Cheesecake Kind of Day ft. Zest Take 10+

food makes me happy (:

cake makes me happy (and fat). cheesecake isn't really the carby type of cake i was craving (again), but it's good enough, and lighter, so i don't feel as guilty (:

cake of the day and coffee-$6.50 gluten free lemon lime cheesecake with chai latte

you're probably thinking-why is Elisa spending money even though she's always raving about saving money? well i didn't buy it-work allowed me to choose something for morning tea (: (well by the time i had it, it was arvo tea).

my last 5 or 6 birthday cakes were from my local patisserie-zest patisserie. same with my family, although last year we tried other places like zumbo's cakes (: did i mention there was another period where i had michel's patisserie mud cakes for a few years? i used to think that was nice (back in primary school), but after primary, i just started to not like it since it was so dense and sweet, and no techniques involved. so whenever someone has a cake from there for their birthday and says the cake is good-i keep my mouth shut. don't want to hurt the birthday girl/boy's feelings on choosing a boring mud cake. 

this cheesecake was so good (: not sweet, so light, and just enough cream cheese without making it feel like you're putting on heaps of fat. the jelly on top gave it more acidity, and the base felt butter less (well, you couldn't taste the butter which is good) and the flaked almonds gave it some texture (:

the chai latte-oh damn, so good. it's my first time having chai there, used to get just hot choc and coffees (not supposed to have spices/milk atm but today was cheat day...). they used Chai Me organic infusion (plus one for organic) , so the flavours was so prominent without it being sweet. so flavourful (: and well incorporated spices and not just cinnamon sprinkled on top. oh how i've missed a good chai. the ones at uni suck compared to this one. at uni they either mix it in with the mix so it just sinks to the bottom, or they just sprinkle it on top of the foam, and it gets stuck to the lid. and uni only gives you cinnamon instead of the whole lot of spices. this latte was also frothed so well. and you could choose between small and medium for the same price, so being asian ofc i went for the bigger option (: yum, yum, yum

japanese cheesecake

someone gave it to us. haven't had this in so long! since i was still kinda craving carboy cake, i guess this has some flour, but in more minimal portions. this is a different type of lightness compared to the other cheesecake, but it's just as nice (: this is on my list to make in the hols...didn't take photo with flash (i have yet to take a photo with flash on my iPhone...), it's just the light reflecting off it. 

and i spent some time admiring it instead of studying...

it's taken me almost 20 years to realise the necessity and usefulness of a watch. i used to never wear watches when i was young, since 1. they were crap 2. couldn't adjust it for my small wrist 3. cheap watches always ran out of batteries quickly 4. they were ugly cheap watches, hence i stored them at the back of a cupboard somewhere...

but for uni, in particular in this semester, you need to discreetly time yourself, since you have get a set time limit to conduct your prac exams. also, during prac classes, i like my fair share of a turn, so i make sure half the allocated time is for me to also practice (the clock in the room is behind this column thing/in the dark and hard to see...) then there' the whole timing myself to walk to the bus stop/make it home asap. some watches are so nice these days (: have an idea of what to get later this year (: overseas always have nice stuff...

my great uncle owns a jewellery, but the watches there are the timeless classics like rolex etc. on average are a few thousands. i think those watches are for when you're retired/working really later in your life...

Patisson Patisserie-Macarons

this week has been...horrible, and it's only going to get worse D= long post today (even though i don't have time...)

dispensing prac was horrible. doing it isn't hard, and they gave more time than i think they would, but i don't know how accurate my measurements are, and it's, so, so subjective! like you push they're glasses slightly, and that's a few cm differences, and even though they didn't state any tolerances, i'm pretty sure it's 0.5mm. my answers varied so much. also, got these frame which were harder to measure, and then this other one with the same power in both lenses. not sure it actually, or they're trying to trick us, because it's rare for people to have the same power in both eyes...

last year there was two full pages of names just for the dispensing prac, which a component in 1/3 of the subject strand. so, basically half the grade last year was re-tested. i will be so happy to get a supplementary, i don't want to fail the subject because of the "easier" strand. it probably doesn't make sense to you guys...the theory behind it isn't hard-it's just hard to be precise!

