Internal tears of happiness (a lot better than multiple days of external tears of despair and injustice). Oh uni, first time releasing results 3 hrs before the normal 9pm emails...Not sure if because we're 'older' than other years, or they have just become a tad bit more organised. Mind still a bit blank, but a lot of relief. Hope there weren't any supps for my subject, and hopefully everyone else passed as well. As much as I love planning, there is only so much that I can plan. Super thankful.

That satisfaction when you see a whole year's worth of work on a nice glossy poster. The irony of studying your own research when you should technically know it back to front...(yeah, that research life probs not for me). Funny how we've spent the whole year working with our supervisor to realise he's married. He always seems so busy but thankful he can still meet up with us after a day and flight with no sleep for 36hr. Home stretch tomorrow.

Good Fat

When I heard Sydney was going to have an avocado cafe, I knew I had to go. Albeit, it is a pop up for the month of November, but it's quite a nicely done pop up. Earlier when I came back from my spontaneous to Europe this year, saw a post about an avocado cafe opening in Amsterdam and felt like I missed out, but so happy that Sydney had it's own. People normally ask what I put in my sandwiches, and most of the time it's avocados.

food spread

Left-The smooth avocado: avocado, banana, mango, mint, milk-$8

Right-Avo green smoothie: avocado, banana, spinach, cucumber, lemon, milk-$8

You could choose between Chobani yoghurt or different types of milk, but did not realise until after the drinks came. The drinks both tasted really similar, but I guess I was expecting a bigger hit of creaminess from the avo. The smooth avo drink wasn't really sweet and couldn't taste the mango either. The other smoothie was more refreshing because of the spinach and cucumber in it. The drinks  were thick but not like those asian avo shakes, but not too thin so that it was watery. Embarrassingly knocked down pretty much half of the smooth avo drink, but you can tell it's still thick enough to not crazily spill everywhere like water would...

Avoschetta: Fresh Avocado, roasted cherry truss tomatoes, with whipped feta on harvest grain sourdough and house made pistachio dukkah-$15

Can't go to an avo cafe without getting avocado toast right? (Insert can't afford to get a house deposit jokes). I do have to admit they were a bit stingy on the avo here, it's more 1/4 of an avo...The sourdough crust was a bit hard and chewy, so ended up using my hands to eat the bread. The tomatoes were really sweet and juicy though. Would have liked a bit more feta. I liked the slight crunch from the pistachio dukkak.

Good fat fritters: Golden fried shredded potato & zucchini fritters, dukkah coated Avocado, cured salmon, avocado hollandaise-$16

The fritters were really nice, not too oily or potatoes, but wished they were bigger in size. Couldn't really taste the avo in the hollandaise, although it was less acidic than your average hollandaise. Avo helped give some creaminess to the dish. Decent portion of salmon on the dish.

The Avo-licious Pig: Sweet miso glazed pork cutlet with broccolini & spinach, Avocado and mango salsa-$19

A good chunk of pork cutlet, with a nice sweet miso glaze. Probably would've liked a bit more miso in it though, but the pork was relatively lean. Loved the addition of the sweet yet slightly tangy mango salsa with some greens, and creaminess from the avo. This dish was quite filling and hearty in comparison. It's $20 on the online/printed menu, but they charged $19 on the receipt.

Avoconetto: Avocado ice cream, shaved dark chocolate, sweet pumpkin shortbread cream, praline, drizzled with salted caramel in a waffle cone-$6

Some of my favourite things on a plate: avocado, ice cream and edible flowers. Love the creaminess of the ice cream without being too sweet or overly powering with avocado, a really good balance of everything. Someone should make a market for avocado ice cream in supermarkets. The praline gave the dish a nice crunchy texture. The salted caramel was more sweet and couldn't really taste the saltiness in it. Its $9 on the online menu, $8 on the printed menu, and they charged $6 on the receipt, which is quite a bargain, compared to other ice creams I've had. Wouldn't mind ordering this again if they do set up a permanent store in the future.

menu

recipes

avocado wall paper

cute cushions

LABLD.

Love exploring new places and cafes, and was in the area so decided to check out this cafe. It's pronounced as 'labelled' but like most things these days, dropping some letters and adding a full stop seams to be the new trend when naming stuff. This place used to be some old convenience store, and they still have the old signage and old school red tiling outside (which I'm sure they'll eventually change once they get things up and running). Loved how they have copper coloured cutlery. 

food spread

Capp-$3.50

They originally gave me a flat white even though we ordered a capp. They were nice and remade the coffee. The coffee was a good drinking temp and had a decent body to it. The foam did start sinking after most photos were taken.

