McCafé is a coffee-house-style food and drink chain, owned by McDonald's. Created and launched in Melbourne, Australia in 1993 by McDonald's Licensee Ann Brown, and introduced to the public with help from late McDonald's CEO Charlie Bell and then-Chairman and future CEO Jim Skinner, the chain reflects a consumer trend towards espresso coffees. McDonald's introduced a coffee line called "McCafé" nationwide in the United States. Unlike in other countries, "McCafé" is just a line of special drinks, not a full coffee shop.
Australia is full of people that demand good coffee and that's why McCafé came to existence. Just watch the video to see how McDonald's is slightly different than the ones in the US. In essence what they've done is they've added things to make it their own, EXCEPT for McCafé , that started here because Aussies wanted espressos, and cappuccinos without having to sit down in a fancy cafe and now you can get McCafe coffees through the drive-thru. McCafe coffee is also available in various parts around the world, including Canada, Spain, Ukraine, Croatia, Bulgaria, Paraguay and South Africa.
When you walk into McDonald's there are two counters, one for burgers and such and the other, albeit smaller is McCafe. McCafe has it's own register and has a display case that includes yummy things such as cheesecakes, various muffins, cakes, cookies, macaroons, brownies, and sandwiches.
A McCafe display case
Aspley McCafe display case
I see macarons and assorted cakes in these displays, along with the bottles of flavours and the assorted sizes of coffees they offer.
Breakfast McCafe menu
Breakfast McCafe menu
It also has the most important thing, COFFEE! They have this loyalty program, every 5th coffee is FREE, a small cappuccino costs $3.55, along with a flat white, long black, the mocha ones. I don't personally drink the flavoured ones but they have a tendency of being ten cents dearer.
McCafe loyalty card
Espresso and small cappuccino
Small cappuccino, espresso and 2 mini muffins
I really like their cappuccinos and my husband likes their espressos very much. They are not the best, but they are nowhere near the worst. The only difference between a McCafe cappuccino and let's say a Merlo one, is the fact that I need to use 2 Splendas to sweeten it and none for the Merlo. Everyone's different when it comes to how much sugar they take in their coffee, I guess try first without and add sugar as needed. Australia has a very large espresso based love of coffees, they won't drink something that's filtered or sits in a pot, it's made fresh when you order it, not a minute sooner.
So when you come and visit, I'll shout you a coffee and you'll see, McDonald's actually knows how to make coffee, here, not in the US.
Living here for a few years I notice one thing about the end of October, not too many pumpkins or fall foliage, it is spring after all, but rather the stores are full of many different dresses, some of them outrageous, and hats and fascinators, the reason behind all this fashion is the Spring Races, there are 4 races, Victoria Derby Day, The Melbourne Cup is also known as the race that stops a nation, Crown Oaks Day and Emirates Stakes Day. So many people don't go to work, they go to the local horse track if available or to restaurants or any establishment that shows the races and has betting facilities. The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races. Conducted annually by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria, the event starts at 3pm (daylight saving time) on the first Tuesday in November. The first race was held in 1861 over two miles (about 3,218 metres), but was shortened to 3,200 metres (2.0 mi) in 1972 when Australia adopted the metric system. This reduced the distance by 18.688 metres (61.31 ft), and Rain Lover's 1968 race record of 3min.19.1sec was accordingly adjusted to 3min.17.9sec. The present record holder is the 1990 winner Kingston Rule with a time of 3min 16.3sec.
