Goodbye Summer, welcome Autumn!

Summer went out with a bang today, in came Autumn with roaring cloud and winds and pouring rain. Royal National park was filled with families milking the last few days of balmy weather to grace Sydney, giving it a distinct South East Asian atmosphere.

When we left home bit after mid day, mercury rose up to 38 degrees celsius, our car air conditioner going overdrive. But before the sun even went down, the whole city is engulfed in a massive cloud coming from across the Tasman sea, and temperature dropped to 22 degrees, making it chilly all of a sudden. This is Sydney weather. Currently it feels like being inside a baby hurricane with trees waving wildly.


Royal National park is a great drive and sanctuary for Sydney residents to get up close to nature, without it, Sydney would be a barren town with no escape. An hour's drive from home, it has been hour favorite gateway, leading up to the beautiful beaches along the way, views, and Stanwell park beach.

I used to highly prefer Winter over summer, but since travelling in SE Asia, and constant fights with runny nose, freezing all nighters for work, I have changed camps and become a Summer  lover.  The most damaging complaint about summer is now the insects that come out to bug you when you are trying enjoy an 'outage' at the balcony. Air con takes care of the once in a while  mid forties heat. Other than few nuisances, I am already missing summer..

Year of the sheep..or goat..or Ram..for Chinese new year 2015

If one ethnic group truly dominates Australia culturally, politically and economically, in a positive way, that is Chinese. Surprisingly though, China as a country does not dominate directly, like the US, the big brother does. It is the Chinese people that have been influencing Australian landscape for a century, from the days of gold mining to now where the Chinese new year is a mainstay of events in big cities here. I wonder if the Americans can say the same about Australia or anywhere else for that matter, apart from the flimsy world of Hollywood or heart attack food companies or politics and force.

Being married to a Chinese family brings a massive influence in yourself, mainly food, as it is so rich, diverse, and of such wide varieties, it is almost an spiritual experience and at the core of Chinese culture and the driver for Chinese influence around the world. Food for Chinese is not just something to fill your tummy with, it is completely inter-twined with geography, culture, climate, language and heritage of different parts in China and where the Chinese live - all around the globe.Chinese from where they live now, for example Indonesia or Vietnam, add more variety to their core Chinese main items. Every dish is a representative of that part and contains portions

of spirit from there. My in-laws, are no exception. Every Chinese new year's day is a family get together that is expressed in the form of lavish dinner that needs three large dining tables just to park the dishes that my mother in law cooks herself. This year was no exception either. Getting around the table talking to family members from different walks of life, the family politics as usual, the good and the bad ones, the favorable ones and the not so likeable ones, its all part of the occasion. At the centre of this is an engine, the culinary, packaged in the
form of

new year,
and the Chinese new year wish - gong xi fa cai. This year's annual new year's parade at George street was also a flamboyant event with us becoming part of the thousands that lined up to cheer and welcome the year of the Sheep..or goat..or Ram.

Organic food buzz at Marrickville

Organic food has been an emerging buzz in the 'food scene' for newly enlightened health food junkies in Sydney, I guess same goes at other rich countries where quantity alone does not satisfy any more. And there is more to it, people being aware of what goes on during the food production - pesticides, animal treatment, ethics and so forth. Some say, organic is for soul, probably they equate this to food being free of synthetic hormones, chemicals and other bio hazard, that billions put into their mouth everyday. There must be a link, 'cleaner' food - vegetables grown using only natural fertilizers and chicken fed with earthworms alone - and better soul? Emm..I am sratching my head, organic food..soul food..is it serious and here to stay, obviously it has a place in the food chain, but can it be real rather than a hippie sounding fad?

To find out, we went to an upmarket weekly organic food market in Marrickville last sunday to have a taste and fist glance. It has a seventies hippie buzz to it and the first thing that hits you in the entrance is a large poster welcoming the refugees, then the portraits of mostly African immigrants and refugees lined up in the walkway that leads to the actual market. I could not but wonder what's organic food got to do with that?? Is it a leftist, socialist hippie camp? Inside, a nice lineup of stalls selling 'organic' vegetable, meat, fruits produced with natural ingredients alone, so they claim. It reminded me of real markets in Kathmandu, back in the days when the food tasted real - a strong flavor of spinach when cooked, just the right toughness of savoury chicken, unforgettable taste of red onions. Steroid chicken of the developed world is not a match. Vegetable here are bigger in size, but milder taste. You can hardly tell eggplant from potato.