for the whole week i've been running on 6 hours of sleep, except the night before the prac exam (had 6.5...). wow, did not think i was capable on running with minimal hours of sleep (quite minimal for me, compared to hold where i sleep in for 10+hours). sunday's i try not to sleep in, but i have to, to make up for the lost sleep during the week and "re-charge"

i had a 3 hour break on Wed as well, but i decided to not get free chur burgers to finish off my assignment. i couldn't be bothered to make it perfect, i know it's missing some stuff, but the amount of time/weighting isn't worth my time, and i've already spent so much time on it.

need to study anat for next week after almost failing the first one...apparently according to the school of optom, we're not allowed to have assessment >20% in the last week of semester. but since anat is run by medicine, we still have a 25% test next week. our person in charge complained to that guy, but there's not much you can do when you've already set everything/the course structure hasn't changed...

also Tracy, you'll probably be disgusted to know. our physiology lecturer (and phsl is part of medicine) was talking about something, and he said for an experiment he cut off some live ducks head from the farm next door and watched them flapping around with headless bodies and blood dripping everywhere for an experiment of some sort D= that's pretty cruel

highlight of the week was last night-macarons!

eating dinner at a crazy time last night-9.30pm...dad came back and brought home macarons! ok, truth be told, he would never buy anything like this, nor would i want him to waste money of this stuff unless i really, really, really want it. someone gave it to him, but then my dad gave them to me. it's ben a while since i've had macarons! the other day i was thinking i needed photos to brighten up my blog, since it's been drained with me rambling and complaining and stressing (sorry)

sah colourful (:

not going to go into details here, but these ones had really good texture. crisp shell, and slightly chewy inside, with a nice ganache or buttercream. the main thing was that the flavour wasn't prominent, especially compared to zumbarons. like the green one, all i tasted was sugar, but it was supposed to be pistachio, the strawberry ones tasted a bit like artificial strawberries, and couldn't really tell what the purple one was. the red velvet tasted like it's name, and so did the chocolate one (you can't really go wrong with chocolate, even though i'm no supposed to have it...). there wasn't any salted caramel though...you can definitely tell they were handmade. 2 of the same flavours, but 2 completely different sizes...

this was from a while back.

sydney is good for it's environment and something sustainability, but it's a no brainer that our buildings aren't as pretty and our transport sucks. apparently if our transport improves, we could be 1st/2nd. 

when will winter come? this warm heat is kinda annoying. want to wear my winter clothes, especially my knits, since i couldn't really last year.

i haven't even been following master chef. only rewatched half of day's ep just to laugh at the blind tasting/eating with their hands.

my uncle is coming over next week, mainly because he wants to keep his platinum or whatever status so he can just fly random places when he feels like it...don't have time to go out to eat ))): and he's staying over for 2 nights at our home-during my precious stuvac time ): such a distraction to my study ): 

not time to go see vivid. the only part i see is when i'm on the harbour bridge, looking at the projections on the buildings and opera house (without sound ofc). i shall go to it by looking through (Dandelion's) photos. at martin place this year, they have this thing from intel where you "catch a butterfly" and you can get a free sundae/ice cream from messina's pop up stand. i want to see what it is, but too bad i only go to martin place during the day time =/

how to get free starbucks. i don't drink starbucks, well i would if i am a person who is rich enough to buy something everyday...the last time i had starbucks was in HK with a special Christmas gingerbread latter, but it was disappointing since it didn't have enough spices/flavour (and also hk milk generally isn't good).

also free Krispy Kremes next week. i remember getting my last year, and it was the 5 last one.

traffic was horrible last night. why do so many people bother to buy not-cheap tickets to watch the AFL? can't you watch it at home for free instead of causing so much traffic?

getting frustrated with my internet. also, tpg changed my $15 a month with 1.5 gb to $17 a month with only 1gb ))): at least i got a good year with cheap mobile internet. my bro's $10 plan also went up to $13. i guess they realised their service was really cheap after more people have joined...like for 1.5gb on other major companies, you'd have to pay about $60 per month. and if you want cheap plans, then you get only around 200mb, which is definitely not enough. personally, i think a smartphone it useless if you don't have mobile internet, or you have to restrict your usage. it's just restricting the functions of your phone when you're out and about, and point of smartphones is to give you to more usage of things.

