The Butcher's Block

This is the 'it' cafe for locals in this area, and I was finally in the area to try this cafe out,

We arrived at around 12pm, and got a seat out at the back without waiting. We came out at around 1.30ish, and there were heaps of people waiting, but mainly families waiting for the big tables since it was school holidays.

Entrance looks small...

It's actually a narrow but long cafe and quite a lot of seating. The tables aren't too squished together. They actually grow some chillies, some veges and fruits around their garden wall.

menu (the menu online doesn't have prices...)

drinks

large capp: $4

Marsala chai (spicy): $6

We expected the food to be expensive here, since this is in the north after all. It's similar toWild Pear Cafe in Dural where the prices are at least $20 and average $25, whereas in the city you can get a decent dish for around $15. Surprisingly the drinks are quite cheap in comparison t6o the food (and relative to other cafes haha). You can get a smoothie for $6.50 and it looks quite big and they have at least 4 flavours. I decided to get the chai this time since I saw the person next to me ordered it, and it looked quite cute. It comes out on a wooden board, the milk is already added into the tea, and there's around 2 cups from it. First cup I didn't let it soak in the spices for longer, second cup I poured definitely was more flavourful. Loved all the spices here. They also put a dash of honey into your cup beforehand.

No coffee art here for this capp, and the coffee was more on the weak side and not as much froth. It was quite hot as well and may be slightly burnt (I prefer my coffee not too hot, more of the drinking temp hot). Hot water here cost $2, the most expensive by far. In The Rocks, almost all restaurants/cafe charge $1 for hot water, so $2 is pretty ridiculous. Pretty sure they want you to just spend that extra $1.50 for a regular coffee...

foood

The Butcher's Burger: beef brisket, wagyu beef mince, jack cheese, onion rings, smokey bbq sauce, fries-$20

the meat!

Almost every table ordered the burger (or the quinoa salmon salad), so it looked like it's a must try, and so glad we ordered it. The meat had so much flavour. Liked how they use different cuts of beef here. The cheese used reminded me of American burgers...Onion rings sounded cool in a burger, but they weren't that special. Probably would have like a little bit of salad to lighten the burger. The fries weren't that great and there wasn't any sauce/aioli (ended up dipping it in the leftover pasta sauce and it was delish). The chips were kind of flat and slightly hollow. Our batch was more on the borwn side compared to other people which were golden brown.

Crab, lobster and prawn pasta: capellini pasta, fresh herbs, saffron, cream-$29

Probably one of the best pasta's I've had, and for a cafe, this is definitely good quality. It did take a little longer to come out, but I guess it's expected. The night before someone was cooking lobster on Masterchef, and then I had a lobster craving especially since I haven't had lobster in ages. Was going to get the lobster tail and in hindsight glad I didn't since it was quite a small bread roll and lobster tail. Pretty sure they use the rest of the lobster for this dish, as there were heaps of generous pieces of juicy lobster scattered throughout. There was actually less crab and prawn...so yes, well worth your money. Pasta was cooked al dente (: Seems expensive for cafe food, but in restaurants, a pasta is normally over $25+. Saffron the most expensive spice in the world, and loved how it added a sweetness to the sauce. 

The pasta was definitely a lot more worth compared to the $33 crispy skin smoked salmon. Yes, crispy skin is hard to perfect, but looking over at the table next to us, the salmon was tiny, smaller than Devon Cafe's Breakfast with the Sakuma's and more expensive as well. The salmon was only accompanied with salad and nothing else.

So if you're ever in this area up north, make it your lunch location (:

MYC 2015-The God who is

Another massive week of 5 days looking deep into God's word. Before I start off with the main points from this year, looking back at last year's post, and I can see some things did change (:

This year wasn't as controversial as last year's mid year conference. Definitely learnt new things, but it was more reinforcing things I knew.

