Kindly Yours

Sydney Chinatown markets are held every Friday evening currently from 4pm at Dixon Street Mall in Haymarket at the southern end of Sydney city centre.   Not only are wares, souvenirs, craft and street food offered from China, you can see influences from Japan, Korea, Vietnam and more.   Most of the stalls are located in the section of Dixon Street from Goulburn Street junction south to Market City and Paddy's Markets.

Khao Dtom Sen , with fresh rice noodles and pork short ribs in a clear pork based broth  (menu item 24 on the Rice and Noodles list. "Watch the world  go by, be Happy."  These words are hidden somewhere in the small font, tightly filled up brown paper menu.   Welcome to the Jarern Chai Boon Cafe. You are encouraged to not be shy about eating with your hands.   Brined, pickled and fermented creations are offered with still fresh herbs.   Lots of mince, crab meat, various salad or grill options and choices in condiments or garnishes.  Variations with condensed milk, brown rice bowls, sourdough, eggs, noodles and teas. Coffee is by Single Origin roasters, Paradox Blends for shots and the Killerbee variety for milked coffee.  The former has bitter sweet chocolate, spice and forest berry undertones on the tongue.  The latter has notes of tropical fruit, toffee and dark honey.   Oh yes, there is also the traditional Thai coffee ...

Fresh almonds at the market. The Cooks River is nearby and this suburb of Sydney is named after a village in North Yorkshire in England.  Before the influx of young artists, musicians and professionals starting around ten years back,  Marrickville seemed destined for gentrification.  Its location relatively near to the city centre in sprawling greater Sydney, plus good transport links, helped nurture its current transformation. Now there is an annual Marrickville Festival , a local arts tour since 2011 and live music venues, most notably at the Factory Theatre. Australian singer Shannon Noll famously shot one of his music videos, for the track Lift, in Marrickville.  The impression Marrickville gives to me is first, one of an essentially residential corridor, but currently diversifying from its light industrial zones to artisan produce corners, new style cafes and maintaining its music gig scene plus multi-cultural cuisine options. The stuff of...

It is more than just the Opera House - it is the sky, the water, the colours and the mood. Classic, iconic and breath taking - but this is just commuting from office back home on a  summery evening. Yachting - training, idling or just soaking in the surroundings. Commercial, commuter or convenience  -  perhaps the best way to see Sydney from the ocean. Youth on the cusp of possibilities. On a fair twilight with a light breeze, you reflect on what humankind has wrought.  Icons of maritime trading, refined architecture and adventurous imagination, perhaps burying the realities of harsh colonialism,  human persistence and a splendid past isolation.  Our hearts and senses relax in such magical moments when the sun has set, when past is past, the future is not seen and we are with the present moment. Bennelong Point, named after the first recorded Indigenous Australian to visit Britain.    Gat...

Produce you really cannot find elsewhere - the stall also has apples from  Orange NSW. Carefully chosen ingredients, vacuumed sealed and freshly consumed. What a more healthy idea for breakfast or brunch. Baskets you can borrow to go shopping and browsing. Salmon and olives, the taste on your palate is more than fulfilled. Enough said! Baking extraordinary from Berry NSW. Biccies for our pawed friends. Avocados from the Central Coast NSW and apples from Orange NSW. The Sunday Foragers markets are held every Sunday from 9am to 2pm at the Bulli Showgrounds. For those coming down the Bulli Pass on the Princes Highway or from the coastal Lawrence Hargrave Drive, turn right at a set of lights before Bulli township.