It's ironic how patients where you see more 'interesting' stuff on the anterior eye that they also tend to be the ones where you can't fill your 'quotas' and normal stuff to practice on. Not going to reach my sem 1 quotas so probs try make it up in sem 2. It's just really a matter of 'luck' depending on your patients, and also supervisor if they allow you to do extra techniques. Less primary care clinics this week but can't do much and I have a feeling no LV...Most of the time you trek to uni to see a px, but I still really appreciate the learning environment since there's so much equipment to use and all the optoms are so smart.

Coco Cubano: mango and lime granita-$7.50

Trying not to be anti social so plugged on a drink which I can technically make at home. This was more on the sweet side. I remember having nicer drinks at the Parra one ages ago... Haven't been to the other side of the uni for so long, and didn't realise still so much construction going on. 

Having internals isn't too bad since you don't really start at 9am each day unlike next rotation with the private placement. Goodbye to brunch times and food adventures during the day. 

Winter Olympics 2018

Yay Olympics! How has it already been 2 years since Summer Olympics... Love watching the Olympics, and for winter, my favourite would defs be figure skating. It's just so elegant, and their costumes are amazing. It's held in some rural mountains in South Korea this year. Another reason winter Olympics is good since it's held during our summer, and beginning of the year is less busy, whereas normal Olympics is normally when we have exams/busy in August.

Korean kids are pretty cute, and there's quite a lot of nice synchronisation. They have heaps of newer technology lights/projections which seem more 3D. They have lights between each chair, so from a birds eye view, you can see different projections on the audience. The country name carrier ladies have really pretty costumes. I find it funny how they have seat warmers on the seats. The stadium is a lot smaller than the normal 400m track.

Fav part were the 1200 drones which formed a skateboarder then the Olympic rings-it's so cool! Like how do they not crash?

Had to Google why the order of countries are so weird and not in alphabetical order. Turns out Greece always comes out first since the first Olympics were first held there, and it's by the Korean alphabet, so Aus comes out last. Maybe Australia is sort of pronounced the Jap way with an O..? Host country always comes out last.

Interesting that Russia is banned cause of the whole doping scandal, and 'clean' Olympians compete under the Olympic flag, and team is called 'Olympic Athlete from Russia.' Also didn't realise Taiwan has to compete under 'Chinese Taipei' with a modified flag including the Olympic rings.

Those Scandinavian countries/northern countries/USA with real snow always are the strong winners, but it's still nice to see other non snow countries still compete. Aus still has a decent team.

Every time it's winter Olympics, I just think of Steven Bradbury winning Australia's first gold medal. A lesson to never give up.

Some countries just have one competitor and then 3 people behind who are coaches.

I know I should study, but Olympics are every 4 years so...

Wild Sage

I normally figure out where I want to eat beforehand, but on this night spontaneously decide to come here to also try to avoid the rain. This new building in Barangaroo was built within months, since my bus goes past it every morning, and you can see the progress everyday. It's a nice half indoor/outdoor sort of restaurant, although not all their outdoor seating is fully covered so some of it gets wet outside. I love the floor to ceiling windows though since it allows natural light into the restaurant. Inside there aren't many seats, but they were kind enough to give us a bigger corner table.

food spread

One for the lady: Irresistable & Addictive. Rose petal infused vodka, pear brandy & pomegranate fused with fresh lime & vanilla. Served straight up in a classy martini glass-$18

I hardly ever order drinks when I eat out, apart from coffees, but alcohol is expensive so I normally don't order it. The cocktails in photos looked too pretty to pass this time round, so decided to share this drink. It was actually really delicious, it had a bit of sweetness from the fruits and the floral flavour wasn't too overpowering, yet you could still taste the vodka in it. Sometimes cocktails just taste like cocktails or juices, and you think if they even put any alcohol in it.

