Little Cupcakes

Afternoon tea at a cute little shop with sells cute cupcakes. Reminds me of Cupcakes on Pitt in Sydney.

Clockwise: Belgian chocolate, red velvet, cherry ripe, blueberry pistachio-$4.50 each

I like how they tried to match the cupcakes to the coloured plates. I had the blueberry pistachio one: Real blueberry and pistachio gluten free and vegan cake with vegan cream cheese frosting. Didn't even realise it was a full vegan cake until afterwards. The cake is a bit more crumbly since I guess there's not butter/full cream milk to help keep it more moist. It wasn't really sweet luckily, and I liked the bits of blueberries and pistachios in it. The icing is more hard and can taste the grainy-ness from the sugar and less creamy compared to actual cream cheese. I guess that's what makes it vegan, but I'm curious as to how they still made a vegan icing without cream cheese, butter or milk.

Kyo Tea House

Quick pit stop after lunch to get some matcha desserts, something that Sydney can still work on. 

  

Matcha extra strong (intensity 8)-$5.20 ($4.50 + 70c premium flavour)

they only have 4 levels of matcha

I think for Aus standards, this is the most bitter matcha ice cream I've had. It's pretty intense hit of matcha, but still has a tiny bit of sweetness. I would rate it as 6.5 or 7 out of 8 intensity compared to Suzukien Asakusa in Tokyo. 

Suzukien Asakusa

You can tell the intensity 8 is a brighter and even more intense green than Kyo Tea House level 8. This one in Tokyo was so bitter I could only have a few spoons before reaching the other slightly sweeter hojicha flavour. They also had 8 levels of matcha, but it's Japan, so it's expected they have more of everything.

Yuzu Matcha Mojito-$8

Quite a refreshing drink with a good balance of yuzu and matcha. I feel like you don't see many yuzu stuff mixed with matcha, and this place had quite a lot of flavour combos in diff forms of desserts. Would have liked to try other things if I wasn't already so full.

Timing

I don't know how, but even after almost a year of under loading, I have somehow 'run out of time.' I'm pretty good at timing my holidays and packing my itineraries, but when it comes to studying, I feel like there is never enough time. How is it already October? After last year's ordeal, and after asking why so, so many times, I think I really had to push myself to trust in God's perfect timing. Let me tell you it wasn't and it still isn't easy. It's also trivial things like my backpack died 1 year too early, now I have to get another one and only use it for next year, and if last year didn't happen then I wouldn't need to buy another one (and why does it cost more 3.5 years later even though it's an older model?)

I don't think I often talk about this, but it has been a struggle at times to keep faith. Then there are times when the timing is close to perfect (because nothing in this world is actually perfect), and you sort of start to see His timings unfold, which in a way, I hope it will continue to grow my faith. Things or timings sort of happen in funny ways at times...

Went to Night Noodle Markets mainly for Gelato Messina. Hope to come back to try some other stuff (blog post to come).  

When my heart sort of melted just like that poor ice cream katsu sandwich on the right later at night...

La Belle Miette

Macarons still remain my fav dessert, despite it really being just sugar, cream and a bit of almond flour. This place was on my list to buy some macarons to take back to the fam. I feel like most of Melbourne food places are all in a walkable distance, unlike Sydney where some good cafes are in the next suburb and have to drive out of the CBD to get there.

Loving these cute little shop fronts in Hardware Lane

loving the pastel rainbow coloured macarons

8 macarons-$22.40 ($2.80 each)

Decided not to pay extra for a fancier gift box even though it's a bit sturdier. I guess it's easier to take car of them in the car compared to flying overseas and brining macarons back home. 

they mostly survived the road trip from Melb to Syd!

Flavour from left to right:

- Creme Brûlée: it had some nice crunchy bruleed/sugary bits in the cream which gave it an interesting texture.

- Lavender: flavour is subtle until you eat like half of it. Would have liked more lavender flavour, but I guess if it's too much it becomes too potent. 

- Lychee: more on the sweet side

- Strawberry, rhubarb, passionfruit: the shell had a bit of strawberry, but the passionfruit filling had a lovely tang to it. There was also a rhubarb piece in the centre as well to give it some tartness

- Earl grey chocolate: could definitely taste the tea in it which is a plus, and chocolate not too sweet

- Violet and blueberry: my favourite out of them all. The violet/floral flavour came through, and so did the blueberry

- Pistachio: flavour was average, I've had better pistachio macarons before, but I wanted a green colour to help balance out the colours in the macaron box.

