I'm Good, Thank You.

Stories

2012-02-12T13:16:00.003+13:00

I've watched a couple of good movies recently- 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' and 'Moneyball' - while going through Moneyball's imdb page- found that the DP was Wally Pfister and on his page he is listed as DP for 'untitled Batman reboot' set for 2015. WOW!!! They are re-booting Batman pretty quick aren't they? But it makes complete monetary sense - the character is popular and Chris Nolan's take has heightened the interest in the franchise, so why not?

Went to see 'Inception' at Movies by Moonlight. I love the initiative that the city council has taken in that regards. Free movies in the park during summer - mint!!! The venue was packed out completely and to me the biggest realization was that the audience does get involved in the story as long as exposition is carefully weaved into the fabric of the story. And the audible deep sigh from a good chunk of the audience at the ending - just reinforced my view.

The re-design of all the subsites - 'Memories' ; 'Five' and 'my site' - is now complete. It took a bit of work but got there. There are no major changes to the content - everything just got streamlined and simplified. It was sad to loose some of the reviews for the movies as some of the websites have shutdown over the years but majority have survived.

I finished reading 'Story' by Robert McKee, a while back and it was mind-blowingly good. From now on in it becomes a reference book for me. The screenwriting course at Uni starts from March and i'm really looking forward to it now.

That's me for now.
Amit

Tinker Tailor

2012-02-01T22:13:00.000+13:00

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy turned out to be a riveting watch. The performances, the cinematography and the editing are top notch. The movie doesn't spoon feed you and is a slow burn but man it's nice working things through. Gary Oldman is a legend - I seriously hope he gets an oscar for this role.

We finally won our first soccer match in social soccer. It is such a brilliant feeling. We came so agonizingly close so many times over this season and it was nice finally getting past the finish line as the winners.

I've ordered a pair of Vibram Fivefinger Komodo Sport and looking forward to receiving them soon. My current set of sports shoes have lasted me 3 years and are just starting to show the wear and tear, so it's time to try something new and try out barefoot technology.

That's me for now.
Amit

Live

2012-01-31T18:36:00.001+13:00

The main page has been redesigned and is now live. What I like about it is that it is simple, elegant and visual compared to the cluttered interface of the previous version.

I am close to finishing off my subsite and it should now be done within a couple of days.

Check out the main page at UNKREATIVE ARTISTS.

Amit

Diving from the skies

2012-01-30T15:56:00.001+13:00

Saturday was stunning and with the weather forecast looking good, I drove up to Kerikeri on Saturday for the skydive booking for Sunday morning. It turned out to be an awesome trip about great conversations, fantastic food and ofcourse the 16,000 ft skydive.

Kerikeri Farm Hostel is an awesome place to stay and I love it because it is so nice and you are always sure to have good conversations with fellow travellers. To top it off it is quiet and also super tidy with lots of character.

Sunday morning had an omnious start with overcast skies for miles and miles on end. I didn't have any breakfast incase it all came up when jumping down.I got to the skydive zone bright and early but the weather forecast wasn't looking too flash since I was in the first batch that was supposed to go up at 9, they asked 5 of us to stay there incase the skies cleared up while all the others booked in for jumps afterwards were told to chill out in town and come back later. It wasn't until about 1.00 in the afternoon that the pilots and the tandem masters all agreed that it was good for a jump.

I'm not really feeling that confident but Brent does

Flying in a small plane is definitely out of my comfort zone and jumping out of it even further still. I was nervous to say the least but Brent, the tandem master who I was going to be clipped to, assured me that it'd be an awesome experience if I relaxed and also didn't waste unnecessary energy and breath by screaming my lungs out. And I took that advise to heart, even though I got more and more nervous as we climbed up past the clouds.

The plane climbing altitude

It's kinda scary the plane going up at that angle

Is it time to jump yet?

What? We are only at 12,000 ft. OK then - will just have to wait then!!

