there. i think the sponge may have been soaked in too much liquer, and i don't think our fridge is cold enough since the mousse isn't firm enough. this was a medium sized cake (didn't need a big one unlike pervious years), and i couldn't fit all 19 candles without all the candle conjoining together, BUT I LOVE MY CANDLES, so we lit 13, then blew them, then lit 6, then blew them. #firstworldproblems.

all in all, over $80 worth of free food. probably will do some place again next year, but other places are a no-go. i had at least 2 other places to go to, but not enough time.

my present of food has been satisfied. didn't have a proper birthday dinner since i was sooo full. what i really want for my birthday is one of those "money can't buy" things. ...

thank you Dandelion for the cake. it was good, and it survived in one piece after i walked around for the whole day!  as always, it's the thought that counts (:

MRI Scan/ECG

i actually didn't read the info they gave me, just went with the flow.

actually woke up before 7am today. first ever hospital brain scan. it was pretty cool, apart from the whole lying still for an hour, but hey, i shouldn't complain, getting paid to lie down =D apart from the researchers, a radiographer is also going to exam the stuff, and let's hope my brain is functioning healthily. free brain scan and getting paid=win.

ecg was exactly what you think it would look like in those sciency/"mind reading" criminal shows. getting hooked up to various things while they test your brain function/monitor other things. the stuff they tested was kind of like those brain training games (my ds is super dusty after not playing it for over 2 years...) some of the tests were pretty interesting. 

boost has buy one get 2nd for $1 today and tomorrow! $1=almost free, since you can't even buy anything things days with a dollar. did you know, catching one stop during peak hour is $3.60! feeling so ripped off. going to city is only $5.00 peak hour for trains. (student and child are the same during peak hour). buses are better, only $3.60 concession whenever and whatever time. 

i got pavlova and all berry smoothie. i thought pavlova would be really sweet like a meringue, but it wasn't, you could taste and see the fruits, which is what boost is all about. easy way had free smoothies at wynyard today, but i haven't had easy way since yr 10, and plan to keep it that way for a while. their artificial flavouring sickens me. i've had all the smoothies, but not all the juices at boost. i used my gift card today! it's pretty cool. so yay for free boost (:

I KNOW WHAT I WANT FOR MY BIRTHDAY, (yep, i always think ahead for my birthday)-fine dining at Masterchef restaurant. wanted to go last year, and want to go this year.

ok, i've been looking at the website/thinking about it for over 2 hours. 

1. it's quite hard to get through ticketmaster, probably cause it's the first day for the public to buy.

2. it's super expensive. $115 for four courses. even though there's a well-known chef heading it, the actual restaurant has no awards.

3. no one willing to eat with me.

4. not everything on the menu appeal to me eg, their last item on the menu has vegemite. if i don't eat it, it would be a waste of money, but i don't want to force myself to eat expensive things. 

5. they have high tea for 42, but as i said before, you need to be in a place with meaning/history/renowned for it to be worth it, and unfortunately, even though it's masterchef renowned, deep down in my head i'm telling myself it's a pop up restaurant. maybe when i've been to some hatted/michelin restaurants when i'm older and can afford it myself and if masterchef is still around, then i'll go (or if they have the restaurant next year and i absolutely love every single item and i have a job lol)

since it opens on my birthday, i'll properly go to the bar and buy something there since you don't need a ticket to go in. masterchef food truck in parra this week. ceebs, and even though they have some of the contestants dishes, $12 for a piece (or two if they're generous) of "fast food" chicken isn't worth it. i'll wait for next week and see what they have, but i really want to try something before they jet off. it's like the environmentally friendly pop up restaurant they had in syd 2 years ago. wanted to try it, but by the time i knew about it and was going to go, they closed. turns out the guys now in perth (since masterchef went to his restaurant again, but it looks pretty permanent in perth ): )