Was at uni from 7am till 10:45pm yesterday at uni-almost 16hours spent there. New record

Had 5.5 hours sleep the night before, so somehow managed to stay awake for so long there. Didn't get a patient today since I was dispensing, but it was good listening to feedback from other supervisors to students who had a patient since there's always something new to learn. I do appreciate him staying giving us tutes after 9pm...

This week has felt super long, but mainly because of all that time at uni. We already had the public holiday on Monday, so technically the week should feel shorter...

Screwed up the therapeutics PBL yesterday, kind of regret volunteering first since my mind was so blank, and the stuff we had wasn't all right and probs a bit too shallow.

I finally dragged myself out to go swimming today since I didn't have uni (mainly because I wanted to go out and eat after, and felt too guilty not exercising and just eating). I still have my endurance but my speed has slowed down so much, it's quite sad ):

fancy packaging with 'tasting advice'

I found it too bitter for me, 90% is still quite nice, just not 99%. Parents were fine with it, since they can all those bitter asian foods lel. I actually don't like Lindt block packagings, since once you rip the foil, it's so hard to store the chocolate inside the outer cardboard packaging. This one is quite nice (as you would expect since it's twice the price of the other ones). You lift the foil tab, and the chocolates are on a container, so you just slip the chocolate in and out of the cardboard. 

It's Time for Thai

You know a place is good when it's 10pm and the place is still packed. Kitchen was still working hard, with waiters everywhere. Spontaneous post-night clinic food run just down the street from uni. Haven't been here for over 3 years now, and it's just as good, if not better.

Steamed egg noodles w/ BBQ Beef,  Chinese broccoli, bean sprouts, topped -$13.00

First time having thai-style steamed noodles, and wow, the flavour combination in this dish was soo good! Thai flavours without it being spicy, and plenty of greens underneath. The beef wasn't too tough either, and noodles weren't mushy (just super long, which made it hard to separate into bowls).

BBQ Chicken: tender chicken fillets marinated in Thai spice & barbequed in traditional Thai style & topped with fried onion -$13

This is not your average BBQ chicken like you get in the supermarkets. One of the juiciest and moist chickens I've had, marinated perfectly, and cooked without leaving charred BBQ-after taste. The sauce was a delicious sweet chilli (not much chilli which I liked). Definitely value for money.

Massaman Curry-$13

Generous chunks of beef which were soft/easy to pull apart and potatoes, plus plenty of spices in this dish. It wasn't too overly sweet, and the spices really did enhance the curry. 

still packed at night

Delicious flavours, decent portions and prices (:

Spontaneous gelato run afterwards. Made it there before they closed at 11pm.

Pina Colada, Vanilla Manjar, Wagon Wheel 0.5L-$12.80

Non-photogenic gelato in the park. We got the specials that week. Pina Colada was refreshing. Would have liked a bit more saltiness from almonds in the vanilla/dulce de luche to contrast the sweetness. Wagon was was very sweet, but super soft as well (mainly got it because it was so fresh-that presentation when they plonk a tub of freshly churned gelato).

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...

Mr Bao

Suddenly had a bao craving after uni, and luckily it was a Friday night, and this place was opened (they don't open all nights of the week). It's conveniently located on York St (near my bus stop, hehe).  

L: Crackling Pork Belly Bao-signature hoisin sauce, lightly pickled cucumber & coriander 

R: Karaage Chicken Bao-spicy aioli, pickled red cabbage & coriander

2 for $12 (or $6.50 for one)

Asked them which were the more popular ones, and it was these 2. Opted for takeaway since I was in a hurry to catch the bus, but did have some before it went cold. The bun was indeed super soft and pillowy as promised. It's not like typical yum cha baos which I really dislike from the dryness, and dense white bready flour, which isn't as moist as these. It was pricey for something of this size, but they do execute their flavours and techniques well. 

The pork belly was still crunchy after a freezing 1hr bus ride home! Nice slab of moist pork, but would have liked more cucumber-couldn't really taste the pickled flavour in it though. 

The chicken was quite big for the bao to hold it together, but I'm not complaining-who doesn't love a nice chunk of meat? The aioli wasn't spicy (for a person who has very low spicy tolerance) which was quite delicious. The pickled flavour was more prominent in the cabbage, and quite a lot hidden under the chicken, but was quite dry since the sauce was on top of the chicken, not on the bread under the cabbage. Pretty satisfied with both-even my brother approved. 

21st in 2015: Inspiration and Cake

I personally love parties and would use travel money I've saved to host a party. So there were no regrets having a 21st last year with delicious food, and create memories for later on in life. I am generally the oldest one around my friends, so didn't have any inspiration for ideas and how to host a party. I've been wanting to do this post for a while, and here are some 21st I attended last year, along with ideas, locations, what to do and most importantly-cake!