the other thing that made my week was traffic today. got home in 1 hour 15mins (: (after a mad dash here and there. which i why it try to not wear nice shoes to uni, since running to trains/buses can potentially save you over half an hour). and even though i slept in today, still made it to uni on time, since our lecturer was 20min late....

so just after 10pm, the anatomy lecturer sent an email with a link to our mid sem results (from ages ago), and gg, it's a whole table filled with marks and student numbers. in our optm course, we have groups showing names and numbers, plus some friends know each other's numbers, so 100% no confidentiality. now everyone knows how dumb i am =/ i knew i blanked out in that test, but not that much...a bit over a week till the next anat spot test...

then we have  a3 page document on instructions for our optm2190 final (that subject with a million components) telling us everything about the exam without saying anything in the exam ): (lol, it's pretty amazing how they can do that without sounding like their waffling...) instructions include what we have to wear, to specifying which papers are coloured. for pracs, they connect some instruments to cameras, so you actually have to know what yore looking for and can't bluff that you see it...and only 24hours before do they announce which three days you have your prac exam. i can't deal with this stress=/ we know it's within 4 days, but which 4 days??you either have 4 consecutive days of exams, or 2 days with 2 exams on both days or 3days with 2 exams on 1 day and 1 exam on the other 2 days for the first week of exams. don't know which option i prefer, may the latter so i don't have to trek out to uni so much...idk... the reason they release it just before the test starts is so you don't have enough time to find your partner and examine them/memorise parts of what their eyes/features inside looks like...but still...i can't deal with surprise emails. like this one today at night-was not prepared for our marks to be put on display.

and i hope i get a partner with normal eyes, but then again, if they aren't normal, the examiners won't be as harsh on you...

when i joined the event yday, there were only around 200 people, now there's over 1k...line going to be so long, not sure if free chur burger is worth my time anymore...

but mini epiphany today! i realised when i was figuring stuff this week that i was using the wrong surface, hence completely wrong answers even though i knew how to do it before...don't know what i was thinking about the other day....

time limit for pracs are the most stressful (actually everything about an exam is stressful). it's just hard to be fast and accurate at the same time for me. if i want to be accurate, then i won't be as fast, but if i'm fast then my results aren't correct, and you only have minimal tolerances of 0.5mm (which is understandable, but under exam conditions, it's just hard to be fast and accurate)

free chur burgers next week.

it doesn't help, since i have an exam next week in the morning...i do normally have a three hour break on wednesdays (and some weeks 4 hours like today, but time goes by super quickly when you're practicing stuff).

it just hit me today. i am super, duper stressed. yday i knew what i was in for, but today my head is starting to hurt ): so i'm not sure after next week if i should "relax" and waste time getting a free burger since the line is going to be super long, or just study for the following week/finish assignments.

i don't know what's wrong with me. i think i'm over thinking everything. stuff i could do before, but now i don't know how to do, actually i know how to but keep getting wrong answers D= i think i need to be like the master chef contestants when you're under a lot of stress-take a deep breath. maybe i'm over thinking everything, or maybe it's the fact that i've been only getting less than 6 hours sleep for the past few days. not even studying...don't think i procrastinated...just trying to understand stuff and doing readings...need to sleep earlier today...

sometimes it's hard not to be jealous of people winning things. and also those people who just chill, skip lectures, don't do their homework etc, yet they do a lot better than you in tests. and sometimes i do wish i could cram, but in the long run, you can't cram a degree in a week.

why is this may so hot? apart from that week at the end of april with the cold front, i feel like i'm sweating in may. not looking forward to a hot winter. usually may is colder than july/august..it's just that i wear clothes that would last me throughout the day, so if the morning is cold i either survive the cold and wear thin stuff so during the midday i won't be so flustered, or during cold mornings i wear a thin jacket, but midday i feel so hot but ceebs carrying jacket...i know i've said this before, but can it just be hot or cold and not fluctuate over 10 degrees in a day?