Nothing like some deep breaths to ease off the fear

When the other 2 people jumped before me, I was really tense seeing them disappear in front of my eyes but once Brent pushed us to the edge of the plane, my brain kicked into gear trying to remember what I was supposed to do with my body position and all. Once out of the plane it was sheer joy - I loved every moment off it and it was hard wiping the grin off my face.

Off the plane

Can't wipe that smile off my face

1 minute freefall is a long time

Loving it!!

Brent does his 360 degree spins and it is trippy

We are so close to the clouds

That was until Brent pulled the parachute open and then handed the reins to me to navigate a bit. I was nervous about that because I didn't want to be responsible for navigating - especially since I didn't know what to do. But Brent kept giving instructions and I soon got a feel for it before Brent took the reins back and got us back to terra firma.

Chute is opened

After a few 360 spins with the parachute open

Oh Shit!!! I'm controlling this thing, really?

I get it now

Enjoying the parachute navigation

Ah we are close to landing

Happy to be alive

It took longer to climb up towards 16,000ft than coming down - atleast that's what it felt like and it is so beautiful looking at things from above. I think I'm definitely keen for more jumps in the future. The experience itself was fantastic with Claire being an awesome manager/front desk person with the whole team being so professional and chilled out.

I tried 2 new eating joints while I was there - one for dinner on saturday night and the other for lunch on sunday afternoon and both of them turned out to be absolutely amazing. Cafe Jerusalem is israeli/middle-eastern food and I had a metuvlun in pita bread it was just amazing. The atmosphere is vibrant and the service is fantastic and the food is well-priced, so definitely check it out if you are that way. Food at Wharepuke turned out to be a stunner of a restaurant - set admist a serene garden and surroundings, the staff were super friendly and attentive plus the food was just divine. It's the best steak that I've had ever and it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. If you only had a chance to eat at just one place in Kerikeri- this would be it.

A little more exploration around Kerikeri and then it was back to Auckland. I'm still buzzing from the jump and I figured out a few more things about myself, so all in all a very successful trip out of Auckland.

Amit

Hectic Times = Fun Time

2012-01-27T21:50:00.000+13:00

WOW - Jan has really sped away but it's been a productive month so far.

As part of the new changes at Unkreative, I decided that the main page needed a re-design and instead of doing a hodge podge job myself, I asked Ellen - a good friend of mine, for some design ideas and she did an amazing job. The design is done and now just waiting on the last bit of coding refinement from xhtmljunction.com and it should be done soon. As part of the whole gig, Ellen also created new business cards for me and I had them printed from Moo.com. In the meantime I bought Freeway Express and started re-designing my personal website and it was a steep learning curve, so the implementation on that is slightly slower and that should be ready in a week or so.

After a lot of consideration and useful advise from Dr. Shuchi Kothari, I finally applied for M.A in Screen Production with specialization in Screenwriting at University of Auckland. Screenwriting is one area that I need to improve myself so I can tell more streamlined and powerful stories and it seemed like a logical step in my development as a film maker. The challenge was that I didn't have a B.A in a similar field and it was always going to be touch and go whether a place was actually offered to me. Thankfully they took into consideration my strong resume and offered me a place on the course and I've accepted the place, so it should be a great year for immersive story writing and learning.

One of the business ideas I have is to conduct film-making/drama directing workshops in India. They'll be 2-day intensive weekend workshops and the plan is to conduct one each in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. David Samuel, has come on board as well to teach a few modules that are related to film, business and human relationships and I think it'll be a huge benefit for anyone attending those workshops as he is an amazing person and an even amazing teacher. So a good chunk of time also went into developing the outline of the workshop and just waiting on feedback from one of my close friends in India, to see how we can make this a reality.

Fitness took a back seat this month but I'm back to it with a vengeance from Feb. I've got a few personal training sessions lined up to align myself back again and work towards my goal for the year.

