i can't stop thinking about supps until they come out on friday. this sem exam period was probably the least stressful one, and even had time i win some stuff, and go to Dandelion's grad (:

won on snapchat

many people asked, how did i win something on snap chat? well you follow someone, answer a question, send your address, and 2 wks later, it came! these are Muji touchscreen gloves (never bought anything from Muji overseas even though there are heaps of stores in HK, it's never been my style). I have a pair of touchscreen gloves, which has some silver coloured materials on the finger tips. these are softer and the touchscreen part is imbedded into the wool. but big for my super small hands, but free useful stuff is pretty cool.

also commented on an fb post from my local shops, and got a free DVD-The Choice. no idea what it's about, but free DVDs to watch on tv in my spare time is (Y)

i have a feeling i got something else for free, but don't remember...

the other day i saw a cardigan at Gap for $100+. i got the exact same thing earlier this year in HK (Aus is always one season behind), and on the sale rack, with further discounts, ended up being around $20ish, and the Aussie dollar was still pretty low. things are so overpriced here

Reuben and Moore

With the rising burger phase in Sydney, it's no wonder a sandwich shop from Macquarie Centre decided to move to Westfield Sydney (the previous shop is now a sub branch called The Hub). What's a better way to gain back all the calories and indulge in something after some intense yoga barre?

The line was expectedly long during lunch hour, and super busy. It did take around 20mins for my food to be be ready. All the sandwiches and roast are plated quicker, but since burgers are to order, it did take a bit longer. Mine took exceptionally long to the point where the guy on the pass asked me what I ordered, and it was the burger plated in front with chips. I asked for takeaway and no chips, but I'm not gonna complain it's they had to move it to the box with free chips included...It was mainly the chips which was holding up the orders and making the food orders slower.

Angus Beef Pattie, American Cheese, Deep Fried Mac & Cheese, Maple Smoked Bacon, Iceberg Lettuce, Chipotle Mayonnaise and a Red Onion & Maple Jam-$14

that melted cheese

when other people come up to you and ask where you bought the burger from, you know it's gonna taste even better than it looks.

inside 

Apart from the wait, I was super stoked to get this burger. Free patty ($3) for Fatties (Fatties Burger Appreciation Society). The inside was relatively lean angus beef but still juicy. This was a tad bit more pink than I would've liked, more medium-rare here. Would prefer medium for patties (just to be safe, but not outrageously crazy like the new burger laws which states for no pink. stupid government who uses American non-peer reviewed resources and unreliable statistics). Cheese melted perfectly on the patty, and was enough to dip some of the chips into.

The highlight was the deep fried mac and cheese patty, first time having one and it was so worth all the extra calories. The outside batter had a lovely golden brown colour, which gave a good crunch and was quite thin. Inside was melted cheese and macaroni, which wasn't overly seasoned like those 'Easy Mac' flavouring packets. I highly suggest this burger, because the filled patty takes it to another level.

The maple jam with red onion was quite sweet, and some of the flavour transferred over to the patty. If you had just the onions it would be super sweet, but as a whole burger, it helped balance out some of the saltiness and cheesiness. The bacon could have been smoked a bit more, and was quite a small piecee and wasn't crunchy. Wished there was more lettuce, since most of it was drowned out by the chipotle mayo. Needed a bit more lettuce to make it not as heavy. The mayo wasn't spicy at all (which is good for me, but I know some other people prefer some kick to it).

The rosemary salt chips didn't have much potato inside, and were quite oily. Couldn't really taste the rosemary in the salt either. It was fresh but average. 

I think the price is decent for a burger of this size and quality. Wouldn't mind coming back to try the other burgers and add on a mac and cheese patty, or try their roasts.

i-Creamy Artisan Gelato

I can finally get a flower gelato in Sydney without going to Europe! I see so many photos of people with super pretty ice creams and gelato from Europe, but too bad I can't go on exchange or holidays there...

2 flavours flower: black sesame (centre), young coconut (outside)-$6.90

side view

top view

logo view (lel)

2 scoops-coconut and lychee sorbet, tiramisu-$6.90

Decided on the black sesame without trying it first, but I knew I would like it. The flavour is quite (not as much as Aqua S), and also maintains a creamy texture. The young coconut (award winning flavour) tastes like a sweet baby coconut flesh, and also had some little bits of texture inside

The coconut and lychee sorbet was actually the sweetest of the four, and not really icy. Normally you expect a sorbet's acidity or sourness to cut through a creamy gelato. Here you get the super sweet lychee with lychee bits and pieces, then an after taste of coconut. This particular ice cream was also well balanced with the bitterness from the tiramisu. The coffee flavour is a lot more prominent then the chocolate.

They also put ice-cream inside the cone, they put the flower or scoop of gelato on top. The cone is longer than competitors, and decent crunch without being too sweet.