Pork belly lollipops with cabbage, daikon, pickled carrots, sesame seeds, shallots, chilli aioli-$16 

I love the sound of this on paper and thought it was very cute. You get 2 pieces per stick, so it is pricey, but so delicious. I don't normally eat the fat of pork belly at home, but I do if I eat out. The skin was crunchy and had decent chunks of meet. The sauce was a nice sticky yet not too sweet, and the chilli aioli helped give a mild kick to it. 

Slow cooked ox cheek with guinness beer, pickled carrot, dikon, pomegranate, crispy shallots, horseradish-$28

inside

The ox cheek was cooked perfectly, and split really easily with a knife. It looks small but once you start digging in, it's pretty filling. Couldn't really taste the guinness beer since all the alcohol was probably cooked off already. The pickled carrots and other veggies helped to keep this dish light.

Black chicken: pepper, lemon grass, tamari & coriander chicken with green mango cabbage salad-$28

This sounded cool on paper but was more on the average side. I was thinking of it being really black like charcoal, but I guess the black is from the paper. Flavour wise, the chicken wasn't overly seasoned and cooked well. This dish was really fresh, but the salad does have quite a lot of acidity to it, so more of an acquired tasted.

open kitchen

Pipilotti Rist: Sip My Ocean-MCA

A rare day off meant finally having the chance to visit this exhibit at the MCA. Was originally going to go here 2 months ago, but we ended up seeing Yayoi in Brisbane. I'm not a big fan of modern art, but this exhibit and Yayoi Kusama were both pretty good. First time going to a paid exhibit in the MCA, but I think this one was worth it. There's quite a bit of interactive stuff to do, and lots of cool projections projecting onto different every day objects, yet sort of gave a homely feel. 

The main exhibit was the Pixel Forest, that has lights which changed colour and matched the artist's song. Spent a decent amount of time here just taking photos for fun. Good thing about coming on a morning non-school holiday weekday is there are minimal amount of people in photos.

Credit goes to BW for this pic

Just some other snaps from my iPhone, took one too many photos so just picked some pics with lights in my favourite shades of purple.

Gogyo

I've been to Japan twice, but have only visited Tokyo, not Kyoto where this ramen store originates from, so when a friend suggested we go after an afternoon clinic, I was definitely keen to try. I've also been to Hong Kong multiple times, but there is so much food there that I also never tried this ramen there either. 

I wasn't expecting much, but was pretty surprised at the decor inside. It gives off that 'expensive restaurant' feel, even though you're only eating ramen. Yes, this ramen costs more than your cheap Chinatown ramen (don't get me wrong, those Sydney favourites still on my list to eat just haven't had time). Made a booking for Monday night, and it was quite busy after 6pm, with all the bar tables and high tables with stools full. They give you bibs to wear which I thought was quite cute. Normally you have bibs if you eat ribs. It's nice to protect your work clothes if the noodles does splash in the broth.

Kogashi Miso: charred miso base, original chicken broth, half umami egg, pork belly chasu. Noodles: #16F medium-thin (low hydrolysis)-$18

ramen lift

This is definitely worth trying at least once. It's a very unique sort of broth as you get that burnt after taste. The broth was more oily and because of that burnt aftertaste, it's hard to drink the broth after you finish it. Normally I don't drink it because it's too salty, but here the burnt miso aftertaste rather than being salty is only nice with the noodles. The only time I've ever fully drank ramen broth was in a Michelin ramen restaurant in Tokyo. The noodles held together well and had an al dente texture, since there's less water and more flour. Was hoping for a larger slice of pork, but it was super soft. There isn't a lot of noodles in the bowl compared to other ramen places, but I guess that allows you stomach space to try the side dishes.

Chilli Shoyu-$17

Tried a tiny spoonful of this, and it was enough to make meet my spicy tolerance. Apparently this ramen tasted really fresh because of the coriander and tomatoes in it.

Karaage chicken-$16

I normally don't order fried chicken unless other people want it. This was crispy on the outside, and super juicy and moist on the inside. Worth trying this Jap style fried chicken. You get 6 pieces which is sort of an odd number to share.