I managed to watch Alien, Aliens, Hugo & the second series of Sherlock. Alien was a great horror movie, even though it had some flaws, Aliens was a balls to the wall action flick and the two movies couldn't be much more different. Hugo was an amazing movie and it has to be seen in 3-D- the film is visual poetry. The second series of Sherlock was an amazing watch and I guess will have to wait for an year and half or two before they make the third series - which I hope will be the last one. They've created something special with these 2 seasons and hope they don't dilute that something special with a weak 3rd season.

More to come later.
Amit

Summer

2012-01-17T00:12:00.002+13:00

Summer is finally here - 2 days of sunshine and it feels great.

Amit

Dragon Year

2012-01-05T16:18:00.001+13:00

It's year of the dragon and that alone tells me that it's gonna kick all kinds of holy arse, after all dragons are cool, majestic and amazing (not that i know one personally).

I started the new year by screaming through 100 odd pages of 'Story' by Robert McKee and it is mind blowingly good. Do you find that sometimes you buy books and never get around to reading them? This was one of those books for me. It only took 3 years to get to it but I am glad that I picked it up, especially now. Highly recommended reading for screenwriters as well as directors.

I'm really looking forward to this year with all the exciting changes on the horizon. This year onwards it is about creating value for others and finding ways to help people achieve their goals. It is also about focussing on telling stories as that's what we humans do to give meaning to life.

Here is to prosperity and strength for everyone in this coming year.
Amit

New Beginnings

2011-12-21T19:45:00.003+13:00

So I've put in my resignation from my current position at TVNZ today. It is sad because I love the company and the people but unfortunately some of the new shift patterns don't quite agree with me or my body, so decided to take the leap into the unknown.

TVNZ has been very supportive and have offered me freelance work - which is fantastic as it gives me the initial stability and also will stabilize my work hours a bit. This is great as it gives me time to pursue various business interests and opportunities that I wanna explore in this coming year.

Freelance work starts mid-Jan, so if there is anyway I can help anyone with their business, let me know. Here is to the universe - for taking care of me.

Amit

Tongariro Crossing

2011-12-20T11:15:00.001+13:00

What a weekend!!! The weather over the past week and half over New Zealand has been crap but since we'd booked the trip a couple of weeks back there was no backing out, especially since this was my 4 day weekend stretch.

Zoe, Katie and me got down to Tongariro National Park in Zoe's car while Simon drove Glen and Una. It was a slow journey down as the rain was pretty bad. We stopped at Tamaranui for some fish and chips and had them while looking at a billboard of Tongariro National Park.

Brief respite from rain

Zoe driving pretty seriously

Katie enjoying the back seat

The weather forecast for Saturday wasn't looking great but it did say that the weather would clear up over the afternoon, so I was pretty hopeful that the weather Gods would help us out with the trek.

There is a storm coming

As we drove into the lodge we booked ourselves at I realized that I'd been there before in August 2005 with Lance and Anabel and Tarikh. The Lodge itself looked the same but there were huge improvements on the inside and it was definitely an awesome stay. Once Simon and Glen and Una joined us we called it a night around 10PM hoping that the weather would clear up for Saturday. The good thing was that our shuttle wasn't coming through until 7.45AM {they cancelled the 6.45AM shuttle because of the weather} with the decision whether the trek was gonna go ahead or not reserved till 7.30AM. It meant an extra hours sleep in - which was fantastic considering my sleep depravation situation because of overnight shifts the week prior.

Unpacking (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

Saturday morning wasn't looking too bad with overcast skies but as soon as we got to the start of the trek it started raining, so everyone put on their wet weather gear. There were a couple of other girls travelling in the same shuttle as us and it was funny seeing them start of the trek with a super-sized can of 'Red Bull' and a cigarette.

Overcast Skies

I'm ready for the trek (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

Una, Glen, Katie and me

Tongariro crossing is one of the best one day hikes in New Zealand and I had no idea what to expect from the hike. The start of the trek wasn't bad- we saw a little bit of blue skies and were really hoping that the clouds would clear up.