I got the flower because of aesthetics, so obviously needed more than one photo. Quantity wise it's probably 1/3 of a normal scoop (their scoop are relatively big, for now...), but the effort and time to make it is around 10 times as long. Normally first up I go with the good looking stuff. like for Aqua S, after getting the fairy floss topping, I never bought any toppings for over 10 Aqua S ice creams.

There were 24 flavours (I ended up somehow trying half of them-thank you haha)

I could go on forever describing them but going to try to keep this short and sweet. The durian does taste like durian, but with a sweet after taste, and Pinky Milky taste like pink sweet flavoured bubblegum (there is also a blue bubblegum flavour), green tea isn't that strong compared to other places, whilst mango is pretty intense. Baileys taste like it sounds, creaming soda (new flavour) was kind of like flat creaming soda (I'm that weird person who doesn't mind that stuff, but it's weird in gelato). I normally love salted caramel, but this one was a bit sweeter, and the Maple Toffee Nut was also a bit sweet. 

Most flavours you would have had before (well the ones available for today seemed to be 'conservative'), so it'll be interesting to see if they keep coming up with new flavours. They have flavour descriptions on their website as well which is pretty handy.

Amazed at how the gelato doesn't really melt when they make the petals, and after a million photos. Probably the winter weather also helps). Also, this place actually provides some seating! (Well more than most other ice cream places). There's around 6 seats inside, and they have around 3+ couches outside plus additional seat.

Overall, this place is definitely worth trying and a new contender with all the new ice cream/gelato craze in Sydney. I'm a bit biased towards Messina for their never ending flavour combos. Never too cold for ice cream!

Finding Dory

started the day with a free Yoga Barre class, which like kind of like yoga but not. there's a new yoga place/gym with 2 studios next to Ippudo on lvl 5 Westfield food court-how ironic, hidden next to all this unhealthy food. it's pretty pricey, $28 for a class for 45min, but i don't think i can survive for more than 45min doing intense exercise. after stopping dance for 1.5 years now, super unfit. wouldn't have tried it if it wasn't free...the studio has a ballet bar/mirrors, and there are a lot of plies, tondues (throwback to those ballet days), mixed with lunges and strengthening for all parts of the body. the instructor did it with us, and the music did help you keep going. the studio is quite new, clean and well equipped. has a massive change room, lockers, toilets, showers, ironing facility, hairdryers and even hair straighteners. i think if you go regularly, the premium price you pay is well worth the money...

after the super intense, sweat drenching exercise, i ended up reversing all that with a massive burger (review to come).

went around shopping, but realised i had a lot of unworn clothes, so didn't really need to buy any.

but i have been thinking about getting the DIY chai ever since stuvac, and ended up getting one today. there was a Chai VIP night on thurs with a free tea strainer for every DIY purchased, but that was the night before my last exam. ended up going there, and they had one free strainer left with a giraffe on the end, worth $14 (they have more in the other store, but this was the last free on in their free box stock), so i ended up buying one. 

snapchat (#noshame)

so fragrant 

the tin itself is so pretty, and love that rose gold colour (although they call it bronze) and that's worth $18. there's one gift box worth of chai (100g) plus 100g of other stuff. all up, you save $12 from the promo (according to the receipt), and the added bonus of $14 freebie was just calling for me.

'Elisa's brew'

Base: chai

Blend: ginger spice, honey green almond

Boost it: just rose, just cinnamon, pink peppercorns, flaked almonds (could choose a 5th topping, but I don't really like chocolate tea). other toppings: just ginger, coco loco, choc chips, orange paper, chilli flakes, shredded coconut. i just don't like how when the chocolate chips melt, it gets caught in the mesh, making it harder to wash. the coconut apparently leaves the tea a bit more oily/creamy, and probs doesn't feel as 'clean' to the palate. only opted for a bit of almonds, so it wouldn't be too oily either.

each cup will definitely taste different with all these unique ingredients. ceebs smashing up the whole star anise, but i should to give it even more flavour...

during exams i would have around 3 cups of tea per day. not sure if i mentions this before, but never, ever redrew lipton tea-it tastes worse than water. rebreeding t2 tea, you're still able to extract some flavour on the 2nd brew with the same leaves. 

saw a whole crowd today, and oh, look, it's Miranda Kerr! (i like seeing celebs irl). her dress (obviously) matched her skin care range, and she sounds super sweet irl. also, amazingly tall girl as well, i know she is tall, but with heels and everything, she still towered over most of the security entourage. still amazing at how she can maintain that body shape after having a child...didn't even know she was going to be there today, but i think you had to buy a product to take a photo with her, or probs wait super early in line...

lol at the guy coming up the escalator

they blocked off the escalator at the top until she disappeared down and somewhere else...if only i was in one of those shops down there so can literally walk past her...

