Living Nerdy in Sydney

As a disclaimer to this post, yes, I'm a cyclist. Ever seen that really dangerous cyclist weaving in and out between cars, or cyclist who cycle on pedestrian ways, or you narrowly missing that cyclist who didn't obey road signs? I'm sure as a driver, you would have seen that before. I'm also quite sure there have been a cyclist who have really annoyed you too. Here are a six 6 things you might, or not know about cycling in NSW. 1. If you are over 12 years old, you cannot cycle on the pedestrian walkway. Yes, it may be really annoying to drive behind a very slow cyclist. But they can't legally cycle on the pedestrian walkway either if they are 12 or over. Only if the pedestrian walkway is a shared path, then can a cyclist use the pedestrian walk way. The other scenario is that if you are supervising a cyclist under 12, you have to use the pedestrian walk way. If you have a passenger on your bicycle under 10 years old, you can use the pedestrian walkway too. ...

"Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King!" Indeed, Christmas is about the new born Jesus, the King! Throughout the Christmas festivities, we hear, we sing and we enjoy the very many Christmas carols. But have you stopped and listened to the lyrics and pondered what it all meant? "O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Oh come, ye O come ye to Bethlehem." Bethlehem? That's a city in in today's Palestine, in the middle east. Approximately 2000 years ago, Jesus, the Son of God was born there. "Come and behold him, born the King of Angels." Yes, Jesus is higher than the Angels. "O come let us adore him Christ the Lord." In fact Jesus is Christ, and Jesus is Lord. But what exactly does that mean? Christ means the anointed one. In bible times, anointment is a symbol of being given a special task like being a King or a priest. The word Lord often loses it's meaning in today's context - we thin...

Christmas is essentially the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God to Christians. His mission was to come to earth as a man and die on the cross. This death was to take the place of one's eternal death and bring one back into a good relationship with God, as long as one accepts Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. To put it in a nasty way, if one doesn't accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, they would face eternal death in hell. Hell's a place where there is nothing good, not even relationships with your friends and family. Hence, Christmas to someone who doesn't believe in Christ should be serious reality check. Christians rejoice every Christmas because they can now have a good relationship with God, instead of being worried about his fury with their sin. There's no amount of good one can do to balance up sin. Hence, there's alot to rejoice and exhalt God especially on Christmas day. If Christmas takes its roots in the celebrat...

Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese Dumpling Restaurant Chain. It has many restaurants all over the world, including Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, USA, Canada and in Australia. Today we visited their outlet in World Square on George Street, Sydney. Setting and Decor I would say, this restaurant is anything but quiet, especially on the weekends. Be well prepared to wait for quite a while for a table. Sometimes even up to an hour! Fortunately, there's plenty of seating outside the restaurant where the wait staff would give you a menu, so that when you go in you can place the order immediately. You can also view the kitchen from the waiting area. It's literally bustling from chefs and cooks making dumplings, noodles and the whole place is steamy! The décor of the restaurant is modern oriental. I love the big paper lantern in the middle of the dining hall. And one wall is creatively decorated with bamboo steaming baskets. There is plenty of seating in thi...

Red Elephant House is a Thai Restaurant in Surry Hills. Feeling pretty brave, we took a risk and bought Groupon vouchers for dinner here despite mixed comments on Urbanspoon about this restaurant.  Setting and Decor The restaurant is pretty small with just 5-6 tables.The tables are pretty small too. So it would be a very tight fit if you came here with a group of more than 4. However, the place is pretty cosy with its simple lines and rich warm oriental tones.  Menu As we bought a Groupon voucher, there was a 5-course set menu with good options. The meal consists of 2 entrees, 2 mains and 1 dessert to be shared. It also had 2 drinks. Pretty worth it for $29! Click to Enlarge Drinks Coconut drink - Sweet coconut water with chunks of coconut flesh. Very refreshing! Thai iced lemon tea - Citrusy drink with the rich aroma of sweet Thai black tea. Great thirst quencher! Long Rolls - Super crispy deep fried rice paper rolls of rice vermicelli, sh...