Melbourne Cup day is a public holiday for all working within metropolitan Melbourne and some parts of regional Victoria, but not for some country Victorian cities and towns which hold their own spring carnivals. For Federal Public Servants it is also observed as a holiday in the entire state of Victoria, and from 2007 to 2009 also in the Australian Capital Territory known as Family and Community Day replacing Picnic Day. As early as 1865, Cup day was a half-holiday in Melbourne for public servants and bank officials. Various businesses also closed at lunchtime.It took some years before the purpose of the declared holiday was acknowledged in the Victoria Government Gazette. The Gazette of 31 October 1873 announced that the following Thursday (Cup Day) be observed as a bank and civil (public) service holiday. During the Spring Races there is a specific way of dressing. AAMI Victoria Derby Day - The week starts with the traditional black and white on Derby Day, which is where we will see the new season’s geometric shapes and stripes, along with the classic stripe and polka dot prints. Emirates Melbourne Cup - On Emirates Melbourne Cup Day, fashion is fun and race-goers often exercise their creativity through embracing bold colours and strong prints. We will see some great graphic prints and fun headwear, in bold reds, orange, fuchsia and cobalt blue. Crown Oaks Day - Oaks Day features the final of the Myer Fashions on the Field Women’s Racewear and is all about dressing to impress. This is the day ladies traditionally wear their most feminine and floaty outfits. Emirates Stakes Day - Emirates Stakes Day is family day, which takes the dress etiquette to a more relaxed level. You will often see ladies wearing bright floaty fabrications and large brimmed hats embracing the racewear looks trackside. Unfortunately the most gorgeous heels are usually uncomfortable so party feet are the way to go. A chunkier heel will stop you from sinking into the grass - taking off the heels and walking barefoot is a big no-no so ballet flats can be a saviour at the end of the day. Clutches with an optional strap are perfect to keep your hands free for champagne, canapés and the form guide, and spring racing headpieces should be straw - felt is more appropriate in Autumn. Sadly this year there were tragedies at the track as one of the horses had a heart attack and died, and another one got spooked by a person waving a flag in front of it and the poor horse hit a stake and had to be put down. Because of this, no flags of any sort will be allowed near where the horses come down after the race.
My husband told me about these, but it's not something you'd here around the city or much at all lately, but it is a bit interesting. Australias' national penchant for rhyming slang is shared by Londons' Cockneys, and no doubt goes right back to their convict origins. They may have borrowed some commonly used expressions directly from their English forebearers, but many others, such as Dad 'n' Dave and Ned Kelly are true blue Aussie.They used rhyming slang if they didn't want others, particularly the authorities, to understand what they were talking about. Basically, rhyming slang is the use of usually two or more words, the last of which rhymes with the intended word. But there are variations.The easiest examples of rhyming slang are straight-out rhymes. Thus plates of meat are feet. And rubbity-dub is pub; depending on context, it could also mean tub as in bath tub.So ava Captain Cook, for instance, at Captain Cook. Ava isn’t rhyming slang but simply how some Aussies pronounce Have a as in avagoodweegend (Have a good weekend). But Captain Cook is definitely rhyming slang and means look. So ava Captain Cook, for instance, at Captain Cook. The most common variation is to drop the rhyming word altogether. So you could simply ava captains (have a look) at this example. Sometimes when the rhyming word is dropped, the remaining word takes on a plural form for no logical reason. A third step is to abbreviate (or corrupt) the first word, so that not only is the rhyming word gone but the first word in the phrase is corrupted. Hence, seppo for American. The original phrase is septic tank for Yank and septic is corrupted into seppo. (Don’t ask me why Americans are called Yanks even if they come from the American South.) Another term used is tin tank.When rhyming slang is flying thick and fast, it’s best to know what some of them mean. Here are some rhyming slang examples: After dark - shark, bag of fruit - suit, Adrians. Drunk. This comes from the name of noted tennis player Adrian Quist. Quist rhymes with pissed, which means drunk. You could also use the full name Adrian Quist. With today’s generation, the more apt word could be Olivers, from the musical Oliver about Oliver Twist. Al Capone. Phone. Also dog and bone (shortened to dog) and eau de Cologne (shortened to eau). Apples and pears - Stairs. Bat and ball - Stall (your car). Cat's hiss - to take a piss. If you're having a Dad n' Dave, your having a shave. There are so many examples of rhyming slang that I couldn't possibly write all of them, so I have attached 2 links to pages that have more listing of rhyming slang. One warning, Aussies are not PC, so they may or may not be things in those lists that may or may not offend some people. http://www.dagree.net/aussieslang/slang_rhyming.html http://www.wanowandthen.com/slang.html
