Officially sanctioned by the World Cup Skateboarding, Vans Bowl-A-Rama Bondi celebrates the culture of skateboarding by offering a week of events in the lead up to the competition on the Saturday. It’s all open to public and free, check out the full list of activities below. Note that if venturing to Bondi bowl for this event, please respect tradition: wear a felt hat and beard.

WHAT: Vans Bowl-A-Rama events – full list of events below

WHERE: Bondi and surrounds

WHEN:  21 – 26 February 2012

HOW MUCH: Free

Tuesday Feb 21st
7pm – Tic Taco Art Show at Beach Burrito

Wednesday Feb 22nd
9pm – Vans/Steve Cab Party at White Revolver

Thursday Feb 23rd
4pm – SDS Broken Bones demo at Warringah Mall
7:30pm – SDS Broken Bones Party/Corbin Harris Party at Beach Road Hotel

Friday Feb 24th
5pm – 9pm – Love and Guts at Bucklers Canteen
9pm – Love and Guts After Party at Beach Road Hotel

Saturday Feb 25th
10am – BOWL-A-RAMA pro skate comp
9pm – Official BOWL-A-RAMA After Party at Beach Road Hotel

A young kid from Idaho with alot of feelings to share, Youth Lagoon is the one-man creation of Trevor Powers (of no relation to Kenny Powers).

Trance-educing, garage-born emo pop with an orchestral overtone, Youth Lagoon visits Sydney for the first time on 16th Feb at Oxford Arts Factory.

We’ve got a double pass to the show to giveaway, just email subculture@dailysydney.com with a sad picture attached. Best interpretation of the theme gets the tickets.

WHAT: Youth Lagoon (US) and Oliver Tank
WHERE: Oxford Arts Factory, Oxford St, Darlinghurst
WHEN: Feb 16th
HOW MUCH: Tickets $36.90 and selling quick-stix

One of the more tear-jerking clips of 2011 below:

Duke Bistro above the Flinders Hotel in Darlinghurst will knock your date’s socks (read: knickers) off with their Valentine’s Day menu:

To Start: A glass of Drusian Prosecco

All for a cool $80.  We love Duke, they’re laid back and playful with a dollop of supreme finesse. If all that doesn’t work you can always head downstairs and shot some picklebacks as a last resort.

Duke Bistro
bookings at reservations@dukebistro.com.au 

Check her Tumblr here: http://takingbestguesses.tumblr.com

The wholesome ravers behind Future Sound of Yoga are holding a weekend-long yoga retreat for the nocturnally minded.

Held at Mangrove Mountain, the Phoenix Weekend is in it’s second year and promises spiritual enlightenment, meditation, self-discovery and rave.

You can camp, sleep in a dormitory or enjoy twin room cabin accommodation, munch on organic food and attend all workshops as part of their all-inclusive ticket.

From the organisers:

The lineup includes leading international artists Mark Whitwell, Katy Appleton, Gwyn

Williams, Daphne Tse; renowned Australia-based yoga teachers Simon Borg-Olivier, John

Ogilvie, Kriyavidya Saraswati and Anna Phillips; inspirational speaker Heather Swan; and

finally the The Future Sound of Yoga, who will up the tempo on Saturday night with an

evening of yoga, dance and cutting edge electronica, where fans of festival dress up will be

able to let loose with an anything-goes fancy dress theme.

WHAT: The Phoenix Weekend
WHERE: Mangrove Mountain (1.5 hours out of Sydney)
WHEN: Friday 3rd Feb – Sunday 5th Feb 2012
HOW MUCH: Final release from $365 

Hyper-salty surfy rockers and Laneway Festival’s triple j Unearthed winners SURES take 5 to answer some dumb questions from yours truly:

Do you rather: Surf Rock or Rocking Surf?
Probably Surf Rock, or even better, pop.

Your favourite hangover breakfast location?

For some reason Yum Cha, in the morning you really just feel like having a
bunch of waiters trying to give you food.

If you could own one guitar pedal, no matter cost, what would it be?

Strymon Timeline, it looks and sounds like a spaceship.

What’s your band rider going to look like in ten years time?

Blue M+Ms with the shells removed and placed in a separate bowl, just to see if
they would do it.

If the world’s going to end this year, what’s your apocalypse of choice?

Zombies, because we know dudes with katanas and could start a rogue
horseback resistance.

Sures play at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival in Sydney on Sunday the 5th of Feb alongside M83, SBTRKT, Active Child and many more 

The last day (Sunday) is where everyone congregates at the Domain in the Botanic Gardens. The gates are opening early this time (11am)- so bring yo picnic basket and suss out a stella possy!

This year’s theme is ‘light bulb.’ Click here to watch the amazing trailer. Don’t miss this guys: a guaranteed gorgeous night out in one of the most beautiful cities in the world: yours truly.

WHAT: Short film festival, Tropfest

WHERE: The Domain, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney

WHEN: Sunday, 19 February 11am – 11pm

Emily Eskell

emilyeskell@gmail.com

I was trying to explain the concept of the food truck to a bunch of English people the other day, and they looked a little disgusted. “What… The food is actually cooked in a truck? On the side of the road?” They seemed to liken it to the convenience of a Portaloo, rather than the American institution of fresh, fast, mobile food.  They weren’t impressed.

