Cake competition at the end of advanced clinical skills

I don't have a lot to say here this event does not really meet the criteria of having food 'provided' as we put all the effort in. We had some wine provided which tasted like it was fresh out of the country cask. There were no beers provided. The med school wasn't really meeting us half way here. The students put a lot of effort in and all we get is shit wine and no beer what a shame.

I was lucky enough to get hold of some images from the cake comp, as you can see a lot of hard work went into these fine creations.

The winner was the H1N1 cake which is pictured first. To all the competitors well done and my birthday is on the 19th of August if you want to put your baking skills to the test again.

Dinner at the Marae

Kai at the Marae is considered tapu or sacred if you would, with this in mind I hoped I could move on from the average afternoon tea to a more sacred dinner.
Playing touch had increased my hunger to "I'm gonna bite someone soon if I don't eat soon." This added on with being last in line while experiencing post shower sweats was fueling my impatient hunger pains.

The selection of meat was good with beef and chicken on offer with also would you believe it seafood salad! This rating had the potential to be bias because of this dish. However there was fruit added to this salad which I felt was unnecessary, since when did fruit apart from lemon go well with creatures of the sea?
The roast potatoes were prepared well and were yellow. Salads were nothing spectacular but were a good addition. Roast pumpkin was on offer and had the orangely fluffy texture I liked but in saying that roast pumpkin isn't exactly rocket science to cook it's actually food science just not that difficult food science.

One major criticism of the meal was the lack of gravy with the roast meat and vegetables. This is the equivalent of sex without a blowjob first, of fish and chips without tomato sauce. I mean they had mayo with the salad so I just couldn't understand the roast without gravy.

Desert was also provided. Strawberries,cream,ice cream,fruit salad and jelly. Not ridiculously fancy stuff but it served it's purpose. The availability of fresh fruit on the tables complimented the desert menu and was a hit with my classmates so has a special audience vote there.

This was a vast improvement on afternoon tea and I can honestly say I did enjoy my meal, but mainly because I was so hungry and was allowed seconds. This is always an easy way to impress me. Leaving this out of the picture and taking into account that this blog is strictly professional this typical Marae meal may not rate that highly as it was not out of this world impressive. Lets see how it went.

Originality- nothing really original here 1/4 stars
Taste-2/4 stars (might have been improved if gravy was provided)
Appearance-1/4 stars
Added star for audience vote
Overall-5/12 stars

An added side note
Several of my classmates came down with food poisoning after the Marae visit. It seemed like my flatmate was having his stomach wrung out like a wet rag. Since I did not come down with food poisoning the rating will not be affected. To all those who came down with food poisoning and spent the weekend winging, harden the fuck up.
Larry

Afternoon Tea at the Marae following the Powhiri

The Kai following the Powhiri should really meet the standards of the initial greeting and welcoming onto the Marae, on this occasion it did not. I was quite hungry as I had a light lunch so was definitely holding out for the free kai.
The selection was crackers with cheese and some relish, a couple of cakes and a solid selection of fruit, kinda what you would get when you do your annual visit to your grandparents for afternoon tea. The pick of the afternoon tea was probably the crackers I really didn't have much to work with here. This was no Porirua Marae (CCW), which had spectacular food.
Apperance-1/4 stars
Originality-1/4 stars
Taste-1/4 stars
Overall- 3/12 stars

Morning Tea-Sponsored by NZMSA

Had a very limited selection today, thanks a lot NZMSA. My flatmate noted that the ginger cake things tasted like they had been made in the Phillipines and then sent over last year.
There also wasn't enough sandwiches of which were pretty stock standard. They just had your average meats and fillings, I could of done pretty similar but better. There isn't much else to comment on here. Aren't you guys meant to be encouraging us to join your society?

Larry's rating
Apparance-1/4 stars
Originality-1/4 stars
Taste-2/4 stars
Overall- 4/12 stars

1st day of 4th year-A social event provided by the Wellington school of Medicine

This was meant to be a social event but already knew each other so was an excuse to eat some free stuff and drink some free alcohol. The free alcohol was a highlight but my previous weekend which involved drinking a concoction called "green goblin" before the races made me reluctant to make the most of this opportunity.
I enjoyed how the two tables were set out. One table for hot pastry type foods, the other for sweet stuff.
I started with the chicken filo. The chicken was cooked well which we all know is important and the pastry was nice and flakey. Good start med school.
The fried bread and pate was by my honest opinion shit and didn't really belong on the hot food table. That was really the only thing on that table that ratted me out.
The lamingtons were presented well and were worth noting. I did not get to sample them but i'm sure they were good.
When I saw that my buddy Cam was sampling a danish I thought it looked amazing so I thought I'd get in on that action. Man what an experience. The sweetness of the chocolate with the airiness of the pastry complimented each other well. The danish and the chocolate danish were winners on the day as well as the free speights. Was gutted I couldn't get on the wine buzz though.

Larry's rating
Originality- 2.5/4 stars
Apperance- 2/4 stars
Taste- 2.5/4 stars
Overall- 7/12 stars