Elisa's 21st
Location: Haven Tailoring Coffee Joyously
Cake: Unbirthday Bakery, 2nd cake from the cafe (not pictured here)

Full blog post here on food. Since I wanted a sit down event (because too lazy to stand), I didn't invite heaps of people so everyone could have a seat without crowding up the place.  I ended up having a fun little '21 things about me' trivia, and I've always been a fan of photobooths, so got some props online, borrowed some decorations from friends, and set up a photobooth in a corner of the cafe. Stuck some baby pics up around the cafe (but they were the old style film print, so were pretty small). Also, guests couldn't leave without a party bag! Childhood memories from primary school days (: Ceebs connecting projectors, mics etc since I wanted to keep it low key, but still have fun and delicious food. Had a wooden '21' for people to sign.

Beatrice's 21st

Location: Four Seasons Hotel

Cake: Unbirthday Bakery (chocolate inside)

That dessert table was the centre piece for the whole room-everyone was drawn to it from the moment they walked in. So many fancy canapés and delicious desserts (can't go wrong with macarons). There were unlimited drinks at the bar and still plenty of space to stand up to eat or seats around the edge of the room. Also a Photo Booth with some fun probs. A jar for people to place messages in, or peg it to a photo frame with strings hanging across it. I think the hotel provided the decorations/balloon/jars etc which really made everything so fancy and elegant but fun. 

Annie's 21st

Location: Crane Bar

Cake: La Renaissance Patisserie and Cafe

You know you've had one too many cakes when you can recognise where the cake is from, and the flavour. We went to the 'Lawn' part for the Crane Bar, which was pretty cute with Japanese inspired cherry blossom tree paintings on the wall. Some seats scattered around, and also a mini photo booth with some props. Don't really go to Kings Cross/Potts Point much, but it's cool to see a different side of Sydney. Quite a few deep fried canapés and skewers of meat. There was also a bar tab for drinks. Polaroid with the birthday girl, plus message in a guest book. She had super cute stickers as well to decorate your page.

Eunice's 21st

Location: Village Green

Cake: didn't stay for the cake, but from photos, it was quite a big and pretty homemade cake

Yay for Malay friends so I can have authentic Malay food (still wanting more of those curry puffs). There were some pretty funny ice breakers finding other people and asking questions. We were also split into teams (but I missed this part), and there was a GAMSAT paper/creative writing questions about the birthday girl. Looked really fun. Happy Apple is super generous, and we all brought in canned foods to be donated to the local church.

Ophelia's 21st

Location: Epping Hotel

Cake: Zest Patisserie (I used to always get my cakes here back in high school from this local patisserie)

Came late for the food, but it was typical bar stuff/finger food like chicken, pizzas etc. Bar tab also available, but this place was quite dim, so photos with the balloons were a bit hard. Polaroid with the bday girl, plus pre-cut coloured cards which you write your message, and slip it into a biggish photo album.

Rebecca's 21st

Location: Epping Club

Cake: Cheesecake shop (one on left is from the venue)

The Epping Club is actually pretty luxurious, greeted by a big chandelier as you walk up the stairs. There's also balcony, so it's good for just chilling and photos during sunset. Food here was pretty good as well, most interesting thing was probably the oyster shot-first time having oyster in a shot glass. Heaps to go around, and quite a lot of variety with even individual noodle boxes. Small notebook to write your well wishes. There was a dj there and also a dance floor + lights to 'Shake It Off.'

Hannah's 21st

Location: Bar Coluzzi, Circular Quay

Cake: Susan (from Operation Bake)

Photos in front of the super cool balloon letters. Typical bar food here, but it was also quite substantial/large at the same time. Cake was super pretty with cute bunting-loved that colour scheme. Flowers weren't edible though (I knew because I tried one and it tasted what inedible flowers tasted like lol). Layers of vanilla and raspberry buttercream throughout. The icing was quite sweet, but you really need it to hold it's form and just make an aesthetically good looking cake. Polaroid with the bday girl to stick into a guestbook + message. This party really got started when the shots came out after the cake...

In terms of booking venues, I booked roughly 5/6 weeks ahead. I know of others who had to book at least 2 months in advance, and some were just 3 days before, but it all worked out in the end. Really depends if you're born in a popular birthday season, and what type of venue you're after-something chic, fun or simple. 

For food, at least 6 decently sized canapés, plus slice of cake and 1 drink (for girls) would be needed for dinner. Decently sized imo would be a slider filled with many toppings. Most people had around 8 (I think including dessert I had 8 with 2 drinks). Some people had over 10 canapés, whilst others had 4 types, but there was enough for seconds (or thirds). You can also ask beforehand to see if the place allows you to bring in some party food/snacks before the actual food comes out/whilst you're waiting. Drinks do fill people up, so if you're worried about not enough food, just make sure there's some drinks to go around.