and finally the title of this blog post. it was a really good movie! i actually hated Finding Nemo as a kid, because i re watched it so many times. whether at my house, or when we go over to someone else's it felt like it was also on tv. still liked it when i first watched it, but it's just one of those movies that once you watch too many times, it becomes bad...baby dory is so cute, and this movie does have some hilarious parts, more than Finding Nemo. also, the short film Piper which plays before the movie is also super cute.

good and productive day today (:

Honest Kitchen

Apparently this has been at Eastwood for a while now-Korean and Italian fusion. Spontaneous dinner decisions weren't bad. Don't really remember the prices, but it wasn't too expensive

Potato and bacon pizza-$15

This pizza was delicious! Base was fluffy and soft but not limp, potatoes thinly slices with good amounts of bacon on top. It was super cheesy as well. Wished there were more greens to balance all that saltiness.

Fettucine in creamy sauce-$15

Pasta was average, not overly creamy. Wished there were more toppings.

Mango cheesecake bingsu-~$15

This bingsu had really fine ice, kind of like powdery snow, so it was super smooth when you swallow it, and no hard bits of ice at all. The mangoes were sweet, and the cheesecake reminded me of those supermarket freezer cheesecake, but both paired well with the ice. It also had some sort of condensed milk at the bottom, making the ice even smoother and giving it some flavour.

the lecturer ended up uploading a new lecture at around 11.30pm  on tues night (12 hrs after the one uploaded on 11am), exam was on friday...

i thought i had enough time to study for thera, with 12 days between my first and 2nd exam, then thera the day after optom med. for once i wasn't even super stressed in the lead up and on the day of the exam since i thought i new stuff. but gg. died in MC, felt like i guessed all but 2 questions. in the mid sem, i had a rough idea of how many i definitely knew, and the others i guessed and my mark turned out to be that mark of all the ones i knew (ie i have bad guessing skills). but for finals, since i was only confident in less than 5, well that pretty much equates to a fail. brain wasn't working either in the long response...there was more to write but i couldn't remember what to write...pls let me not fail too badly and get a 2nd chance with a supp. initially i was like i know enough not to get a supp, but after the exam, a completely different thought. supps for thera are orals, and it will probs feel like PBLs where i pretty much got hammered and questioned on everything i say. but 2nd chances are better than no chances, so going to enjoy the rest of the week before the supps comes out...

a week to study one test and i still can't be confident that i passed. couldn't even say i regret not studying harder, because that's probably the hardest i've studied for a test (felt like HSC where you had so much time to study for something, but uni obviously still more content). didn't even touch my phone for a week, after i realised during stuvac, a 5min break every hour is pretty much procrastinating for over an hour just on your phone in a day...

optom med is and probably will be the only exam which i didn't study for (well attended lecturesm but didn't memorise any content, and only look at stuff the night before the exam). it's all mainly on how we should manage different patients, but still couldn't get half the diagnoses...but fingers crossed i wrote something that's in their marking criteria and pass...

thinking that maybe i chose a bad year to fail. apparently once you get into 4th yr, you're stuck with a Bachelor, but for the year below us, when they graduate, they now get a Masters, which is a massive difference for roughly the same amount of work. did i fail a year too late..? can't even repeat 3rd yr (not that i want to since diseases were super interesting yet challenging at the same time...) i guess most of the grade is pretty bummed out we miss out on a Masters, but such is life...

ended up drinking my sorrows away at Marquee (even though I was super tired). it was a pretty fun night, and a different experience. best of all, it was freee. music there was pretty good as well.

partayy

light up foam sticks were pretty fun

(i wasn't the only one taking photos of this lol)

Reuben and Moore-The Hub

Walk past this whenever quite a few times when I go to Macquarie and decided to finally try it. I almost never buy sandwiches since you can make them yourself at home. 

Signature Reuben Sandwich: wagyu salt beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, pickles and mustard mayo on rye-$14.50

Opted for no chips (so I could save that $3 and I wasn't super hungry) even though it's listed on the menu with sandwich and ships for $17.50. It was stacked well with good height, but would have rpeferred more meat than veggies. The Reuben I had back in NYC at Katz's Delicatessen, which was over $30 for a sandwich, but that had so much meat it fed our family for 2 meals, no jokes. The meat here could have been seasoned moree, but the veggies had that distinct saukrat flavour and pickles, which were served warm in the sandwich. Bread was nice and soft, and the whole sandwich held together easily when you ate it. It's decent for Sydney standards, but NYC still wins. One of these days I'll post about NYC food, when I find some time...

internally crying right now. typical therapeutics uploading a lecture 3 days before finals. is this even legal? and the topic we wanted her to upload at the end of wk 13 hasn't been uploaded. inb4 new lecture 24hrs before exam. one week to study sounded a lot at first, but with 2 days to go, not much time left. the other subject is going to be 99% neglected. much yolo.