Some of the main points I took away/learnt this year:
- Propitiation: Old Testament sacrifice of atonement->2 warring parties be at one relationship
- we are propitiated by Christ: we can be sure God is no longer angry at us even with all the sin in this world, don't have to pretend we aren't sinners
- Expiation: emphasises the removal of guilt through a payment to pay the penalty
- God chose not to save Jesus on the cross->Jesus endured God's wrath
- The resurrection of Jesus is an assurance that judgement day is fixed and is coming
- World keeps looking more broken, but God 's plan to fix the world is already underway, through His word and the Spirit.
- When we abide in God, God will abide in us
- Share the gospel to glorify God

Many of these points probably don't make sense to most of you...but it's just for my personal reflection if/when I look back into past post...

Some more food for thought:
- Realising how gospel rich Australia is. Anyone one of us knows more stuff about the Bible compared to cities/states like Germany, where only the missionary there knows stuff, but not enough people there to teach others...
- Many countries like Zimbabwe and Singapore are actually prosperity churches, meaning that if you believe, you'll become rich and wealthy and have everything you prayed about....but it's not how it works...
- Doctors/optom examples, working in good paying jobs but then dropping that for full time ministry. wow. The guy was like people go on medical missions to help sick people overseas, but people are so desperate for temporary medical health that telling them about the gospel never actually happens even though that actually will heal you in the long term. do good to only maintain the world as best we can, but there will be a day that this world is destroyed, may or may not be in our lifetime...
- but it's still possible to work overseas in gospel-deprived countries, and even helping with the super churches over there...hmm...just in some countries, optom is an illegal career...
- Predestination: God ultimately chooses us before we choose Him, but how does a none Christian know that God will never choose you? We also have the ultimate power to turn away, even for Christians...still don't get this stuff =/

other stuff was things I knew already...

camp food there was pretty decent last year, and it has improved this year (: was continuously eating those few days: breakfast, morning tea, snacking during seminars, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper, midnight snacks...repeat 5 times...definitely can gain weight during this week, even if every day I have to walk 30min to and from my room to the main hall/rooms...the extra $50 was totally worth ensuiting. I think once you experience the 'en-suite life' it's hard to go back to the 'dorming life'

finally visited the alpacas this year. 

people have such fun board games for free time 

literally had tears of happiness last Monday night. first things i checked were any UF or FL. going to the next semester of optom you have to pass all components in each subject...I've always known and believed that it is by God's wisdom and grace that I have passed...even though I do try hard, it is God who's given me the ability to study (not sure if this makes sense...hard to type my thoughts about this down...) actually feeling so heartbroken for those who couldn't make it...

Orto Trading Co.

To finish off a productive day in the city of watching a movie and asking locations for an event, I decided to finally try out this cafe. The cafe is under some residential buildings, but it does have a high roof and lots of natural light coming through, and they also have heaps of seating outside. Inside the cafe the tables are quite big, but the cafe itself isn't really spacious. Make sure to bring your sunnies, even if you're sitting on the inside, since the sun does come into your eyes.

We came here at 2pm (a late lunch) and there was still quite a few people here, luckily the kitchen closes at 3 so we didn't have to make a quick decision on what to eat. The food here tends to be more English with a modern Australian twist.

love their decor of flowers hanging down

winter menu

drinks with a view (:

large cap: $4, mixed berry smoothie: $7

Coffee was average. Decided to get a smoothie since it was quite a warm winter's afternoon. I know I can make the same thing at home, but you'll need to go out and buy milk, yoghurt which I probably won't finish before the expiry date, then wash up your blender etc (ie. a lot of effort). The other flavour was banana, so decided to get mixed berries. The portion is actually very large for this price (compared to The Grounds now, where it's similarly priced but in cute milk glass bottles, and visibly smaller portion). The smoothie here is yoghurt based, more towards the thick side and not too sweet.

3 dishes between 2 :)

Scotch egg with salt cod and piccalilli-$12

A few weeks ago on MasterChef, I watched Rose make (very burnt) Scotch egg and realised I've never had this before. Loved the golden colour on this and the crunch. However, the egg wasn't really runny which was a disappointment, only a tad bit runny. The herbs made it more refreshing from that deep fried crust, and the pickles helped to calso helped to cut down on the oily flavour from the deep fried egg. 

hash 2.0 with birkshire ham, tomato, avocado, rocket, lemon, asparagus, poached egg (gf)-$16

Looking at photos, the previous hash version was more of a stack, it looked taller but smaller at the same time. The potato was a big piece of hasbrown (I think) hidden under the rockey. This newer version makes it seem more generous with scattered bits of tomatoes to brighten the dish up and piped avocado with lemon. The deep fried potatoes were very oily unfortunately. There was a decent serving of ham as well hidden under all the other toppings. Wasn't expecting much from this dish, but it surprisingly tied together really well.

look at that running yolk!