Start of the trek

Only bit of blue sky we saw the entire trek

Onwards and upwards

Me - right behind are Lorianne and Caroline - the red bull girls (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

After this stage it was all downhill, so to speak. The rain started and it became colder and the wind picked up and combined with the uphill climb it was a hard walk. The worst thing was that taking photos became virtually impossible and a huge task. On top of that I managed to loose my rain hat somehow.

Mt. Ruapehu in the distance covered by clouds

Into the clouds

Una waiting for me to catch up

First break near Soda Springs

Zoe helping Katie while Una and me catchup with the gang (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

Glen trucking along even though his hands were starting to freeze up

The walk wasn't hard in itself but the wind made it hard. The visibility was poor and there were no real views to be had, so we just put our heads down and kept walking. Simon, Zoe and Katie had screamed ahead, while I started doing good pace once I stopped taking photos and left Glen and Una behind.

Walking in South Crater

Climbing towards the red crater

A french couple walking through the red crater

I guess one of the good things about doing the trek in such conditions is that you have photos that no one else has and you also don't meet many people on the trek. On a good summer day the number of people who do the crossing on any given day is about 900-1000, but on a day like this it was just the french couple and the red bull girls who were doing it in the same direction as us and we crossed paths with maybe 12 other people doing the trek from the opposite side. I caught up with Simon, Zoe and Katie near Emerald lakes as going downhill was easy because of the walking stick.

Simon, Zoe and Katie at Emerald lakes

Unreal landscapes and smell of sulphur

Passing the emerald lakes

After passing the emerald lakes the rain just got worse and everything was soaked - even though things were water-proof. I wonder how the rain got through the water proof stuff. Anyway the stop at Ketetahi Hut was great. We met a whole heap of people there - including a bunch of american kids doing a photography course, who had started the journey from the other side but decided to flag rest of the walk as it was just terrible weather.

Steam rising from Ketetahi Hot Springs

All of us took an hours lunch break and warmed ourselves up and dried out our essential gear like beanies, socks, gloves as much as we could. It was a temporary relief as it all got soaked again as soon as we headed down. I was one of the last ones of our group to leave but soon found a good pace and the 1 hour solitude in the rain did me good as I was able to think some things through.

Waiting for the shuttle (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

Glen and Una make it down as well (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

The whole group finished the walk in 7 hours including the 1 hour lunch break but had to wait another 30 minutes before the shuttle came and picked us up. A hot shower and a meal later, we all dug into the secret theatre at the lodge and watched 'The Dark Knight' before calling it a night.

Sunday was a stunning day but the number of people doing the trek on Sunday had increased manifold as well. We took a stop-start drive to Tokaanu to enjoy the thermal pools. The stop-start was because I kept wanting to take some photos on such a nice day.

Mt Ngauruhoe

Mt Ruapehu covered in cloud

A Hut

Tongariro crossing in the distance

A marae in beautiful settings

Zoe, Katie and Simon enjoying a laugh

Natural Thermal Springs at Tokaanu

Magical Landscapes

Glen, Una and me in the hot pools (photo courtesy: Simon Barton)

The hot pools were nice and were a soothing balm to all those tired muscles. After a brief lunch stop in Taupo and a coffee stop in Cambridge - we were back in Auckland. I loved the walk and compared to climbing Mt. Ruapehu or Mt. Kota Kinabalu - this was nothing but I'd like to do it again on a nice sunny day, so I can take some nice pics and take in some of the stunning scenery.

If you are thinking of doing the trek and not sure - don't think about it - do it!!!

Later,
Amit

Entertain Me

2011-12-16T02:51:00.000+13:00

A couple of friends of mine - Claudia and Kevin have been hard at work over the past year and have created an awesome website called 'Entertain Me'. Besides deals related to entertainment - they usually are in the know of all the cool stuff happening around Auckland and they also have some pretty damn cool stuff to give away usually, so check them out. You can also catch them on their facebook page HERE. Good job guys, keep up the awesome work.