this week is the calm before the storm.

next week big fat assignment due, dispensing prac exam which they did not give anything info about. a lot of our optom exams are like that. the date's in the course outline, but they don't tell you any other info about format, time limit etc. the stressful thing about dispensing is the 75% pass mark. if you don't get 75%, then you fail the strand which means you failed the subject even if you passed the other strands, which means you have to repeat 2nd year next year...also have VEC next week, i wished i was placed in an early week or next sem. it's basically 3 hours of taking care of primary school kids.

week 13 another anatomy spot test and 10 hours diagram due. btw, why do we have so many blodd vessels??? i was never good at drawing to begin with, but with a million lines to draw, i don't even know where to begin. at least my partner is willing to stay behind at uni to use the instruments.

then stuvac. but no, once again, i have an exam on the friday of stuvac. then a saturday exam, on the same day that i have my mid year concert. i don't even know if i can make it there on time ): then 5 exams in the following two weeks.

half of one of my subjects, so one of the papers, then half of that paper has a section which is open book. but gg, the questions are going to be near impossible.

yday in my tute, our lecturer (well in all my tutes/labs/pracs, the tutors etc are our lecturers), she brought some biscuits for us. so nice of her, even if it's just one biscuit each, but it's the first time where a lecture brought food for everyone, and not just the odd chocolate in the lecture room.

i just don't know how i'm going to study everything in time, let alone make the info sink in ):

they always put young chefs in the first week of immunity challenges.

can someone enlighten me on how the PayPal free coffee thing works tomorrow? like how do you know which coffee shops/cafes are participating? and do you have to order and pay for it first then paypal pays you back...? if there aren't any coffee places at martin place from when i cross the road on elizabeth st, the ceebs getting free coffee (not supposed to have it anyway...)

i wanted to go to sydney fashion weekend, going there to look around is only $5 i think. really want to see if there were any good bargains.

i think i over ate today...dad brought home some sushi from someone and i ate so much...

i really don't understand how all those tall/skinny fashion and food bloggers who eat so much, at least a few times out at cafes/restaurants are able to still keep so skinny...and if they're eating out all the time and still study, where do they get their money from? they must have a secret double life of work, or they have rich parents.

you always see it on master chef, and you also have it at western restaurants, but i want to try one day to cook my veggies in butter... (when my mum isn't home...)

so much stuff i want to make...

yay pay rise (: it's very minimal though, but at least it (hopefully) means i'm doing ok. i didn't even know i could get pay rises...

mum bought a cupcake carry case today (:

i've come to accept the fact that it would be nearly impossible to book a seat at The Fat Duck next year at Heston's 6 month restaurant. it only has 45 seats, and it's probably not open every day or every time during lunch/dinner. it opens in february, but i am sure only the elite in the culinary world would be able to get a booking within the first month and famous critics. the casino will most likely set aside some seats for their prestigious members/high rollers/gamblers. then the next break after feb would be a week in april, but everyone else also has an easter break, again the odds are not in my favour. then july break, but by then people go on holidays overseas etc, how will i find 3 other people who are willing to fork out a few hundred dollars for dinner? well i would for Heston, but i don't think anyone would. i say 3 because i was reading an article about if you book a table of 4 compared to 2 (which is the most popular reservation number), you'll have a slightly higher chance of getting a booking into the top restaurants in the world (ie. the one year+ waiting list for restaurants). this other article said the amount of people who want to go to Heston's restaurant in melbourne will far exceed the amount he can take in during the 6 months, and the waiting list will go until 2015, which by then it's not called The Fat Duck anymore, but changed it's name and a bigger restaurant called Dinner by Heston Blumenthal...

i think booking a table at Heston's would be even more stressful than UNSW timetables-and that in itself is already filled with mini heart-attacks. ):

Procrastibaking Take 1

i am pretty sure this is my first time baking during the semester since i started uni. i tend to not make/bake things during semester since it's a waste of time and i don't even have enough time to study to begin with since my timetable is jam packed, and travel to and from uni takes up so much time.