Hope this inspires you with ideas for your 21st! I think it's worthwhile to spend the money, since creating memories with friends is truly once in a life time experience (:

I survived. This week has been both short and long. It felt so long ago that I went to Black Star Pastry for a quiche on Monday...yet also not enough time to study. Somehow managed to wake up at 5.30/6am the whole week. I used to never be a morning person, but 4th year has trained/forced me to become one. You just have to wake up early since you can't afford to be late, and somehow stay awake for classes/clinic until past 9pm...Getting less than 6hrs sleep and surviving...even last year I needed at least 7 hours sleep

Therapeutics on Tuesday was so tricky, and it wasn't just me. Exam in the arvo and next morning we got our results back. Those speedy MC computer marking sheets. If only they uploaded lectures this fast. She hasn't event uploaded this weeks yet...Then today's MC at 8am, it was interesting since you could circle one or more options, and the bubbles were extra big, so my pencil was super blunt. Colouring 4/5 bubbles each question takes up a lot of lead lol. Also, the questions were displayed on the projector, so 100sec per question, and can't recheck...very different sort of style, but still much respect held for super smart opthal. Also, lecture rooms open at 7.30am, and he came before that time as well. So glad catching a 6am bus meant I can get to uni in 1hr 15mins. 6.30am bus takes 1hr 40min, and after that, the dreaded 2hr bus rides/stuck in traffic/waiting for buses.

Should catch up on other study/log books I've been delaying....

It doesn't help that MasterChef and GoT are all starting at the end of the month...and closer to exam time...

Bavarian Bier Cafe

Being adventurous and going to new places, especially when you're catching up with people you haven't seen in a while is the best! There is a nearby carpark behind the restaurant, but it's metered and coins only-no change given. Found out afterwards you could use card...so I wasted 50c...

The restaurant is inside a renovated church building, which is pretty cool since it still retained the high ceilings and stained glass windows. Gives a rustic sort of feel. They have booth seating on the side, and banquet style seating in the middle. There were actually quite a few tables there on a Tuesday night.

entrance

stained glass windows

Tried to order a bit of everything (plus extra) so we had enough to go around the group. Lighting wasn't the best for photos, and everyone was hungry, so some not fully in focus...

Crackling pork belly, braised red cabbage, roasted potatoes onion bier jus, granny smith apple compote-$29

The pork belly is a little bit hard to cut into with just a normal knife, but once you bite into it, it gave a good crunch. Not completely melt-in-your-mouth crackling, but still pretty decent. Potatoes cooked well and heaps of veggies under as well. The apple compote was really delicious. Good apple flavour with a bit of tartness, worked well with the pork.

Über-schnitzel: Pan-Fried Crumbed Chicken, baby rocket, semi-dried tomato, parmesan-$27 

Was executive the schnitzel to be a bit bigger, but it had a lovely crumb without the chicken drying out. The semi-dried tomato was just the ketchup like sauce, and it did taste a lot better with it. It was served with mash which was nice and buttery.

creamy mash plus tomato sauce for schnitzel

Bavarian Tasting: Crispy Pork Belly, Haus-Sausages, Schnitzel, Sauerkraut, Red Cabbage,  Creamy Mash, Granny Smith Apple Compote, Bier Jus -$32

Wasn't really sure which sausages we got, or taste a massive difference, but they were relatively lean and well seasoned. The bier jus is kind of like gravy but not as salty.

Pulled pork pretzel roll, cabbage slaw, sweet BBQ sauce, fries-$15 

This roll (bun) was super soft, and still maintained it's composure after splitting into 5 nice cake-like slices (thanks to density friend). Pork was soft and flavourful. Chip were average, but love the cute fryer.

Crispy Mac n Cheese Balls-Blue Cheese Mayo, Smoked Bacon-$10

Ordered this since it sounded interesting. Tasted pretty good as well, crisp outside and cheesy inside. Only had about one piece of macaroni in it, and not much bacon, but the cheese itself was melting and delicious.

Haus-made black forest cake w/ Kirsch-Cherries, dark Chocolate-$11

Quite a lot of cream rather than sponge in this cake. You can definitely taste the sourness and alcohol from the liquor they used, and this cake wasn't only slightly sweet. Interesting difference compared to normal black forest cake which is sweet (like all cakes).

Haus-made apple strudel w/ Vanilla Sauce and Whipped Cream-$10+$2

The pastry was soft and since it was served warm, it was a delight to eat (even if it was a spoonful). The waiter asked us if we wanted ice cream, but didn't tell use there was a surcharge to it, and it didn't say the price on the small dessert menu that we got. Not really worth $2 for one scoop, but at least they scooped it nicely. Couldn't really taste the vanilla in the vanilla sauce since it got mixed in with the cream. Apart from that, the service was good.