- Salted caramel: apparently this is their most popular flavour. It did have a nice bitterness from the caramel, but would have liked it a bit more salted, and after the second bit it did become more sweet.

They all had a good crunch from the shell with a chewier inside. The filling is quite shallow in terms of height, so it does make these macarons seem a lot smaller compared to its competitors. Sometimes less filling does help bring out the flavour more without being overloaded with sugar. Price wise it's the same as Zumbo's, so not too expensive compared to other macaron shops or even just normal cafes which supply macarons.

look at that lovely pastel purple colour

You know things are getting real when exam timetables are out. Just over 30 days until dooms days exams start. At least this time round I don't have a night exam which finishes after 7pm, and a 8:45am exam the following morning. Morning exams always means leaving the house at around 5:30am, to allow 1hr for car accidents. Less than 30 days until research due...thank goodness an extern is helping us to enter data.

I think this time round I'm more worried than I am stressed. Normally I'm a combo of both, but the worry gets to me more. I don't know what I would do if I something so minuscule trips me up again... Re learning things by yourself ain't easy, in a way it's actually harder to re learn since you know you know it from last year, and that knowledge is somehow in your head, but you think, do you know it enough under exam conditions, esp since haven't done an exam in almost a year. I feel like my brain is lacking that 'exam mode' it needs. I have probably lost my ability to write fast in exams as well...They are definitely going to ask questions in a different style this year (even though I forgot what they asked last year), but with a lot more added content this time round. Here's to 4 exams for one subject again...

Still delaying what places I should put down for preceptorship next year, since part of me doesn't want to think about next year until I pass, God willing. It's still a struggle between what my brain thinks and what my heart knows even as a Christian... I know I shouldn't worry about these things but it's still hard not to...

It's funny how I haven't done any cardio for almost 2 weeks, and my heart rate range has dropped by 2 according to my Fit Bit. I wonder how much it would drop during STUVAC where I just stay at home to study, and only walk to the kitchen to get food, and in a small house it's really not that far away. Goodbye any slight fitness I've managed to conjure for over 2 weeks...I completely understand why once people exercise, they really need to keep it up...

Finally got my ring contact lenses yesterday. Apparently someone took my order...on the lecturer's sheet there was a line drawn between my name and the person on top, and he was like a friend took my CL. I am 200% sure I didn't ask anyone to collect it for me. Why would I ask someone to take my contacts for me especially when I'm not friends with anyone in the current year? I think some people are just greedy and took an extra box, because I don't think he could have missed ordering mine...In the end he reluctantly gave me a box, like if you didn't give it to me, I can't do my assignment unless I use my last year coloured contacts. So, so disorganised this year. With my order needing to be re-ordered, and only getting 1 box instead of 2...But ring lenses are more comfortable than the coloured contacts.

It's quite nice to finish uni at 6pm and walk out and it's still light, and watching the sky turn colour. The bad thing is that afternoon sun glare in your eyes, and can't really sleep on the bus until it's darker, and also trying to do stuff on your laptop, but that glare is too much reflecting off your screen #fwp. I still prefer winter where it's nice and dark and can see your laptop on the way home. Another bad thing is drummer next door thinks he can drum later at night since the sky doesn't go dark until later.

Chin Chin

Another reason I decided to come on a spontaneous road trip to Melbourne was for some good Thai food. We got there just after 5pm and the restaurant was already packed. By the time we left after 6, there were over 20 people in line even on a weekday. This place is one of those modern Thai/higher class Asian places with smaller portions. It's not your average cheap Thai feed, but if you're like me and hardly eat Asian food outside, but when you do it's more classy, then this place is for you (I actually don't eat overpriced Asian food outside, probably just once or twice a year).

food spread

Food came out pretty quickly once we ordered, even though it was quite busy during sunset.

Chilli salt chicken wings-$16.50

Nicely deep fried without the chicken being dry. The dipping sauce was a bit chilli for me, but the chilli salt was ok and I could appreciate the chilli in it.

Pad seuw of braised wagyu beef, gai laan, rice noodles, crispy shallots-$26.50

A friend described the noodles as 'biting into pillow of clouds.' It's definitely not your typical pad seuw, as the rice noodles are rolled up, reminded me of 'hor fun' in Chinese dim sum where it's either steamed or pan fried and served with hoisin or peanut butter sauce. This dish is a lot more refine, and the rice noodles were indeed quite soft, and so was the beef, but just wished there was more. The sauce wasn't too heavy or sweet, and balanced well with some greens. 