but i have been craving cake for over 2 weeks, and i can't study if i keep thinking about a particular type of food and i just had to have some cake to focus on studying/start on assignments. outside in normal cafes, a cheap-ish (which isn't cheap to me if you like to save money) slice of cake is around $5, a cake at woolies is also $5 but it's packed with icing/sugar, which most of the time i scrape off. i cheated and used packet mix, but this one was different since i have limited time, and my dad brought it home for free during an expo last year (and it doesn't expire until later this year) and it contains no sugar-only stevia. i'm not a massive fan of natural sugars, since on the outside it seems healthy, but i bet some people have proven these type of stuff isn't very healthy...it's the same with super foods, too much of it is also not good, like too much chia seeds means too much good fats, and too much of anything is never ideal.

vanilla and chocolate marble cake!

i also felt like some chocolate, so i decided to add in some cacao (since i'm not supposed to have chocolate). and i felt like "swirling" to make a cheap packet mix cake look fancy. didn't bother sifting, or whisking, or getting my old electric mixer out, or properly melting butter. literally just mixed it with a spatula then popped it into the top shelf, then i realised i should have put it into the middle shelf but ceebs changing it, hence the cracked top. i didn't really care about the texture and all (it did turn out moist), but i just wanted some slightly sweet carb-y cake asap.

cake wasn't sweet at all, and since cacao is naturally bitter, it gave the cake more "depth". there was quite a bit of butter in the cake, but we never use butter in normal cooking, and i haven't had cake in so long, it was justified.

the thing with baking in the holidays is that i have so many things i want to make, but can only make one a week or else we won't finish it (unless i take it somewhere...). now i have cake for arvo tea/snack before/after dinner for the next few days

cake craving satisfied! (may have ate a too bigger piece...)

DO

direct ophthalmoscopy. it's used to look into the back of your eye. the instrument which has concepts not too difficult to understand compared to other things so far. it's just so hard to see anything! the view is super small, about 6-10 degrees (compared with machines which can look at 200 degrees of your eye ball. and it's a tad awkward, since you're literally breathing on top of the person, and almost touching. well you're not supposed to touch the patient...and then you try to find their blood vessels by moving the instrument and your head ever so slightly. if you tilt the instrument up, you follow the tilt of the instrument which your head. since i'm short, i'm hunching around and standing on my toes and looking through at awkward angles, and it's just so tiring but you can't let go of that position, since you'll loose that blood vessel.

the worst thing is we have to do a diagram of the optic nerve, filled with colour, and it takes at least 10 hours )))): and there's not table next to you, so you find it, look at it, memorise it, the draw it, and repeat the whole process of finding that spot ): actually, what's even worse is that there are only a limited number of instruments we can use, and the room is usually filled with optom students, so there's actually not enough time for everyone to have 10 hours with the instrument. plus, i don't even have 10 hours of free time to complete a perfect drawing. they're going to use a special camera to take a photo of our eye then compare it to our drawings. ceebsssss. my back can't even stand looking through it for 2 hours.

i don't even have 10 hours on weekdays to study for that one subject! and all those other assignments from that subject which "get in the way" of studying for other subjects....yes, i'm screwed for finals already ):

and heaps of other instruments which people "fight" to use. there's always enough instruments for each designated group at a time, but when the whole cohort wants to practice, and those instruments run out of batteries in a few hours, then even if you had time in the arvo, you can't practice since the stuff is dead. i feel like the only time when you can have access to those stuff is to skip lectures.

the orders we placed won't arrive until next sem, so can't even practice before the prac exams ):

at the beginning of this year, they said you had to wink with both eyes, if you can't they were like "go out on the street and wink to guys/girls walking past" .... so glad i can wink with both eyes, but i'm curious, isn't it bad to wink for prolonged periods...? research did show using some instruments at awkward angles for a period of time is bad...according to our lecturer...

and Tracy, totally agree, the Medicine department is pretty cruel with their toads/animals to examine blood moving through arteries and veins...

to other news, there's this place in newtown called Lentils as Anything where you pay what you want.  i think that's pretty cool.