The tumeric latte-$5, had a really good amount of tumeric in it. It's different sort of spice and definitely an acquired taste, but I may have a higher tolerance for tumeric. Quite like the flavour in it.

Pandan pancakes w/ caramelised banana, honeycomb cream, meringue, cherry-$17

Couldn't really taste the pandan in these pancakes, it's more of an after taste, but the maple syrup really drowned out the subtle flavour in it. I've had pandan pancakes before where the flavour is a lot more prominent in comparison. Do have to give them credit for having pancakes with a bit of height. It's not as fluffy and high as the ones I had in Jap, but for Sydney standards, it's taller than your average pancake. The honeycomb with a bit chewy/sticky and on the sweet side, I prefer the bitter, crunchy sort of honeycomb. Love how there are edible flavours there, I feel like you can't really have a cafe or dish without edible flowers these days. The meringue bits could have had a bit more of a crunch.

Birds nest: poached egg wrapped in potato spaghetti, avocado puree, fried leek, pea tendrils, sil-gochu

#yolkporn

Still can't figure out how they managed to wrap the strands of potato around a perfectly poached egg. The potatoes had a soft texture even though they've been fried. Interesting concept with the eggs on top of some greens and avo puree. The garnish on top apparently is a Korean garnish made from chilli peppers, but it doesn't really taste like anything.

Brekky momo: wine infused bacon, egg, tomato, shallots w/ roast tomato puree and green mojo-$12

Chicken momo: chicken mince, garlic, onion, herbs w/ roast tomato puree and green mojo-$12

 

inside: brekky and chicken

The menu described these as Himalayan dumplings, but momo is more from a Nepal origin. First time having non Chinese/Japanese/Korean dumplings. I feel like the skin of these dumplings are firmer but thin at the same time. The brekky momo had wine infused bacon which I couldn't really tell, but it had a really nice kick from the curry spice. The chicken one was a bit more plain, but tasted healthy and the mince was quite lean. The sauce for both wasn't too overly tomatoey/acidic, and also had a nice chilli kick which I could appreciate (I think my chilli tolerance is slowly increasing). The chef accidentally made the chicken ones even though we ordered the brekky momo, so got a plate of dumplings for free!

they also served sparkling/carbonated water on tap for free

inside

they also sell some specialty food items 

Exam Hibernation

Coming out of exam hibernation after over a month. I do try to study at home pretty much from waking up to going back to sleep, but like most people, I do procrastinate. Even after not really using my phone and charging every 2-3 days, and then trying to stay away from social media, but then not really since need to check if anything important happens in group chats. 

So what else was I up to when I was supposed to be studying but then obviously got distracted? Not in any order:

Free tde case!

tde opened their flagship store in Sydney so you can actually check out the stuff rather than just online, and they gave out free phone cases that day. This lavender purple is so pretty irl! Tbh, don't think it's worth $50 for that little bit of leather, since in America, you can get a branded leather bag with a lot more leather material compared to this phone case. I'm the sort of person who would spend thousands on stuff, but phone cases or cases in general I'll try to spend the bare minimum. As long as I feel like it does the job, a cheap $2 case is fine. The leather case is also too nice to use...

tde is relatively successful from starting off as only online, now stores in overseas as well. Still think almost all the stuff is overpriced, and the stuff I do have were either discounted or gifts. Do have to give them credit for being one of the first to do the whole 'monogramming' thing. Now so many other places do monogramming. Their packaging has also improved, since they didn't do any embossing on the inside, and the same size box I got earlier this year was just white on the inside.

Gelato Messina Jersey Milk-strawberry

Another item which I couldn't physically go to line up to get cause stuck at home with exams. This is one of those 'money can't buy' things. Messina bought a cow farm which supplies Jersey milk for their gelato, and you can't buy their milk even if you wanted to. This milk is different from your normal full cream milk. It goes down very smooth and tastes very natural, not too heavy or creamy but still creamy. It's thin but not watery. It had a more natural strawberry flavour with strawberry bits in it. The milk bottle is so cute as well. Shoutout to BW for lining up for both the phone case and the milk whilst I was stuck at home studying. 

 

I think the Snap chat explains it. I missed out on the event last year, but decided to go this year. So weird to see my church trying to use social media.

Procrastination also involved online shopping. Had a $20 voucher from Mimco, defs going to be the last one since I almost never buy anything from there, and haven't helped buy friends bday stuff from there so will lose my 'tiered' membership. Before they even had tiers, there were $30 bday vouchers, but then decreased that to $20. I think they saw people like me something get things almost for free, like that time I got a $100 keyring for just $0 i.e. free. 