Gogyo Original Gyoza-$14

inside

Asked the waitress for popular side dishes and she recommended this, and also said it was larger than your average gyoza. Well, tbh, it's smaller than your average gyoza, and it's not cheap for 5 pieces. It could have also been crispier. The meat inside was seasoned well without being too salty, and the skin was really thin, so I guess you're paying for the freshness and I'm assuming it's handmade by the chefs here. They have heaps of other sides to try compared to other ramen places.

Open kitchen

They have 8 chefs which is a lot for ramen, then again there is more seating here. Although in Japan, the award winning ones only have 3 chefs serving 10-15 people at a time, but they constantly work the whole day. The service was quite attentive at the beginning and they kept refilling water, but once it got busy, it was hard to get more water and waited a bit to pay the bill.

bar

I don't drink alcohol much at restaurants, but here they don't allow you to try the glass before you purchase the bottle. Even though a friend did get a glass, they didn't pour it in front of the table, which apparently is what happens at other restaurants. Not sure if this is a Japanese thing of not pouring the bottle in front of the customers?

Menu

Entrance

Rengaya

You know you’re getting old when your whole fam plays ‘scissors, papers, rock’-loser has to drive and can’t drink. Came here for Dad’s annual work dinner last year. I think this is my fourth time here. I think for Sydney standards, they do decent quality wagyu beef here, with around 8 different cuts, plus other protein and Jap side dishes to choose from.

They know have an all you can eat for 2hrs ~$80pp, where you can order things from an iPad then bbq it yourself (with the usual disclaimer if you don’t finish your food you’ll be charged). If children are over a certain height, they would be charged as adults. Food doesn’t take too long to come out. The drinks looked colourful but were average, and cost $15-$20 for a cocktail. I think since it was a big table, they got some orders confused, but in the end, we were super full. 

Some photos of some meat from the night.

 

interesting drink where you mix and make your own

cocktail on the right tasted like cordial...

sashimi

 

green tea ice cream

Wake Up Call

This week has gone by so fast yet slow at the same time. How is it already February?! My realisation that it was already Feb when we went to Jamie's and I thought they still had the $10 pasta, but I literally forgot it was 1st Feb and the cheap pasta ended the day before  🤦‍♀️  

This year will also fly by very quickly, a good and bad thing. I like to plan stuff, but then it feels like a mountain of hurdles to pass through before the end. Although most people I know have or will start full time work this year, I guess I need to remind myself to be grateful that with uni means not full time work=holidays.

This week on the bus in the tunnel on my morning commute to uni, the bus suddenly swerved into the tiny emergency bay stopping area. If that wasn't there and it was just all wall, there would've been a crash. The truck in the next lane suddenly drifted into the lane the bus was on, wouldn't be surprised if the truck driver was sleepy/tired. 

4 weeks into the first rotation and still haven't had any difficult pxs. I did get grilled for forgetting basic stuff, which is a good wake up call that I need to revise stuff. 

Totally overslept today and also took a nap. Not feeling enough energy to start studying again, but looking forward to 2 days off next week since it's the 'staff retreat', but apparently that really translates to staff meeting to discuss trimester stuff next year...An itchy throat doesn't help with having enough energy to study...Not looking forward to two 8am starts though, and an 8-5 day with no break.

 

'Black indulgence'

Finally had time to take a photo of some of my favourite 'black things' against the only bit of marble we have at home. Now I can finally start using the truffle oil. It's ok if I missed out on cheap pasta, I can have truffle flavoured stuff all day every day. I don't care if truffle rice isn't a thing, or truffle asian greens, because I will probably add this to every meal lol. Still haven't worn the sunnies yet, they are expensive for sunnies but probably the only Chanel item I'll own. Although I say I don't want to work at times, these are the only work perks I'll ever get, so still super grateful with what I have.

It's also my first Saturday spent at home and not stepping outside the home since finals last year (which I don't step out of my house for a few days straight). Sometimes I do miss these quiet days to myself where I have the whole house to myself. 

Thanks BW for this cute snack 

Another reason why I'm like how is it February, I'm still behind in my food posts from December...