waking up before 6 the whole week for five 8am starts aren't fun, and neither are 8am exams, but early starts does mean i get to avoid peak hour traffic and get to uni in less than 1.5 hours...just 4/5/6pm finishes always take over 2 hours to get home...

decided to let myself fully sleep in until 11am today, catching up on sleep. i've never watched eurovision, but watched some cause of dami. her performance and dress was pretty amazing, then started listening to other people. Russia's song and production was pretty cool as well. I love how big the stadium there is with the amazing sets/lights/technology/sound Aus will never be able to afford/have since we're still not that great internationally in singing.

quite unproductive day today...study harder next week, when i finally get my first patient and it's going to be marked.

Jonga Jip

I've been wanting to go to this place for ages, particularly for their side dishes, and finally found some time after mid sem exams to go with the fam for lunch. I was a pretty warm/hot day, so didn't got for kbbq (something for next time).

12 side dishes!

Really loved the black sesame sauce on the lettuce (first time having it), the sweet/spicy-ish tofu (?) thing and the potatoes (: I'm not knowledgable at all on Korean cuisine, but all the side dishes were super delicious! Obviously the prices of the dishes are a little bit more than normal to reflect the generous amount of sides. I try not to refill too much in case they don't like it...

Seafood Pancake-$20

Love the size of this, and heaps of topping inside as well. {pretty good price and really well cooked. They cut this in front of you as well, so well sized pieces to grab with your chopsticks and fits into your bowl. It wasn't fried too dark/black on the bottom which is a plus since I associate black/super burnt food=cancerous stuff. The pancake dipping sauce had a slight chilli kick, I prefer the sweeter sauce to dip the pancake into it. 

Large Sweet Potato Noodles-$35

Didn't look that big when it came, but you could get at least 6 filled bowls of this when you split it up. It could have been more seasoned, and have more beef in it, but it was still really good.

Bulgogi-$15

Nice and sizzling when it came out. Would have preferred more of the marinade and beef in this dish. There were heaps of veggies especially onion under it. It came with rice and miso soup as well.

Definitely will be back for the sides and hopefully go kbbq to try more of their meats.

i don't know whether to laugh or to cry. the timetable went up today, and i was meant to be put on dispensing. i think she just ceebs and copy and pasted the timetable from rotation 1 for the 2nd and 3rd group, but did it properly for the first group (before she got sick). which means i would have 6 dispensing but only 5 patients, compared to other people have had up to 10 patients but 2 dispensing.

ended up buying an expensive cake and cookie from Made Syd by Bakedown Cakery (who is also a home baker but now has a shop to sell stuff). Ceebs uploading photos...maybe later...need to study...

today was a pretty bad day. missed my normal bus by like a min even though i arrived there on time. it said it was 1min late but turns out 1min early. so normally even if i catch the later bus i'll just be around 15mins late to my 8am class. next minute, car crash on the m2 and it wasn't even 7am, and arrived in city around 8am. buses to uni after 8am are always late and packed, so normal 19min bus ride ends up being 35min, and doesn't help with the new construction road work on.

rotation 2 started this week, and it was a full clinic this morning, but what a coincidence. the clinic manager was sick from yday so didn't upload the new timetable for room allocations. the clinic business manager said to just go back to your rotation 1 rooms. i was on dispensing in the first week, which meant i didn't get to see a patient even though 99% sure that it wasn't my turn to dispense. i've already dispensed 4 allocated slots plus extra dispensing last rotation, now i've had 5 dispensing, which could have been used for practicing like other people have done. i've had more dispensing sessions than i've seen actual patients. people in other groups have seen around 8 patients and only 2 dispenses. how anti climatic. my mind was all set seeing a patient today and even studied stuff to prep myself last night and not studying for fridays test.

than today lec ended up 5.30, but took 50min to get from upper campus to town hall. normal it takes max 30min. sooo much traffic. then again, the bus was 1min early, so had to wait 20min for the next bus. yday traffic was so good, left uni at around 5:45 got back home ay 7:15pm. today left uni at 5.30 got home at 7.45pm. go figure.

finally paid a bit for a boost using the buy one get one free voucher. i've played that game for around a month now (stopped a week ago), and the last 2 weeks was just either $3 off or the get 1 free voucher, which i never used and they all expired...except for this one...had to get a boost since i still remember the horrid taste of a protein shake.

Blaq Piq

Some things are just better not shared, and I think these pancakes are better if you have them all to yourself! Been wanting to come here since summer last year, but haven't had time until recently for a spontaneous brunch. The daily specials sounded good on paper, but really I was just here for the pancakes. Couldn't decide which photos to upload, so just put them all here.

Pandan buttermilk pancakes w/ coconut ice cream, fresh berries, nata de coco, pecan crumble, salted coconut sugar syrup-$16

flower

the never ending sauce

vibrant green inside

The pancakes were so good! Loved the fragrant pandan smell, and not overpowering flavour. The pancakes weren't really fluffly or thick so could've had more buttermilk, but they weren't too dense either. The other standout was the coconut ice cream-so much creamy coconut flavour in that scoop. If I could buy a tub of that stuff I would. Not sure if they made it themselves since the texture was kind of similar to stuff from tubs, but even if they did source it from somewhere, I'll still buy a tub. I also loved those jelly like things which are kind of flavourless, but the chewiness in them is fun. The syrup was really nice as well. Initially salty then you have the sweet-ish coconut after taste. I kept pouring it for almost every bite, but still had some syrup left at the end. Don't add too much since it does become syrupy and sweet, but a little bit at time time gives it a nice saltiness and balance. Fruits were fresh raspberries, strawberries and grapes, and who doesn't love edible flavours sprinkled on top. There was also crunchiness from the granola as well.