Every country that has English as their primary language will have their own spin on words, slang and of course spelling. I've heard a fair bit of funny sayings and I've decided to share them, with you my friends. One very popular one isfair dinkum - Kosher, the real thing - as in "Fair Dinkum Aussie" (true blue Aussie original). Often used by itself as a rhetorical question to express astonishment verging on disbelief ... "Fair Dinkum, mate?" (you've got to be kidding, haven't you?)Pull Your head In — Use sparingly, since this equates a rather annoyed "shut up & mind your own business".Chuck a sickie — Call in sick when you’re actually feeling well. Bob's yer uncle - if you do this (whatever is said first) it will work or be all right. Example: Just add some water and Bob's yer uncle. Don't get your knickers in a knot - don't upset yourself. Go and have a cuppa - have a cup of tea or coffee. Going to the dunny - off to the toilet. Ow-yar-goin - how are you. Example: ow-yar-goin mate? Stunned mullet - surprised, bewildered, uncomprehending. You're said to look like a stunned mullet when you have no idea what's going on or what they're talking about. Your shout - your turn to buy the drinks. Mates rates - cheaper than usual for a friend. Piece of piss - an easy task. Up before sparrow fart - up before dawn. Dingo's breakfast - no breakfast. Good onya - Omnipresent term of approval, sometimes ironic. Ocker — Pronounced "ocka" - Typical uncultivated Aussie, similar to Yank "redneck". Stickybeak - Nosy person. Not pissing on someone when they’re on fire - Means you don’t really care about somebody. Even if they were on fire, you wouldn't do them the service of pissing on them to put the fire out. Feeling a bit crook - feeling a bit sick. Feeling a bit peckish - feeling a bit hungry. Hangin for piss- need to pee. What do ya do for a crust mate? - what kind of work do you do. Aussie salute - the flapping away of ever - persistent flies from one's face. Bee's dick - smallest possible (eg: You've got a bee's dick of a chance of winning the lottery). Break open a coldie/tinnie - to open a beer. Buggered if I know - I have no idea; phrase indicating one is bemused about something. Carry on like a pork chop - to behave in a silly manner; to over react. Chock-a-block/chockers - full up; filled to capacity. Cleanskin - unbranded cattle or horse; unbranded bottle of wine. Cotton on to - to understand; to attach oneself to another (possibly unwilling) person. Could sell boomerangs to the Aboriginals - very persuasive. Couldn't lie straight in bed - a compulsive liar, cheat, swindler. Do a flit - to run away, especially from responsibility; to move house without paying bills or rent. Duck's dinner - a drink of water without anything to eat. Emu's breakfast - an expression meaning 'a drink and a good look around'. Garlic muncher - someone from central or southern Europe. Give (something) the flick - to dispose of it; get rid of it. Going to see a man about a dog - said when one does not want to reveal where one is going. Nosey enough to know the ins and outs of a chooks arse - an inquisitive or prying person. Take the mickey out of - to tease or ridicule someone. Ten ounce sandwich - lunch consisting of only beer. White ant - to sabotage (like a termite). Windy enough to blow a dog off its chain/Windy enough to blow the milk out of your coffee - extremely windy. Swagmans's breakfast - is a yawn, a piss and a fart. Flat out like a lizard drinking - you're exhausted.
In another blog to follow shortly I will tell you about rhyming slang, which is to me very odd, and something I don't think I'd get used to at all.
I'm actually surprised I haven't blogged about this earlier, I guess today's the day because I came back from my endo(endocrinologist) a few hours ago. Before deciding to come here, I and my husband researched what types of insulin is available here and monitors and meters and all the other diabetes related paraphernalia. Found out the insulin I use is readily available here, (excellent), the meter I was using, (One Touch Ultra Mini & One Touch Ultra 2)at the time was not, nor were the strips.
My nurse practitioner did give me a a Freestyle Light meter and thank goodness they have those meters and the test strips for them. I'm also happy that even though they measure sugar metrically with mmol/l, instead of imperially mg/dl, the test strips are the same and I didn't have to get my brain around the new way. I did manage to get a new Freestyle Light from here, but the battery drained in 2 days and I couldn't be bothered returning it (didn't cost me anything). I did find an app that converts from imperial to metric, this way it's much easier when I show my doctor my sugar diary. The meter I really, really want is the iBGStar, it's a tiny meter that you attach to your iPhone and your phone holds all the details, plus you can use it without the phone, only thing is it costs $100, and at the moment I don't have $100 to just buy that, it will be one of my first purchases when I get a job. The test strips cost me $15.90 for a box of 100 through the NDSS program, and the pen needles for my insulin are free! Plus I do NOT need a prescription for anything other than the insulin and glucagon. The NDSS program is the National Diabetes Services Scheme. The National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS) in Queensland is managed by Diabetes Queensland. The scheme provides diabetes products at a discounted rate and offers information and support services. In 2012 there were 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3% of the population, with diabetes.The total number of Australians with diabetes and pre-diabetes is estimated at 3.2 million out of 23,549,216 (Australian population as of end of 2013). There are more diabetic Americans than the entire population of Australia. More and more people every day are developing some sort of diabetes all over the world. The only good thing about this is that in places like Oz, more diabetes stuff can now be bought, though at a much higher price. In my car, in my bag, at my desk, by my bedside a tube of glucose tablets was always to be found, here in Oz they are a bit on the pricey side, a bottle of 50 here costs $25, in the US they sell for under $10 (one major thing I will be stocking up on my next visit). Living in the States I had a CGM (continuous glucose monitor), I loved that thing, I knew what my sugar was at all times, unfortunately it's available here, but the cost of the sensors is $2,000.00. My endo is a lovely woman, younger than me, and she says, she wishes all her patients were like me with a 6.4 A1C. That's lovely, she checks my blood pressure and my feet, and that's it, no stethoscope or taking sips of water to check my thyroid or even checking to see what your sugar is while you're there like all my previous endos have done. She does give me a referral to get blood work done, and she checks for everything, A1C, thyroid, cortisol, cholesterol and protein in urine among other things. I wish all endos around the world followed the same system, it'd be much easier for patients globally.