Leaf Cafe & Co

Quick lunch passing through this suburb on the way home. This place is a branch of other places in Sydney. It has some outdoor seating, but most seats are inside but with an open style cafe setting (so you're not actually sitting in the cafe, they just put tables out). Indeed it did have leaf as decor.

Chorizo prawn tapas: grilled chorizo and prawn, Spanish BBQ sauce w/ rustic loaf-$15

I always try to go for something on the menu which I can't make. There are plenty of sandwiches, burgers and salads available, but I opted for this since it was served in a cute over-style bowl. There were 6 king prawns and some chorizo. Prawns were fresh and cooked well, chorizo not too spicy or overly salty, but combined with the sauce, I think this dish was too salty. The sauce was quite oily, would have preferred something a bit thicker in consistency liked in baked eggs, but still soaked up well with the bread. The bread were perfectly toasted and not too buttered. I actually prefer minimally buttered toasted bread when you have some sauce to dip it in. The crust was perfectly crunchy and not too hard. Wish there was more greens, or just something to cut through all the garlic flavour in the sauce, and the chorizo. Probably a tad more on the expensive side for a dish this size. It did come out in less than 15mins which was a plus. All tables also have himalayan salt and organic black pepper as well.

small capp-$3.50

They use single origin here, coffee was average. A tad bit hot on my first sip, and no latte art ):

Manpuku

Ramen near uni is always good, especially if you have ramen cravings.

Gara Shoyu: soy based chicken soup, pork belly, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, shallots, seaweed sheet, homemade Manpuku original noodles-$13.50

Uni students also get extra noodles as well, but it didn't feel like this did have extra noodles, just felt like a normal bowl of ramen in terms of quantity. Also was hoping for bigger pieces of pork belly, and more toppings. Flavour wise it was good, could see the oil in the broth but it was clear. I think I prefer the original pork broth, since the chicken with soy sauce was a bit salty after a while. Ramen was a bit more on the al dente side. I think for ramen, I prefer it a bit softer. People there were really friendly, but this ramen is more towards the average side and not mind-blowing.

First exam done today, and now 12 days until the next one (minus 3 days of work in between), which leaves me 9 days to study 2 subjects, and one of the subjects the stuff you learn/study won't even be tested...so no idea what to expect...well the lecturer/doctor said if you didn't study you can still scrape a pass, but it's just a lot of management/work up/logic i guess...

Managed to recover so not sick during the exam. I wasn't actually that sick, but i hardly get sick, so any runny nose annoys me. 

today's exam was only an hour, which isn't good since there isn't enough time. i had so much more to write, just spent too much time thinking initially and didn't write fast enough. maybe i should've used my good pen...no time to even check calculations as well. the test itself wasn't super hard, it was just hard to get everything down within the time limit, and doesn't help that the professor marks hard...

now to study therapeutics...

my stuvac has consisted on having 3 cups a tea per day, while sleeping until 10am (sleep before 12am as well...). having avo on toast with ham, cheese on egg makes me happy, or even in a wrap. lunch at home isn't so bad, just can't plate it up nicely like cafes (or more like not bothered to try/no times). also, don't ever re brew lipton tea since it tastes worse than water. re brewing t2 is still ok

chanoma: azuki and matcha-$3.90

red bean was a bit on the sweeter side, and matcha not as strong as i remembered (or maybe i've just had too much bitter matcha that i'm used to it). soft serve more icy as well, but 10c cheaper than Aqua S across from it lol. they also have red cones as well, think that would look nicer but i didn't even notice until my friend asked for one. also went for lunch after to relax (need good food to study), but food was average (post about this place probably in a month's time at this rate). checked out the T2 DIY chai which is $40, calculated you save $6, so not sure if worth...but the tin is so pretty and the concept is pretty fun. although i can technically mix my tea's together and have my own homemade-DIY chai. only during exams/saturdays i have time to make tea/coffee/chai/matcha etc. normally on a uni day or when i work there isn't enough time.

and just for blogging purpose/keeping track of all the fat i've consumed... (already review these on Zomato)

Burgers Anonymous: Heisenburger-$7.50

They had a pop up in the city so half price, normally $15, but on the website they have it as $18...took over 15mins to get this, and missed my bus..not worth it. couldn't taste anything special in the bacon (apparently it's been double smoked, triple glazed), but there wasn't much either so couldn't taste it. the sauce was kind of a 1000 island dressing but sweeter and a bit mustardy...

Ichiban Boshi: Miso Ramen-$9.90

Missed my bus so got this (and missed it again). Ended up waiting 15min for a table, (arrived at 2), then another 15mmin for it to come. I thought this was mainly pre cooked, and they just use their super fast pots to cook the noodles...It was decent, not overly salty until the end, and noodles had a firm texture. pork was really good as well, but too cheap to pay for extra.

okay, enough procrastinating, back to study