Gnocchi with pine mushroom, cropwell bishop blue cheese, fennel jam, red elk-$19

Haven't had gnocchi in ages. I love how cafes these days puts more love into vegetarian dishes. This dish was very flavourful with the strong blue cheese. Also can't go wrong with big slices of mushroom.  The gnocchi itself was soft which contrasted well with the crunch from the hazelnuts.

Afternoon was spent well.

sometimes it's the small things which make you happy. i can't believe it's taken me almost two years to find another section in the car park which doesn't have a 3hr parking limit. now i don't have to park on the streets and it's closer to walk from that spot to work.

still really happy for Happy Apple and all the perseverance of emailing and contacting people. also, i really like collecting my points, so after emailing 3/4 times, the movie people finally gave me my 125 points instead of 50.

not sure what to expect from this year's MYC. even though I love the cold, I have a feeling it's going to be close to zero degrees up north...should start packing soon

this week has literally been eat, eat, work, work. i actually quite like the balance of working then catching up with people.

so jelly of all those people in Europe-esp people watching Wimbledon! yay, Feds in the finals! but have to wake up early that day so won't be able to stay up to watch it =/

i thought the aussie dollar went down, quite a few people went Europe last year, but a lot more are going this year. seeing my cousin's photos of the Italy, France and Switzerland border-that view is on point. she's doing Europe a bit differently, as they're driving to places all over Europe, from 4 to 11 hour car trips. i guess it's those places which aren't full of the usual tourist, but filled with superb scenery that are only accessible by car or maybe a bus tour and not by public transport. swimming at the bottom in between two snow capped mountains looks so serene and peaceful! i guess if I was to go Europe for the first time, I would go to the typical touristy places...just need to find the time (and money) to travel first...

probably won't get my post on Sweets Street until after I get back

The Missing Piece

Apparently this place is related to The Vogue Cafe, but not as nice/well known. This cafe was actually one of my first times having brunch inside a busy shopping centre without the cafe having its own space rather, it's out in the open and you're looking down onto different levels of the shops with natural sky lighting. There's a few in Castle Towers which are all out in the open, but stuff there is more on the pricey side...There's a lot of tables, but each table is very small and quite close to the table next to you, and the three of us aren't particularly tall either, so don't expect heaps of 'eating space' especially during lunch time.

We got there around 12.30pm, and there were already queues forming, and even when we finished at around 2, there were still some lines.

menu. They have pretty weird names, so you do have to read the descriptions

drinks

double O!: oreos, oval tine, nutella and maltesers milkshake: $9.50

iced tea: black tea with pomegranate, blackberries, strawberries, mint: $7

(regular lattes are $3.50, but I didn't get a chance to try it)

The milkshake is definitely expensive for a cafe, but it was that week's special, so we decided to get it. It's definitely not as thick compared to the Nutella milkshake from tThe Vogue Cafe which you actually have to put in some effort to drink it through the straw...This one was a very drinkable without being to thick or runny. I'm not a massive chocolate fan, so even though it's piled with chocolate toppings on top, the actual drink wasn't too decadent/rich.

close up

When the iced tea came out, everyone around me asked me what drink I ordered (even when I half finished it and new people sat on the table next to us, it still looked pretty, and people still asked what was in it). This was super nice, loved how they put lots of berries there, and the drinks was super refreshing. Not artificially sweet and balanced well with the sourness of some of the berries. They did use a mixture of frozen and fresh berries. Loved the sugar rim as well (looks pretty but doesn't really do anything else, I've always wondered how they wash these glasses...)

foood

Smashin and smokin: smashed avo served on toasted soy/linseed sourdough, topped w/ marinated wood-smoked salmon, lime and olive oil

Would have preferred the salmon the be more smoked, but loved the addition of the lime to give it some more freshness. The bread's crust was slightly harder to cut through and not toasted enough to have crunchy-ish toast. The olive oil made it slightly messy if you picked up the toast with your hands...