The 6 minute prologue to 'The Dark Knight Rises' was awesome. The action was crisp and the IMAX sequence looks amazing and it sets the tone for the movie in a big way. Love how each of the movies are shaping up to be thematically different while set in the same universe. There is consistency but also massive differences in how each movie is being filmed. It'll be a long 7 month wait for the movie to be released. The only thing I hope that they fix is the way Bane speaks - I could barely understand him and if that carries across to the movie we might end up with some thing like this

Batman (growling voice): whhhy doo youuu wanna takkee ovver gotham?
Bane: Hrrggh...arghghgh...Muhahaish.
Batman (growling voice): whyy dooo youuu wannna swap masksss?
Bane: daaass nooshehgrh whaass say
Batman (growling voice): i thoughhhht i whaaaas baad buttt you make me look goood.
Bane: gruassh...hurrrass..arghghgh
Batman (Bruce Wayne's voice): F@#$ this shit. I'm going home. Give me a buzz once you take some speech therapy. Do you want some recommendations?
Bane: graaahhh

I'm off doing Tongariro crossing this weekend. The weather has been playing up and the rain is putting a damper on things across the country. Here is hoping that things clear up a little.

That's me for now.
Amit

Reading Depravation

2011-12-09T19:23:00.001+13:00

This week is an exercise called 'Reading Depravation' as part of 'Artists Way' and man it is extremely hard. It is friday and I've managed to get through the week so far without reading a newspaper, magazine, website, book. The point of the exercise I think is to spend more time doing things you keep neglecting - which gets occupied by the constant influx of media.

One of the things that the reading depravation has gotten me to do is actually sit down and update the blog after ages. I'm also planning to simplify and update the main website in line with some major changes happening next year.

Evening Star

I reckon it is a great thing to do, just to give yourself some space to sort out stuff that you've been postponing for lack of time. Reading depravation definitely gives you heaps of time. Another 2 days to go. Wish me luck.

What it also has gotten me to do is become more aware of whats happening around me and also getting me to return to photography as well as socializing over this short period of time.

Grey evening over Auckland

A view from the top

A night out with Douggy - a mate from oz

Shadows and Deals

That's me for now.
Amit

Bethells Day Trip

2011-12-07T18:15:00.000+13:00

Took a day trip to Bethells Beach recently as part of my 'Artists Way' commitment and it turned out to be a great outing.

Every road trip starts with a road

Lydia made me a compile CD for the trip and the selection of songs was great and she also suggested that I take a small trek to O'Neills Bay. It turned out to be a great suggestion and a mini-adventure doing the walk on my own.

Streams and hills

Walkways

Freedom

Start of the trek

Bethells

Into the unknown

Bethells Beach

Yellow

Bethells Beach

Part of the woods that freaked me out

The walk definitely did me good and also bumped into a couple of cool cats - Tim, Nick and Melissa (am not 100% on my memory there with the names). They were enjoying the summer at the beach and funnily enough the '2 degrees of separation' manifested itself during the conversation.

Kiwi summer

O'Neills Bay

Rough Seas

The serenity and the calm was broken as soon a whole lot of kids walked through the area on their school field trip and thankfully they were just walking straight through to their bus instead of stopping and exploring the area.

Kids on their day trip

Fishing in rough sea

Alien Land Mass

Entry Prohibited

The trip was awesome and it had fun exploring one of my favorite beaches in Auckland. A good day trip for sure.

Amit

Somewhere You Know

2011-11-28T10:49:00.001+13:00

'Somewhere You Know' is the name of the new project that I've started developing as a writer.

'In Between' is the other project that I am working on, Andy Sophocleous is the writer, Leela Menon is the producer and Kathryn Burnett is the script consultant.

'In Between' is in a bit more of an advanced stage than 'Somewhere You Know' but needless to say there will be more updates about it in the future.

New beginnings, new stories.
Amit

Millionaire Mind Intensive

2011-11-22T10:09:00.000+13:00

The trip to Sydney this time around was as eventful and busy as last time. The primary purpose for going this time around was to attend a workshop/seminar titled 'Millionaire Mind Intensive' and it was 3 very long days and I'd highly recommend the workshop to anyone wanting to change the financial situation they are in currently. It is worth every cent.