This was quite a massive box for just a ring, I feel like the packaging itself is like a few dollars. The ring was $100 down to $4 after discounts/using my voucher, but these super cheap stuff have to be delivered since they don't have it in store, so ended up paying $14, since they charge $10 delivery. Still reasonable but I would never pay $100 for something that's made in China and not even really branded. Like how much is the actual cost price/profit they make? Small finger problems and the ring doesn't really fit either, but for $14 it's ok. (Although I do spend 4 figures on other stuff, it's really quality which is more important than I can justify spending insane amounts).

There's this new guy who does Star Track deliveries for online orders and he's pretty hopeless. He delivered someone else parcel from a different street to us. Then had to knock again for us to give back the parcel. Initially we're like what do we do cause he delivered to the wrong address...

 

TRUFFLE oil and salt

A super belated present from my optom girls after not seeing them for over 2 months. Now I can literally have truffle everything! From truffle pasta, to truffle chips, salad etc etc. Can pimp up my bland boring (albeit healthy) home food. There's even real pieces of truffle in the oil. Need to up my non existent cooking skills. Super bad photo quality, might take another one during the day. I don't think any of them read this, but thanks for indirectly chipping into my iPhone 8.

Can really feel the effects of not exercising and sitting at home for over a month. So dead and weak, and my cardio according to my fit bit has died, not that there was much to start with... Even when you're on holidays, you're constantly moving whereas exams you just sit and study. Surprisingly don't have much time to go even with exams finished (for now).

I figured there's no point sulking even if I do receive another UF or F on thurs night, so might as well continue to make plans. Ceebs filing/cleaning/tidying everything until I know my results. I think I'm also not going to ask for additional shifts this Christmas at other stores. Probs lazy but I would rather binge watch tv if I pass, and if not, then I will have an extra year of travel and watching tv...

Love sharing my itineraries with people, but too bad not going anywhere this holidays (unless I don't pass, so will defs fly off and save money after I come back for a grad trip if when I graduate...which I may have said more than once...)

Although I love my freebies, ended up skipping a free dinner last week since I was ceebs. Really hating this warmer weather since all I want to do is stay indoors away from the humidity/heat/sun, but at the same time I want to go out and explore places. It's funny how when I'm overseas, especially in Taiwan summer, I just deal with the humidity, but back at home I ceebs cause there's always tv/movies to watch or some productive stuff to do...

Need to make a note here that supps come out around 11:30am. Ahh mixed feelings for no supps for the subject. Either 1. I actually passed 2. Failed more than 1 strand, so no supps, and worse outcome than last time. Have a feeling that it's more of the latter...Could actually make a new record to be the first to fail the same thing twice. Can't actually relax until results come out. That being said, I know it's not the end of the world and greater things have yet to come.

Now I have time to do my back log of posts on here and Insta, and also tidy some stuff up, but ceebs. It's weird how when you're supposed to be studying you do anything other than study, and when you don't have to study and have time to do other things on the 'to do' list, you don't really complete it.

Someone remind me not to say yes to a 9-9 next time.

Last year I started studying before supp list went up, but turned out I was studying for the wrong strand. This year I don't even know if I have the stamina to restudy if I am on the supp list. It's really just optom students who study before the supp list, and I know I'm not the only one who attempts to study beforehand...So many plans but restudying gets in the way of everything.

So much feedback from CL prac this year before the list is released, last year no one got any feedback apart from when half the grade got a supp for LV prac, and the feedback came after the supp list released. So this ain't gonna look good...fail one component either theory or prac then no supp for anything...You would think one year to restudy stuff would help, yeah not really tbh.

Just the perfect timing (sarcasm intended) when uni sends an email about failing and completing your degree within '2n+2 years'. Imagine studying an undergrad degree and dragging it until 12 years...It's actually common for our course to fail once, and not uncommon to fail twice, but it is rare tripping up twice in the same subject....ahhh....I think just need to be mentally prepared to be doomed for failure...

Can't even be bothered to upload a backlog of photos onto here or Insta.

Round 2 Take 2?

Finished exams 2 days ago, but I feel like I may have bombed out on a different strand this time round. Like we were talking today when catching up with the optom girls, what more do they want? We literally try our best, and have a whole year to re-study everything, but if we don't pass again, do we need to spill some blood to prove we are trying? (We were all half joking and half serious). Hearing about these crazy 5th yr reports/placements/deadlines all seems exciting and daunting, but just have to make it there first...

