Living Nerdy in Sydney

I've seen many friends from Singapore move to Sydney over the many years living here. Some come here to study in the many excellent universities, and then make the decision whether to stay on or not. Some others are young professionals looking for a different pace of life. Some others come in their golden years for retirement. Those who end up calling Sydney home, are those who truly exhibit the migrant spirit. This is the same migrant spirit which helped Singapore become a very prosperous country in less than half a century. From the mid 1800s to mid 1900s, many migrants from China and India moved to Singapore to seek work and a better life. You might have heard of stories of early settlers who worked as coolies unloading ships (苦力), housekeepers (妈姐), construction workers (红头巾), rickshaw pullers and rubber plantation workers. These people didn't have a comfortable life when migrating to Singapore, but they did make money to support their families. Today, in Singapo

I wished life was just blogging, but alas, I do have a day job to keep up with! In fact, I do have a very hectic day job. What helps me get all the tasks I need to do done is great bullet journal. It also helps me keep track where my various larger tasks are at. This is my daily routine. It works with my daily routine as I tend to start later than most of my colleagues, and end my day later as well. 7:30 am starts are really not my thing! Unfortunately, I can't actually show you my full bullet journal due to work confidentiality reasons. But I'll show you sample recreations. (Obviously there's no Feb 30!) 1. Use a daily planner to track your meetings On an on-going basis, as you have meeting requests, add these to your daily planner. I use a modified spiraldex - or I call it my "doughnut". The good thing about the doughnut is that you will have no space to work more than 12 hours! I only use my daily planner on work days and leave my days off more

This refreshing Asian salsa is great for a hot summer's day. It can be enjoyed on its own, or goes well with rice. Ingredients 1 can of Corn kernels 2 medium Cucumbers 1 large Tomato 4 tbps Japanese Yuzu (Citrus) Salad Dressing Method 1. Dice the cucumber and tomato into corn kernel size pieces. 2. Drain 2/3 of the water in the can of corn. 3. Place the remaining corn and water into a bowl. 4. Add the cucumber and tomato and the salad dressing. Mix well. 5. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. If you don't have Yuzu dressing, you can substitute it with soy sauce : sugar : lemon in a 2:1:2 ratio. If you don't have time to chill the salsa in the fridge, remember to put all the ingredients in the fridge overnight. To subscribe to my blog, please Like on our  Facebook page . To support my blog, please click on one of my sponsor's advertised links :)

Ingredients: 2x Medium Cucumbers 1/2 tbps Cooking Oil 1 tbps Crushed garlic Sauce A 1 tsp Sugar 1 tsp Soy sauce 1 tsp Vinegar 1 tsp Salt Sauce B 1/2 tbps Sesame Oil 1 tsp Toasted sesame seeds Method: 1. Cut the cucumber into wedges. 2. Add all the ingredient in the Sauce A list in a bowl and mix well. 3. In a separate bowl, add all the ingredients in Sauce B list and mix well. 4. Heat the cooking oil in a pan. 5. Add the crushed garlic. 5. When the garlic is starting to brown, add the cucumbers and sauce A Stir fry for 30 seconds. 6. Turn the heat off. Add sauce B. Toss well and serve. The trick of this dish is being super fast. If you leave the cucumbers hot oil too long, it will lose its freshness! So don't skip mixing the sauce first. This dish is a great summer dish and goes well with Hainanese Chicken Rice. Linked Recipes Hainanese Chicken Rice To subscribe to my blog, please Like on our  Facebook page . To support my blog, please click on one

Ingredients 2x Medium cucumbers 1x Medium carrot 1 tbps Sugar 1 tsp Salt 1/2 cup White vinegar/ Rice vinegar/ Apple cider vinegar Method 1. Finely slice the carrots and cucumbers. (Tip: If you have a mandolin slicer, you should put it to good use here!) 2. Mix the sugar, salt and vinegar in a plastic box. Ensure the sugar has dissolved. If you have troubles dissolving the sugar, add 1 tbps of water.  (Make sure you plastic box is big enough for all the carrots and cucumbers. 3. Add the carrorts and cucumbers into the box. 4. Close the lid of the box. Give the box a very good shake for about 1 minute. 5. Put leave the box in the fridge overnight. 6. Serve up the achar the next day. This dish goes well with Hainanese Chicken Rice, Chicken curry on rice and Nasi Lemak. Linked Recipes Hainanese Chicken Rice To subscribe to my blog, please Like on our  Facebook page . To support my blog, please click on one of my sponsor's advertised links :)

Here's our Hainanese Chicken Rice recipe. All our portion sizes are for 10, so it should be relatively easy to adjust to your gathering size. As I have a day job, I would prepare the chicken the night before and the rice just before the bible study. This also helps with having a nice gelatinous layer under the skin of the chicken formed when refrigerating the chicken. I grew up eating Hainanese Chicken Rice in Singapore. It is so easily available from almost every hawker centre or food court. We even had it available in school for recess or lunch. Hainanese Chicken Rice was created by Chinese migrants from Hainan Island in the south of China who migrated to Singapore and Malaysia. The chicken is prepared by poaching chicken in sub-boiling temperatures and the rice is prepared cooking rice in the chicken stock after the chicken is cooked. Ingredients For Chicken A: 4 tbps Light soy sauce 酱油 1 tbs Dark soy sauce 老抽 2 tbps Crushed ginger 姜 1 tbps Diced garlic 蒜头 1 ts