Chur Burger is an American gourmet burger joint on Albion Street in Surry Hills.  Setting The restaurant is decorated with an industrial feel. These are a wide choice of seating - cafe table style, high counter style and low counter style. What I love about this place is the music! You can catch your favourite 80s tunes here, and everyone seems to be singing along. Menu The menu consist of burger, typical sides like coleslaw and hot chips as well as milkshakes.  There is also a full bar service. Prices for burgers are pretty reasonable for a gourmet burger, however the drinks are a little more steep. Click to Enlarge Food Salted Caramel Milkshake and Cola - Creamy caramel milkshake, slight salted to enhance the caramelisation. Local made cola, less sweet than normal Coke, interesting. Pulled Pork Burger - Super juicy pulled pork on a soft white sesame seed bun, with Chur BBQ sauce, crispy red slaw and fennel mayo. This is a must try burger. ...

Din Tai Fung, Sydney Westfield is located on the 5th floor Food Court in Sydney Westfield. This shop is one of many in a very large gourmet food court. This is definitely one food court which finding a seat on a Sunday lunch time very challenging. Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese Dumpling Bar chain with branches in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, USA, Malaysia China and Australia. This includes 6 branches in Sydney alone. We visited the Din Tai Fung Sydney Westfield - an express outlet in a food court. Food You can find most of the typical Din Tai Fung menu at this outlet. However most portion sizes for buns and dumplings are smaller (4 dumplings as compared to 8 dumplings) as the steamers they use are smaller - kind of make sense as a big steamer is hard to carry on a tray.  Braised Beef Noodle Soup  - Handmade wheat noodles with slices of stewed beef in a rich and aromatic clear beef broth.  Steamed Pork Dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) - Handmade dumplings, ma...

Ho Mei, is a modern Chinese Restaurant in Surry Hills. Parking around the area can be quite challenging and limited often limited to 1 hour.  Setting: The décor a this restaurant is very warm and inviting. It would be best described as modern oriental mixed with industrial. One side of the wall is wall-papered with a red lantern motif, bright red lanterns hang from the wall and couch is decorated bright red cushions - giving the oriental feel. And the there are more industrial looking lights hanging over the tables and heavy wood bench-tables giving the industrial impression.There are high ceilings giving the restaurant a open and spacious feeling even when the tables are rather cramped together.  We visited the restaurant in early spring, the doors were wide open, making the restaurant was rather cold (temperature). Menu: There were two menus, a Tapas set-menu for $39 per person or ala carte. We went for the Tapas set-menu. Drinks were not included. T...

Ichi-Ban Boshi, Bondi Junction, is a Japanese noodles and rice restaurant located on the Bondi Junction Mall right across from its train station. This place has a good selection of different Japanese Ramen, and there are different rice and udon dishes as well. Drinks We each ordered a glass of Ice Lemon Tea. This is fresh tea with lemon and served with a small pot of syrup. This was a very refreshing drink! Ice Lemon Tea Food We ordered 2 dishes - Tokyo Ramen and Omelette Rice. Tokyo Ramen - Ramen in Soy Sauce soup with egg, pork, rice cakes, vegetables and seaweed. This is a very hearty bowl of noodles with lots of bamboo and corn. The egg is the Japanese style half-boiled egg. I wished there were more than 1 piece of pork! Tokyo Ramen Omelette Rice - Rice encased in a omelette served with a side of hash beef, pickles and lettuce. This was the dish of the day! The omelette was very fluffy and tasty. The hash beef was very rich and beef was very te...

Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe at The Rocks is a chocolate cafe along the banks of Circular Quay and alongside with the iconic Sydney Opera House. Menu The menu is divided into 3 main sections, light café fare - cakes, sandwiches, drinks and desserts. Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Desserts Unique Belgian Waffle with Praline Ice-cream, Chocolate Dip and seasonal Fresh Fruit ($18.50). The waffle was very disappointing - very soggy and it's structure was too thin. The ice-cream on the other hand was very delicious - full of flavour and very smooth. The chocolate dip was pretty watery - I'm quite biased towards dark chocolate - this was milk chocolate. The fruits were fresh and delicious. On the whole, I would rather the dish without the chocolate dip or the waffle - which makes it really just fruit with ice-cream. For what the place is, a Belgian chocolate café, this dish was very substandard. Don't bother ordering it - poor quality and over priced...