Marrickville
organic
food market is a good weekend getaway, kinda rebellious against the mass markets dominated by Coles and Woolworths. It seemed to have a steady flow of devoted fans clamoring for organic food stalls, restaurants and meats. Mixing the old book shops, discarded furniture shops and similar antique finish off the picture, it kinda felt like visiting an antique store, although we got more than what we went there for - organic food - but could not tell what was the main theme of the market - socio-cultural issues, refugees, organic food, hippies, rubbish..its a convoluted mixture of cultures.

Soggy Australia day 2015 - its Black and White

In a complete turnaround from a beautiful day yesterday, Australia had a very wet day to 'celebrate' its day. We wanted to check the 'Australia day' celebrations at both sides, the victors that celebrate this day, the Anglo occupiers, and the 'vanquished', the natives who call this a 'Survival day' instead. Its truly a black and white affair, literally. White Anglo Saxon prisoners condemed to die in an isolated island sailed sails to the shores here and virtually wiped off the 'black' culture of the native Aboriginies who called this place home from thosands of years before. There is no grey to the truth.

However, would you rather the British took over, or say, Indonesians, Chinese or Japanese colonized this vast land? Emm..not a very hard choice to make.

First stop the Yabun festival at Camberdown park near the University of Sydney. In a slightly less than colorful affair (I mean bells and whistles) that is usually visible at the similar events in Sydney, the aboriginies arts, culture, traditions and history was at display, mostly arts in the form of handmade goods, the infamous boomrang, T-shirts and slogans of freedom. Freedom?? makes you wonder, isn't this land already free?? Well, not for everyone obviously. It really appeared going around, Australia is a land of oppression. You could clearly see the aboriginies' sad and angry faces during the event. Its clear they are 'marking' the event rather than 'celebrating'.

We enjoyed a nice rap/reggae music open concert, which had some angry rappers sing about the oppression. A moderate sized crowd of mostly indigineous were braving the constant drizzle.
We had our big broken umbrella up most of the time, taking care not to poke others in the eyes.

With a cautious exit, not to appear too enthusiastic, we exited in the drizzle and headed for the White party at the CBD. After parking near the always neglected Australian museum, we crossed over to the Hyde park, and it was a Nirvana, compared to the Black party. There was a long stretch of vintage cars being displayed, with people enjoying the cordoned off street for the 'Australia day' celebration the way it is meant to be. The whole Hyde park in the middle of the city was reserved for the victors, there was a kid party going on full blast from Nickelodeon, kids jumping in joy. Nearby, the Sydney harbor was having its own chapter with the ships and boats on full glory.

Like I said, it was quite a black and white day. To top it all, Bony Tabbot has given Prince Phillip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, the highest honor of Australia. What a joke made out of the Australia day. Anybody want Republic of Australia, Bill Shorten can't wait, so can't a large majority.

Apple crash and Apple care

It was probably too much to expect from my Mac, for it to be able to stand up to the fury of mother nature. One thunderousnight when we were away from home, my beloved laptop was badly injured. None of the ports were working and kernel panics started to appear as randomly as a fit hits a sick randomly  .

So went my motivation to be writing and spending hours poring bright ideas off the window. 2014 left its last legacy in Dec Christmas holidays, to both the laptop owner and his electronics. The thunder took down the laptop, TV, Apple TV, Routers and some other..

Attempts to revive the laptop with Apple support on phone - repair, safe mode, hardware diagnosis, all fruited to nothing. I am taking it to the 'Genius bar', its ultimate emergency later today, hopefully
its something they can fix. Good that I bought Apple care, when your apple gets sick its the last resort.

I am writing about a Mac using a Windows machine, that gotta say something.