What you really need to know about the impending food-truck frenzy that is about to park itself on our street corners, is that yes, the concept of the food truck is all about snack-venience, but this isn’t your average hot dog stand at the cricket. This is a restaurant, on wheels. There is as much passion invested in the eats they are producing, as the emphasis they place on the freedom of happening to run their business out of a truck. This is street food, something Sydney only previously understood as a late-night donor kebab, eaten gutter-side.

Over the next week or so, we’ll be bringing you images and interviews with a group of people behind the 10 food trucks that will soon be rolling out a personal take on Sydney street food. This week, we’ve had a chat to Ellyn Tse, head chef at Tsuru Food Truck.

We’re pumped to hear you will be satisfying our hunger for something different in the Sydney food scene, what’s your background?

When and where should we be expecting you to park yourselves in Sydney?

We should launch in just under 2 months. Trading hours and locations-wise, we are still waiting for City of Sydney for their confirmation. Hopefully, we’ll hear from them soon enough!

What will you be serving?

We’ll be serving up pan-Asian menu, ranging from steamed pillowy Chinese buns folded over various fillings, Onigiri (Japanese rice balls), and yummy things on sticks. Our signature dish is ‘the PIG’ – a piece of luscious pork belly that has been roasted, then slow-braised overnight in old family recipe, and sandwiched in between our very own house-made steamed buns.

What’s your price point?

From $3 to $30 for combo

Why do you think Sydney needs a food truck culture?
Food truck culture allows good-quality food to be easily accessible, and to go to where people gather. It is a great added option to late-night dining, festivals/outdoor activities, and creates a unique and iconic feature to the streets of Sydney. Best of all, the myriad of food of Sydney food trucks translates the vibrant multiculturalism of Sydney.

SOUNDS GOOD TO US! Stay tuned for updates on the Tsuru Food truck, and follow their progress on their facebook and  twitter pages.

Sophie McComas

www.twitter.com/sophmccomas

Set to launch in late February 2012, The Dollar Shop is a designer retail experience with a slight twist – everything on sale is under $20.

The Dollar Shop is a pop up space with a six month rolling lease agreement, one of many creative enterprises selected by the City of Sydney to breath a new life into the vom-stained pavings of lower Oxford St.

The store curators are seeking designers, artists and other creatives to submit a wide variety of work to be sold in-store, including but not limited to clothing, jewelry, bags, stationery, self-publishing, photography, posters, instruments, kitchenware and craft.

There’s talk of workshops to be held at the space too – so if you don’t have anything to sell now, pop in and work it out ya dummy.

No more shall you be buying stained summer dresses for $80 from a bearded twenty-something musician at the Surry Hills Markets, or regretting that $10.50 you paid for plastic-fantastic piece of kitchenwares from Paddy’s.

WHAT: The Dollar Shop
WHERE: 58 Oxford St, Darlinghurst, Sydney
WHEN: Opening late Feb 2012 – submit your goods for sale now! Email: submit@dollarshopsydney.com.au

http://www.dollarshopsydney.com.au/

So you’ve gone to all that trouble securing a lunch date at The Armchair Collective, The Boat House at Palm Beach‘s non-identical twin located a few beaches south in Mona Vale, only to discover that no, your date won’t sit and chat. While you wait for your beef burger with house-made pickles, Swiss cheese and mustard aioli, or your char grilled Balmain bug salad with coriander and lime dressing, they’re off fawning over homewares. Mint-green covered armchairs and burnt-orange striped lamp shades to be exact. There are blown-glass vases, beachy cushions and tea sets by the dozen. Vintage bar stools sit by serving platters and beside baskets of blankets and woven rugs, it’ll be a wonder if they make it back to your table in time for lunch at all.

However we have a hunch that they will, because if they get too swept up in the whirlwind of glossy-magazine standard domesticity, they might miss out on a hearty Ploughman’s Lunch of shaved leg ham, stuffed zucchini flowers, heirloom tomatoes, aged cheddar and shaved fennel salad. Or the milkshakes that come thick and syrupy in giant glass milk bottles. You’ll both stay seated for a bucket of thick, fluffy, hand-cut chips with harissa mayonnaise, and a glass of wine, because you’re out of the city and no one cares a damn.

Breakfast shows its face in the form of thick-cut miche toast spread with labne, leg ham, a poached egg and cherry tomatoes that burst at the slightest nudge of a fork. A bowl of fruit salad with figs and berries comes with a side of drippy honeycomb and the coffee is spot on. This is Mona Vale, and there is white sand and a cool sea waiting only a quick dash away. Armchairs and burgers? We could get used to this.

The Armchair Collective
9a Darley St East, Mona Vale
www.thearmchair.com.au
(02) 9999 2871

Open:
Mon-Fri 10am – 6pm
Sat-Sun 10.30am – 4,30pm

Sophie McComas
www.twitter.com/sophmccomas