I caught up with Ana and Zak for dinner on 17th evening and we had an amazing dinner at My thai's restaurant. The food was amazing and the company as great as ever. The course itself was long but time surprisingly went by pretty quick. I stayed at a backpackers- which wasn't the best decision as it was noisy through the night and I never had more than 3 hours of un-interrupted sleep during that time.

A girl skyping with her sister at the backpackers

There were some amazing people at the seminar and the course attendance was close to 2500 people. The energy, especially on the 3rd day was absolutely amazing. I like Sydney - I think i'll start looking at opportunities there, especially since NZ economy is really crawling at this point.

I've signed up for another course happening in March but will reveal more about it in due time. Needless to say - I'd highly highly recommend 'MMI' - it could be the single most important financial decision you make in your life.

Waiting to catch the flight back to Auckland

Thats me for now,
Amit

Art in The Dark

2011-11-12T10:35:00.000+13:00

There was this awesome festival called 'Art in The Dark' and it turned out to be an amazing experience. Here are some photos from one of the nights.

Definitely check it out next year if you get a chance.
Amit

Touch Rugby

2011-11-06T18:39:00.000+13:00

Who knew that Touch Rugby was such a fast and intense game? A notice went out at work asking if anyone would like to play the game for TVNZ team for Corporate Games and since I hadn't tried the game before I put my hand up. Before long we had a team all formed up, ready to represent the company.

Kamo and Tem - volunteered to show me a couple of days before the event on how to play the game. A run around in Victoria Park with a crash course in Touch Rugby's intricacies was fantastic - unfortunately I managed to pull my right hamstring and was limping back to work soon after. The next couple of days was recovery and making sure that I gave the hammie as much time to heal as possible.

The big day turned out to be a great experience. Marama had picked up TVNZ gear for us - unfortunately she picked up only female T-shirts, so us guys had to put the scissors to the garment and chop off the sleeves. It was a ragged, pirate look but we didn't mind.

The game begins

It turned out to be a great day and I could run but had no power behind the legs as the hamstring was very sore. We had some awesome players in the team and we were rocking from the word go. It's hard to pinpoint individual contributions as everyone had such a big role to play in the team flowing like it did. One of the funny moments was Marama shouting 'Come on Touch Me' from the sidelines in support for the team {our team name was 'Jutch Me' which is translation for 'Touch Me' in one of the island language - can't remember which one.}. After shouting for a few minutes, Marama realized what she was shouting and went silent while giggling uncontrollably.

Tem subbing for Kamo

Marama and Kurupae

Fraser running the ball

We managed to come second in our pool, beating Maori TV as well as Sky TV and since the organizers were short on time - they didn't have a proper semi-final and final play-offs, instead we end up playing the second placed team from the other pool in a 3rd/4th playoff. The team that came first in our pool kicked arse in 1st/2nd playoff and I reckon if they'd stuck to the proper play-offs our team would've come second easily. Cutting a long story short, our team came 3rd - which was a great achievement for us having entered the competition for the first time.

Traveena, Marama, Ana and me at the awards ceremony

Me receiving the award after cracking a joke

Team 'Jutch Me' (Irene is squeezed in between Marama and Ana)

Not everyone stayed back for the awards ceremony and it was an awesome feeling receiving a medal for achieving something in ages. It was an awesome day and above all we all shared some great laughs and company while enjoying our game time. What an awesome bunch of people!!! Go 'Team Jutch Me'.

Amit

Polaroid Farewell Exhibition

2011-10-04T22:09:00.002+13:00

I was backing up my stuff from my burnt out laptop onto the mac when I came across the polaroids that I'd scanned in for the 'online exhibition' thing that was supposed to happen in 2009. Here they are for your view pleasure.