Pad thai noodles, chicken, peanuts, dried shrimp, bean sprouts-$25.50

Pad thai is my go to thai dish to compare to other pad thai dishes. This one isn't as oily or overly sweet as other pad thai's with just a tad bit of spiciness, and a good amount of freshness from the bean sprouts. Could have more chicken and noodles (or maybe it was just too nice and I wanted a bigger portion, even though I was already full to begin with).

Massaman curry of coconut braised beef, kindler potatoes, nuts, fried shallots-$29.50

Curry was really fragrant with a ton of spices. Curry wasn't overly creamy or oily either. The beef pulled apart easily and there were decent chunks of meat in it. It comes with one rice, but we ordered another one ($5) to share. 

Char grilled pork rib eye, oyster mushroom, holy basil-$29.50

Pork was quite tender and fell off the bone. Loved the char grilled flavour in it. Would have appreciated it more if there was a bit less chilli in it. Actually, I think I could've had more but didn't want to be drinking so much water afterwards before a car trip back to Sydney since the chilli wasn't crazily burning (unlike the instant fire noodles lol).

Traditional thai red tea served over ice with coconut condensed milk-$6

This is probably the first thai tea I've had which isn't sweet. The coconut condensed milk sounded sweet, but gave it just the right hint of sweetness and coconut flavour, while still letting the flavour of the tea come through.

such a cute bunny

open kitchen

Apparently the Sydney Chin Chin which opened this week is even bigger and has a lot more dishes. Hope to try it sometime to see if it's any different compared to Melbourne.

The good thing about working on Sundays is hearing stories from diff optoms. The bad thing is you're by yourself and people are all waiting because they almost always all come in at the same time. One year later, the over-achieving optom was rostered again at our store. Surprisingly he remembered me/what year I was supposed to be. It's actually quite inspiring listening to their goals/ambitions, something that I know I won't have the brains or passion to pursue. Worked 2ish years after doing optom, then decided to study med, just finished his MD at USYD with the infamous one liner email saying 'satisfactory'. Then another year on intern then 2 years as a registrar, and aims to be some senior registrar and do a Masters/PhD before even applying to become a fellow to become an opthal. I didn't realise how competitive being an opthal is, 5-7 places each year out of 5000 applicants (all who are obviously doctors, and we all know doctors are smart or else you wouldn't have studied med). That is some crazy competition. The pay is great as an opthal, more money than I would even imagine. $600k to even $1.5mil per year, and apparently opthal is a desired specialty since it's a lot more chill/have a life compared to something like surgery where you're under the pump every minute of your life trying to save someone's life and all those emergencies and bad working hours. Apparently other desired specialities are dermatologist, anaesthetist and radiologist.

So, me being calculative, asked him how long he had to go if everything went to plan, by the time he built his CV and finally became a fellow for opthal etc etc, and it's another 12 years of study. He's already 12 years out of high school. So essentially, 24 years of study (or 36 including high school), then you are an opthal in your 40s, then pretty much just work like 10 years, retire early, then use that money for retirement. Then when you think about it, it's a lot of hard work to get to that stage. I think I'm more yolo and just enjoy life while I have time and not that much money, because experiences are different from when you're young compared to when you're older and have more money. His partner who he met during uni did a Masters in Shanghai, and now doing some optom/opthal stuff there. But credits to him for his goals. I have met other optoms studying med who want to become opthals.

It's also sad how the whole supply and demand things work. 5 years ago, you can pretty much choose your jobs and get good pay as a new grad in a metro job around $85k (with inflation, this amount probs is more today). Nowadays, Newcastle/Wollongong isn't even considered that rural, and you have to go even further out to get similar amount of pay, or really, more rural more pay. Gone are the days when you can select jobs, although one or two friends said they have a few offered, but next year with a larger cohort, that ain't gonna happen. Most optoms I've talked to who moved rural said it was because of the pay, which has decreased for graduates now compared to when they graduated 5+ years ago... Then again, for me, I think pay isn't really the driving factor and if I think I would prefer less pay, less/no rural, but then you don't have as much experience. Oh well, have an extra year to figure out these sort of things.