Since moving here, I have lessened the amount of diet Coke I drink, mostly because it's a bit more expensive here, so I've cut down to 2 a day, the rest of the day I drink water (amazingly) and this lovely tea they have here, it's green tea with mint and my other fave, green tea with lemon myrtle, a little zingy. There are not a lot of options for diabetics when they go out for a meal, most places sell diet Coke, but the Pepsi establishments only sell PepsiMax, and like CokeZero, it's DISGUSTING! I'd rather have the water bottled for Pepsi, but sometimes that's not an option, such as the new Costco that opened up, it's got free refills for Pepsi (go figure, the Costco in Melbourne has Coke), but the only "sugar free" option is Max, no water, no seltzer, just 7Up and all the other gross tasting sugary drinks. If you're at 7 Eleven or a gas station, you'll have better luck as quite a few sell, diet Coke and my Ultimate Favourite (and the reason I'm never leaving this country) is Diet Vanilla Coke - not available in the US, only Vanilla Coke Zero, which cannot be found in a bottle, though, the DVC is only available in 600ml and 2L bottles, no cans. One of the supermarkets did have Fanta Zero for a bit, but they stopped selling it, I've seen Sprite Zero in some vending machines at malls. If you're in the mood for a coffee and go to McDonald's or Zarraffas, you can sweeten your drink with Splenda, some cafes use Sweet n' Low or Equal, and I have seen some sort of Stevia in one cafe. Many don't offer any sort of "fake" sugar and that's why I always carry Splenda in my bag. Though I have found a brand of coffee here, called Rouge and when they make a cappuccino, it's so yummy all on it's own it doesn't need any sweeteners. Love going to that place but finding a parking spot is horrible.
Gas, as I grew up calling it, is usually called petrol here, sometimes fuel. My friend Christine has a VW Passat and she has to put Premium fuel in her car and I couldn't for the life of me understand why.....until I moved to Australia. In the US the "regular" gas is only 87 octane and "premium" is 91, whereas in Germany 91 octane is actually hard to find where they primarily have 95 octane, which is why Americans must use premium fuel to drive their higher-end German cars. The engines were built to use the richer fuels. In Australia "regular" gas is 91 octane, so if I bought a Passat I wouldn't have to use premium fuel, premium fuel here is 98 octane and there are a few stations that actually sell 100 octane. Right now Costco is selling 91 octane at $1.38 a litre ($5.31gal), 98 octane $1.52 a litre ($5.85gal) and diesel $1.47 a litre ($5.65gal), all the other stations, Shell, Caltex (which I think is part Texaco),BP, 7-11(which sell Mobil) are all a lot more expensive, by the way Costco is supplied by Mobil fuel also, which was my fuel of choice when I lived in NY. I was actually curious about the fuel here, as we have Shell, BP and 7-11 which was available in the US. Caltex I had never heard of before but their symbol kind of resembles the Texaco logo, so who knows. There are also independent gas stations, such as Matilda and Freedom, each individually owned. Caltex is owned by Woolworth's Limited, Shell is owned by Wesfarmers who separately are the duopoly that owns all Woolworth's (Woolies for short) and Coles supermarkets in Australia. Here in Australia those are your choices for supermarkets, they also own the bottle shops, the only places you can buy piss (slang for beer) :D - or any other type of alcoholic beverage, they also own the majority of the bars in Australia, if you see a certain bottle shop, next to a pub, then they own the shop and the bar. Coles owns Bunnings, which reminds me so much of Home Depot that I often call it Home Depot, funny thing Woolies owns Masters, which is part owned by Lowes in the States. I so much prefer Masters as it is air-conditioned and has a lot more appliances. It's also marketed towards women as we are the ones who say what art and colours go in our homes. :) (Bunnings has many oscillating fans to "cool" the warehouse and it's stinky in there - imagine fertilizers and such). There is also Aldi and IGA, short for Independent Grocers of Australia and now FINALLY Costco, so the duopoly can shiver in their knickers a bit, competition is excellent for the consumer.