and whenever Kochie/Sam films outdoors on Sunrise, most of the time they wear their trench coats. i think i've always wanted a Burberry trench coat, until i saw the $3k+ price tag, which is about two trips to america during off peak season, and the $3k can be way more useful to go towards uni fees....

you know what i'm sad about? missing the launch of Market's in May in Martin place about 2 weeks ago. saw them setting up, but no time to go during the day ): i was on a roll with free food these past two days, and no, they weren't you're ordinary bbq sausages.

cut a toad today! the people on my table were too grossed out since it's a toad which has been anaesthetised and it's just facing you. it's still alive and breathing, and occasionally it might move a tad so you just drown it with solution. it was pretty cool looking and squishing stuff out of it. our one got a deflated lung though ): in the end, you had to cut the heart out, since if it wakes up, it'll just have pain and bleed to death....cutting a toad was one of those things back when i was younger that i wanted to do in uni. same with all those fancy chemistry equipment. so i guess my course is good, since all this other anatomy/physiology/chemistry is actually relevant

i read this article the other day

so if i can survive in sydney, i can basically live in anywhere in the world without going bankrupt. those european countries were always pricey, but now sydney isn't much better. but i like living in a country with a stronger economy since when you go overseas, you feel a tad bit more rich. my uncle always says NYC is expensive, like normal groceries cost quite a lot there since it's a major tourist spot, but then a few million people live there at the same time in the one city...anyways, technically to hk people, sydney is super expensive, thus so is America, so i guess when people spend money in the US, is just kinda like spending money in sydney. but when you're on holidays, you spend every single day. oh i calculated theoretically, if i eat out every single day, about 3 meals a day+little bits here and there, that's about 42 meals in total, which is about the same as going out to eat one meal every week for 42 weeks. but since i hardly ever go out to eat in the first place, all the money i saved (compared to people who go out for to eat/even buying lunch at uni) can be spent not-guiltily on food over there.

random amount of thoughts which probably doesn't make sense....

to other news, argh, i want abbott to go. i am pretty sure our economy will not be better off, and our standards of living will decrease, and australia will just go down hill. 

like making us pay for our uni fees when we don't even have the money? paying to see the doctor? (side note, most places bulk bill for eye check ups by medicare, and they alone cost over $60 for each eye test, so it's going to cost a lot more than a doctor visit to get your eyes tested in the future...which means it's not good...), and so much for making new jobs-all i've heard since he was elected was thousands of job cuts from planes to cars to public jobs. and although i don't pay for my own petrol, but i know how expensive petrol is, and the cost will keep on rising and now added to that is more tax...we'll probably be paying over $2/L in no time. 

another, $1 million for ballerinas? can someone please explain this. i mean, i love the ballet and it's on my to-go list once i retire to see a proper ballet, but i don't want to pay for someone's accommodation. ballet isn't a cheap sport, so if someone can afford all those years of training, i am sure they can afford accommodation. i say we, because soon we'll all be working and paying for these taxes. like i get taxed pretty heavily already...but atm i don't think i'm at the threshold for tax... and please. one year pay rise freeze for politicians is nothing, the other job cuts affects people for life, or more than one year's worth of pay rise. 

i've been craving cake for so long now...someone bake me a cake...sometimes i just feel like walking into a patisserie to buy a slice of cake....and i always crace master chef food. it sucks how they moved to melbourne a few years ago-missing chances to try master chef food on a plate and be on tv. 90% sure the rents cheaper there, the chefs families+their own couple of restaurants are there, they have a large warehouse space with more cooking space and restaurant seats, and their fancy garden outside which are now apparently have grown artichokes...in the first season filmed in melb all they had were herbs...