4 exams for 6 units of credit. 4 hour theory exams compared to commerce exams which people finish in 1 hr compared to 2hrs. Hardly anyone leaves an optom exam early, and generally there's not enough time to write everything. Like, why can't they give us more credit??

Ahh, when other older optoms understand all the stress from optom exams.

I will literally have nothing to study next year, so if I don't make it, going to be yolo and probs travel to Europe again.

From not eating out for 3 weeks (apart from eating junk food every odd hour which is probs equivalent to eating out), to then going out everyday, post-exam-life-in-between-supp-list-release is actually quite busy. So many photos to upload, but haven't had the time. Even sleeping 1/2 to 2/3 of what I slept during exam time. Studying really does drain your brain, more than working full day then socialising at night.

Results also come out same day as research presentation. I may/may not be sulking when presenting our research...

It's easy to pull a straight face at work or when meeting up with friends, but in my head, I'm really just like 'Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh'

Despite all this being said, still have to remind myself that I have no control and God is in control. If I don't pass again, then I guess that's the way it is. Never too early to start planning on how to fill up an empty year right..?

Henry Lee's

I wanted to try out this cafe mainly for the drinks, since they looked and sounded good on paper. Weather was perfect for trying out this courtyard style cafe, loved the vibes here. It wasn't really busy on a Thursday morning.

food spread

   

courtyard

Pleasantly surprised when I walked into this cafe, and to be honest, wasn't expecting it from a cafe in Redfern. It's set in a courtyard which has some covering so even when it rains, most tables won't get wet, but also has natural lighting which comes through. Although if you do sit on a table in the sun, those dots on the ceiling are going to cast heaps of 'dot' shadows over your table...

cute menu

Apparently they don't really have a popular dish since everything is popular. A lot of the dishes though are sourdough topped with something, or have similar ingredients but in a salad form/different presentation. I guess it really depends on what you feel like on the day.

White Lavender Hot Chocolate: white Belgium chocolate infused w/ lavender & served w/ your choice of milk-$6

I just decided to go with normal milk, since I wanted to try the 'og' version, well more like try the actual hot choc without the milk flavour altering the taste. Really loved this drink since you can taste the lavender without it being too overpowering. I love floral flavours in drinks. I'm not a big fan of white choc, but luckily it wasn't too sweet here. 

Aztec Chili Iced Chocolate: Dark Belgium chocolate infused w/ cayenne pepper & served w/ vanilla bean ice cream & your choice of milk-$7

Went with coconut milk in this one (50c extra). I don't think I could really taste the coconut in it, but I could actually appreciate the chilli in this drink which gave it a nice kick, then balanced but the smoothness of the dark choc. Again, this drink isn't on the sweet side either cause of the chilli. 

super big wooden square board

Tangier: Tagine baked soft eggs in mild spicy rancheros sauce w/ pumpkin topped w/ crispy kale, Mexican guacamole, Persian feta & served w/ crispy tortillas-$21

I actually didn't have any baked eggs during winter, which is normally one of my fav go to brunch winter dishes. Then again, I wasn't here much this winter, and when I was here it wasn't even that cold...The main difference in this one is that the yolk was still quite runny compared to others which are generally cooked through. They also added bits of pumpkin which helped reduce the amount of sauce in the dish, so it wasn't too salty or spicy. I could actually tolerate the spice, so pretty much wasn't spicy at all. Wished there was more tortilla to mop up the sauce, since they only gave one pieces (and on the menu it's plural lol).

Henry’s Dream: Sourdough topped w/ nasturtium & pine nut pesto, avocado, heirloom tomatoes, radish, lemon zest & whipped ricotta then sprinkled w/ za’atar w/ poached egg-$21

#yolkporn

I actually try to avoid having avocado toast at cafes (because I'm trying to save for a house deposit-jks). It's cause I can make avo toast at home, but just nowhere as pretty. I did cut into an unripe avo since I had a sudden avo craving the day before, so thank goodness for ripe avo on this toast. Loved how they added edible flowers to the dish. Wished there was more pesto in it, since I couldn't really taste it. Same with the za'atar since I found the herb/spice was quite subtle even though you could see it. I couldn't figure out what the black smear/sauce is...some slightly acidic/tangy sort of sauce..? The sourdough crust was quite hard to cut into even with a sharp knife. Yay for a nice runny yolk to soak up with the toast.

I also liked how they have bigger tables as well, I guess cause their actual plates are quite big. Would recommend to come here even just for the drinks.