It took over 15min for this to come out even though ti wasn't very busy, but all the textures and flavours balanced perfectly. Can't comment on the savoury dishes or coffee, but definitely come here to try the pancakes (:

Rotation 1

This week has been both slow and fast. From 7hr breaks on Mon, and 8hr breaks on Wed, I've felt like I've done nothing all week (except eat and get fat). Over a month of not getting a full consult, I was way too flustered yday after finally getting a px and running way overtime...last practice before we start getting marked next week. So not ready, but need to pick myself up and not be so disappointed at the feeling of failure...

This sem isn't too stressful in terms of content since last 2 years was when we learnt all the diseases, and most of the clinical skills, but the most stressful part is before when you 'mentally' prep and when a supervisor comes in to watch you. Well, not more night clinic for 8 wks! Don't have to bring breakfast, lunch a dinner and ration out of my food for the day. Not ready for rotation 2, still feel I'm llacking in my clinical skills...

Met up with Dandelion earlier this week and finally visited her work place! Yay for catch ups (: Next time will try to catch up over soups for lunch lol. Her work place is just as cool as she described. And wow-so much food and drinks for the employees-you do wonder is it even possible to try everything/every flavour there during your career, with also heaps of places to eat in the city. Thanks for the ice cream, hehe. I think if I worked there with so much free food I would actually get fat especially just sitting at a desk...Everything there looks so fun as well. I still fail at claw machine...hence I've never paid to try...Love how her workplace really values their employees. #workgoals.

compared to my current job where they reduced the pay by 20%...and also family and friends discounts aren't that great either now and only lasts for a wk. I didn't even get my vouchers sent to my email ): they used to have vouchers valid for 3 mths, guess not anymore since we're not profiting as much=/

Pasta at Loft 1 Cafe-$16

Pasta was cooked al dente and decent bits of meat inside. Tomato not overly seasoned and tomatoey (I prefer cream pastas over tomato even though it's less healthy). It wasn't really big, but I guess it's a good portion for the price.

Also watched Captain America Civil War (with my bro for once) on Thursday. I really liked it, but too bad Iron Man lost (well obviously since it's titled Captain America). I prefer Iron Man's gadgets. Also went to the T2 event earlier, I sampled heaps of tea and their new biscuits. I found that they didn't have enough tea infused or the flavour the packaging says. Most are soft except for the macadamia one, and they aren't that sweet either. Personally wouldn't buy a packet for $12 with only 10-12 in each pack.

Therapeutics lectures not uploaded this week again. She's like 3 weeks behind, and I bet everything is going to be uploaded during stuvac. This impending stress is coming.

Yep, pretty much going out to eat, events and movies instead of studying for the test next week. 

Dee Why Hotel

Dee Why is one of the places where you won't go unless you have to. Was at Curl Curl earlier in the morning for uni, which meant going to this place for lunch was perfect to satisfy my burger cravings, especially after hearing a lot about this place. 

The Famous Trufflenator: double wagyu beef patty, truffle mayo, truffle butter, truffle infused provolone, truffle maple syrup, bacon, American cheddar, onion rings, Japanese milk bun-$18.50 plus truffle pecorino chip-$4.50 (free for Fatties i.e. fb member of the Fatties Burger Appreciation Society)

General Sanders: 12 hour brined chicken, 50-50 buttermilk/hot sauce marinade, old bay crumbed and fried, million dollar bacon, American cheddar, pickled celery, Westmont ghost chilli dill pickles, jalapeno Mayo, dirty south sauce, Japanese milk bun-$18.50

look at that height

burgerrrrrs

nice and pink

counter

Personally I think this place is over hyped, and possibly inconsistent, if so many people have said it was good, yet many reviews said it was average. My burger wasn't stacked as high as my friend's, although it was still too big to fit into my mouth, so ended using a knife/fork. With 'truffle' being mentioned so many times in the description, I was hoping for a massive truffle hit since I love my truffles. Obviously they used truffle oil and not actual truffles since I didn't see or taste much either. It was salty goodness with heaps of sauce, but the truffle in the mayo and cheese was subtle. There was probably too much sauce as well. The bacon could have been crispier, and the meat was well cooked and seasoned but could also have been juicer. Onion rings were on the soggy side. The bun was soft and sweet which helped balance all the saltiness. 

Maybe since I've exposed my tastebuds to real truffle that I love a strong truffle flavour and it's harder for me to detect truffle oil flavoured stuff...I know some people hate that truffle flavour since it's an acquired taste, but found this burger to have just enough truffle for them without hating the burger.

The chips were super delicious, and a lot better than what I was expecting. Super delicious flavour from the cheese and there was more truffle flavour in it. Chips had some crunch and still soft on the inside. I normally hate wasting food, but with all this salt and fat, I really couldn't finish some of the bun and half of the chips. Super filling even for me (and I can eat a lot). Didn't have much to eat for dinner since I was so full from this...Had some of the chicken burger and the meat was moist and skin was definitely crunchy. 

I guess the burgers here is something to try if you're in the area, but not worth the trek up from wherever you live. The truffle pecorino chips are worth trying though!