Living in New York, I had moved twice, I don't remember the first time as I was only 19 months old, the second one was when I was going on 15, funny both those moves were in March, and so was the biggest one, moving here. When I was in high school and we moved, I got on the train in Ridgewood in the morning to go to school and when school was over my options were to take the bus or walk to Middle Village. It was a quick move I heard, but I didn't actually experience it. Moving to Australia I had the movers box and pack my stuff, a lot of things that I think now, why didn't I double and triple check the contents before the movers showed up, it would have cost me less money. Moving from Gordon Park to Kedron was not too bad as it's basically the same area, they have the same post code. My husband's family helped, my father-in-law has a ute and we used it to move all the furniture and some other things that we'd boxed. Altogether we had 4 cars helping move, my husbands' car, mine, the ute and their family car. The reason for this move is more complicated than the last one. We left Gordon Park because the landlords' wouldn't allow a cat, this place does allow cats but it has noisy neighbours, that make noise at 4am, has no lights in the common areas after 10:15pm, people watching tv after 11pm so loudly that you'd think it was on the balcony with the volume at 50, the guy underneath us smokes on his balcony which enters our kitchen and bathroom areas, two houses near us have chicken coops and one of them decided to get themselves a rooster (oh joy - NOT!), the mailbox floods during heavy rainfall, the garage floods during heavy rainfall, the cooktop is electric and the oven is also electric and it has an exposed heating element making it very difficult to clean. It's only a block away from a noisy street, imagine Queens Blvd. In a complex of 10 units there are only 3 recycling bins which are collected fortnightly, my husband and I can easily fill one in a fortnight, plus the other tenants just throw boxes into the bins without crushing it. The whole complex is a dump and not worth $360 a week even though they wouldn't have increased our rent if we decided to stay. So we found a place, back on the same street we lived on in Gordon Park, at first I was excited, it has gas cooking, but of all the places this kitchen is the smallest, and the most expensive so far. The first Gordon Park, started I believe at $335 a week and had a huge garage, nice sized kitchen with plenty of cupboard and pantry space and gas cooking, the Kedron unit had a huge kitchen with plenty of pantry and cupboard space at $360 at week and two car garage, this place doesn't have enough space for dry goods, much less for dishes and glassware at $375 a week, plus there's not enough counter space to prepare the meals, it's in a corner and not laid out well enough, the dishwasher is broken, it has to be if I put it to wash a normal wash and it takes more than 5 hours, there's definitely something wrong. There's no direct sunlight coming into the kitchen at all, only at the front door, the other two places had direct sunlight all day, I'm thinking this place along with being more expensive in rent is going to cost us more in electricity. We have to keep a lot of stuff in boxes in the garage, and it's a one car garage, so one car will always be on the street, a fact I hate when there's major storms. And now for some positive things about this little dump. :) It's technically a townhouse, so, we have an upstairs and a downstairs,which other than a basement, I've never had an upstairs/downstairs. It has 3 toilets, one in the garage area, off the kitchen, then there are 2 upstairs, the first one is just as you get to the top of the stairs, that's where T's litter box is, then the shower/bath/sink is over to the right, the other toilet is in the ensuite and has a sink and shower stall in it too. This place is close enough to McDonald's that it only takes about 13 minutes to walk if you want to make that part of your morning exercise routine. The unit itself is two houses in from the street and decently quiet at all times. It has a small courtyard in the back if you want to cook a bbq or just sit out there, you won't catch any sun as the building next door blocks most of the sun. It has a small balcony off the bedroom but all you see is the other buildings balconies and garages. The people next door that share our wall, smoke.....seriously? We cannot catch a break with smokers, I cannot cook or be outside without being subjected to that awful stench. I met a cat on one of our first days here, and I found out his name is Carlos, he's so cute with his blue eyes, I also have seen a black medium length haired cat with a collar come sniffing at our door, I happened to look over to the door and I saw the flashlight eyes and walked over and it ran away. T is loving it here, he has a courtyard to walk through (supervised of course), he loves sticking his head in between the railings of the staircase, he loves running up those stairs, it's a novelty for him as he's never had that before. One thing for sure, he won't be falling out any windows here as they all have security screens on them and there's no real ledge for him to get a foot on. Maybe once we find a spot for everything I'll like it better, but for now all I like about it is the gas stove and the three toilets.
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