Air: confit duck fillet tossed with buckwheat, beetroot, baby spinach, rocket, parsley, walnut, chick peas and orange-$19

Definitely are favourite dish here. This dish is so generous with the amount of duck and other toppings in the salad, I would definitely recommend. Duck isn't a cheap protein, and to have a whole duck fillet with heaps of other stuff is pretty generous. The dish is actually a bowl which is quite deep rather than a plate of salad. The duck isn't too heavily seasoned, and the salad is super fresh with the orange segments. Loved the buckwheat and chickpeas to make to even healthier and make you feel full, plus the walnuts for a crunchy element. The balance of everything was so delicious.

Hashtag Sliders: slow cooked lamb, jalapeño mayo and rocket, with polenta blocks

I didn't understand why they called it "hashtag sliders" until I saw the dish, because it was literally hashtag sliders. The polenta chips form a hash sign, then you have your normal trio of sliders. They are a bit on the small side for sliders. I wanted to try the lamb even though there was jalepeno mayo which was definitely spicy, but luckily I ordered some drinks to help with the spiciness. It was a nice spiciness even though I can really eat spicy stuff. Loved this sprinkle of rosemary on the polenta chips. They did forget this order for us until we asked them, but it didn't really matter since the table was too small to fit 3 dishes and 3 drinks.

Didn't expect so much good food from a cafe with a small kitchen next to UniQlo. Have to give credit for the staff for bringing the dish from the kitchen to the cafe on the other side of the busy walkway.

Fujipan Japanese Bakery

Decided to come here after an exam one time to try out their soft serve, since I had to wait for their bus. The bakery itself is quite small and quite dim (the optom in me is judging their lighting conditions). Coming to a bakery to not have baked goods but ice cream, hehe. It looked smaller in photos than irl, but once you actually start eating it, it's actually surprisingly filling for a snack. Generally, their soft serve is definitely a lot more icy compared to the other ones around. Less creamy and a lot more colder when you eat it, luckily it doesn't have watery icy bits in it.

black sesame-$2.90

Super strong black sesame flavour, with a little bit of sweetness. Waffle cone was nice and crunchy.

green tea-$2.90

Again, a super strong hit of green tea-it's actually bitter, even the colour is quite a strong green. Can definitely taste the green tea and not much sweetness, so probably people who like their ice cream sweet it's not the best. I actually don't mind sweet stuff, but when it comes to green tea/matcha, I love the full flavour of it without the sugar.

Didn't feel like Asian bread on both occasions, but I wouldn't mind coming back for thirds of their ice cream if I have a craving for Asian flavoured soft serves.

Glee

finished the last season of glee ever in just a few days. watched almost all the episodes since the first one in 2009. at first i thought it was weird how people suddenly broke into dance and songs, and how unrealistic everything is when they say they have no money but normal songs have heaps of costumes and a band etc. really loved Lea Michele's singing and acting. loved how they took all these popular and also not well known songs and put their spin on it. after Cory Montieth died two years ago, it thought they would kill glee straightaway, but they did manage to drag it out a bit more for two years. thought they wrapped up things nicely for the last episode :) yay, one less show to follow. can't watch these things during uni...

today the whole shopping centre blacked out, including the telephone lines, so no one had any electricity except for woolies who had their own emergency back up supply so they could keep their business running. we were actually doing alright at work, but we couldn't call people to tell them that there wasn't any electricity since all the info is stored on computers...can't process anything at all, not even do any eye exams etc. you don't realise how essential electricity is until it goes away. i wonder what happened to all the meats from the butcheries, cakes, ice creams etc...luckily it wasn't summer or everything would just melt...like you're already losing business since you can't sell anything but then also losing your products/stock would be so bad...sat in the dark for over an hour until they evacuated the centre since the emergency light/electricity supply was going to run out. made the most of my afternoon finally baking some scones which i have literally been wanting to make since last year July holidays, but haven't been able to find the time.