i am really hating the proposed budget changes. the good thing that sets Australia apart is our healthcare. but to pay every time you see a doctor who just does a 5min check up? well, then it's not much different to overseas where people have to pay every time. you know, i would love to live in America, apart from the fact that their health care system isn't as good, and in some parts/even major cities, things happen...but even so, to not have HECS in the future for aus students would be so taxing. then definitely overseas students would come to aus and take all our spaces, since overseas people can afford it. and increasing petrol prices to 3c a litre?? that's heaps in the long term, and petrol prices rises itself cause of inflation or whatever. and retiring at 70? everyone's brains is slower as you get older, and your eyes get worse for obvious reasons. so for me, how will i be able to test people when i really need my eye sight to look? and like for surgeons/doctors, i am pretty sure you have to see clearly what you are cutting into...and then people in finance etc, you need to quick brain. like my uncle had his own investment something company which he managed/directed, but he's "semi-retired" after 10 years of doing that stuff since it's just so taxing on the brain (and he's only in his 40s, how are people 65+ meant to think just as fast as people half their age).

there are so many more other things, but i will leave it there for now.

that person on MC was so skilled with that crab last night. just crabbing it with her bare hands and not scared of sharp bits cutting her skin. definitely can believe she goes crabbing every weekend. also, Kylie Kwong is trialling out that Schezhuan pepper mud crab in her Billy Kwong restaurant this weekend. if i could eat spicy stuff, i would love to try it. just watching them eat with their fingers with no shame, and you can have a chance this weekend to eat master chef food! if it's successful, she'll consider putting it on the menu...so the crab was actually THAT good. i am 100% sure that if you go on master chef, all the judges, chefs, producers have the right to claim your recipe and use it, so until you actually win...maybe we'll be seeing more chefs making some of MC contestants dishes. oh, and Billy Kwong has been on my to-go list for quite a while now (a few years), but i'm not dying to go since it's still technically asian. i love to spend my monies on my western food (:

side note, it's that time of the year when our weather is similar to Canada's. i don't like how it's cold in the mornings but hot during the day. why can't it just be cold the whole day so i just keep my jacket on, or just warm during the whole day so i don't have to bring a jacket in the morning? #firstworldproblems

Lindor Strawberries and Cream

in case you didn't know, federer had a second set of twins yesterday! wow, what are the odds? first set girls, second set boys.....third set mixed...? then it's like he has actually "won" in terms of having 3 sets just like tennis. did you know, his sister also has twins? fed's wife used to play tennis professionally, but wasn't super pro...their family is going to dominant tennis/sport in about 20 years time-it's all in the genes!

my mum walked by free samples at woolies yday and got me a lindor strawberry and cream, which federer is advertising. his acting is actually pretty bad lol. the chocolate isn't as sweet as lindor white chocolate (which is relatively sweet itself), but this is heaps more creamier which helps to cut down a tad of the sweetness. i think it's even creamier than cookies and cream. the strawberry tastes slightly artificial, which is expected. it reminded me of the graffiti lollipop from good food month last year at Shangri-La

because i feel like my blog has been lacking pictures recently...

i hate when i spend over 3 hours on less than 200 words. i keep telling myself to write, but i don't know what to write ):

i was expecting a lot worse today. still guessed some, but i was expecting to guess more than half the paper...ahh, spelt some words wrong ): they mentioned that they deduct marks for wrong spelling ):

ooft. jusst passed one of my mid sems-the one with an average of a pass mark. they even did a whole graph showing the marks with ranks to emphasise the point that we suck. even the highest mark was 88, but that person was an outlier...

" Some of you might be quite disappointed, but I hope the 25 who failed AND did not attend all lectures understand what is going on here (there was a strong trend between grade and attendance with p=0.15 for the stats minded using a Chi-square test). There is a reason why we give lectures rather than simply give out free books. Top mark was 88%. Mean was 51% ± 14% SD. The graph shows rank position in class once you know your grade."

Then a guy wrote on our fb page: "I went to all my lectures, i wonder how she would explain that"

that is also me ))):

test on thursday is only worth 10% of one strand, so 3.33333%, which isn't much....but need to get the concepts straight since everyone knows it'll be a tricky one hour exam. it's kind of ridiculous, 3.33% of stuff in one hour, whilst in the other strand, 40% of marks in one hour.

the bad thing about learning colour vision is that you have to print in colour...or else it's kinda useless...my poor ink ):

ahh, the food on master chef is already amazing and they only just started! couldn't watch the whole thing, but seeing the chef's food is what matters most (:

Enrolment Stress Take 4

even non optom people know about the amazing group 3.

this time i learnt to be patient and it paid off! no, i didn't get into group 3, but i got into group 5 my 2nd preference (:

the enrolment thing didn't pop up until 2:10, whereas someone in my tute was "in" already, but most of the class wasn't. you really do just have to wait once you click on it, or keep refreshing until it pops up, but once you start enrolling, never refresh. hallways through enrolling i got kicked out, but it still saved my time choices and i could finish enrolling within 15min-new record!

group 5 isn't perfect, there's a 1 hour lecture then 5 hour break. so i won't be attending that lecture...also phsl labs are every second week, so for the weeks i don't have lab, then i will be skipping another phsl lec...so in order to save about 10 hours of my life each fortnight, i will be skipping 3 lectures...ie attend half the lecs for a subject. i'm really against skipping lectures, but skipping 2 lectures to save 10+ hours is very worth it imo.

also less contact hours next sem! and up until week 10 i get thursdays off (: after that, it'll be 8am starts...but i'll deal with that when the time comes...two 6pm finishes, but all groups except for the perfect group 3 has two 6pm finishes, whilst group 1 has two 8ams (but only one 6pm).

i was stressed throughout the entire day. now i should focus for my super important mid sem (which isn't worth much, but is the basis of all the clinical work we'll do in the future).

YAY MASTERCHEF-OH HOW I'VE MISSED YOU! for the eagle eye, the master chef font has changed slightly-it's become more rounded, like iPhone's update with everything more rounded...time to add more places on my list to eat. too bad i won't be able to go until after america (more like i'll just rather spend money overseas, since i can eat in australia whenever). mind you, i am pretty sure this season i'll be adding more places on my 'mental' international restaurant list for when i get old. (side note, i really do hate abbott, making us retire at 70!) not a big fan of kylie kwong, but i guess we'll see. couldn't watch it fully today since i had dance, and i don't think i'll be able to watch it until finals are over, since i know i am super screwed for finals already. so. much. content.

it's also that time of the year when my brother wants to watch the voice whilst master chef is on.

also, i am so, so glad that chloe and kelly didn't win mkr. didn't really like the mums though, since they crack under pressure-and you can't if you want to be a pro chef! apparently the producers film 2 endings, so they all pre tent they win, and then they pick one "ending" to be aired, so the actual contestants don't really know who won. no wonder why their emotions are so fake. does master chef do film two possibilities of winners? i don't think so. if they do, their emotions are so much more genuine, and heaps less back stabbing. george has lost 20kgs and is so, so slim-it's actually pretty amazing. and i need to emphasise in case you have not realised since when mkr first aired in 2010, MASTERCHEF HAS THE BETTER JUDGES, BETTER FOODS, BETTER GUEST CHEFS, MORE INNOVATIVE, BETTER PEOPLE WHO CAN ACTUALLY COOK, MORE DELICIOUS, AND ACTUALLY TEACHES YOU!

my foodie side is so happy (:

i am 99% sure that i never get my 1st or 2nd preference for timetables because i have slow internet.

it's not slow, slow, i can still stream or download stuff at speeds which i think is fine, but compared to other people/big companies and for timetabling purposes, i have super slow internet.

and tomorrow is the day, again at 2pm, again where i have a lab/tute... and everyone wants to be in group 3 because you can have 4days of uni most of next semester, but repeating students always have their enrolment times a few days before us and they get 1st preference. only 13.6% chance of getting into that group. i have to worst of luck with timetable enrolling ):

it's either risk it and go click fast and hope you get enrolled into group 3, but then if it the servers majorly crash for you then even my 2nd preference would already be full. or give up hope for my first preference, and hope for 2nd preference...then again, 4 days of uni is very tempting, but i'm not sure if i should risk it if i don't get that group, i'll end up with the worst timetable with two 8am starts...

i had more to say, but i just don't know if i should risk it or play safe and try for 2nd preference. someone needs to write a how-to guide for avoiding unsw servers crash whilst enrolling.