Hong Kong

Chairs in Valleys

Wellington

Tree of Life

Handstands on the beach

Floating planets

Concrete Jungle

Lion Rock

Wellington Cable Car

Piha

Trams

Metal Monsters

Immortal

City of Sails

Humanity

Bangkok

Hong Kong Harbour

Empty Streets

Waiting to fly out

Portal to everywhere

Sydney and other stuff

2011-09-26T12:35:00.001+13:00

The short trip to Sydney at start of the month was a welcome break from the work. Everyone was generous with their time and hospitality especially Ana and Zak and it was great catching up with people whom I hadn't seen in ages. I like Sydney - the public transportation is awesome and the city is multi-cultural and vibrant- the only thing I'd hold against it is that it is expensive.

Elliot, Zak and Ana

Len and Elliot cooking up a feed

Reunion BBQ

With Elliot's family at the table

Ana, Zak and me

Blossoming romance

Me at Blue Mountains

Three Sisters at Blue Mountains

Sunset over a beautiful city

Sydney CBD at Night

Julia had her baby and it was a surprise to everyone when it turned out to be a girl. Everyone was expecting a boy called Nico but what they got was a girl called Amelie.

Holding Amelie

Amelie holding my finger

Besides that my bike got stolen, so now going to get myself a good second hand bike. It is an inconvenience and a slight financial annoyance but there is nothing much I can do about it except start putting the bike inside my room from now on.

That's me for now.
Later,
Amit

P.S - The World Press Photo Exhibition this time around was kinda disappointing - compared to last year this years exhibition was small and I definitely wanted to see more.

Freedom

2011-09-01T19:18:00.001+12:00

Life is great when you realize freedom is here and now.

I've been giving the eggplant in claypot dish that we learnt in Vietnam a good run and it's my current favorite dish. So easy to make and so so yummy.

First day back at the gym, after 2 weeks of weather related illness, was great. Everything hurts right now - so definitely a good sign.
Amit

Droughts and Birthdays

2011-08-27T16:23:00.001+12:00

Never understood why you get wished a happy birthday when it is the mother who should be the one congratulated for giving birth to you. Social rules I suppose...but here is to all the mothers in the world.

And i'm just about pissing myself laughing over the 'Man Drought Research' in NZ. Nice shoes huh??? Really?

Amit

World Press Photo 2011

2011-08-24T19:17:00.001+12:00

Last year's exhibition was unforgettable and i've still got a few photos ingrained into my consciousness, so I was pleasantly surprised when my inbox said that 2011 World Press Photo Exhibition is back in Auckland. I'll be visiting for sure, how about you?

Sunny sunday

Amit

Pho Bo Recipe

2011-08-23T11:06:00.002+12:00

SERVES 2-3 people

Ingredients
(to make broth)
150-200grams beef bone
1 knob of fresh ginger (bruised)
2 shallots, peeled
4 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
4-5 cloves
2 cardamom pods
1-2 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

(to make beef)
150grams very finely sliced beef (sirloin steak or eye fillet)
1/2 teaspoon chilli paste
2 teaspoon stock powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar

(to serve)
100 grams rice noodles
100 grams bean sprouts trimmed
2 spring onions, finely sliced
handful of coriander leaves (you can also add mint leaves)
lemon/lime wedges

Method:

Pour 3 litres into a clean stockpot, add beef bones and bring to boil.
Simultaneously, on hot pan over medium-high heat cook the bruised ginger and shallots until brown all over. Add to the stock along with star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom pods.

[Marinade the sliced beef with chilli paste, stock powder and sugar for atleast 1 hour]

Once the stock comes to boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
Cook on sim for 3 hours, occasionally skimming the fat from the surface.
Strain the stock through a strainer and discard the bones and spices.
Return the stock to clean pot.
Add fish sauce, sugar and salt.
Bring to a gentle simmer. (the stock is ready at this stage)

> On medium heat - stir fry marinaded beef for a minute to a minute half and remove from pan.
> In a separate pot, bring water to boil and put the rice noodles in for 20-30 seconds to soften.

Serving: Add bean sprouts to the bowl, add noodles on top, put in cooked beef, add the hot stock, add spring onion, coriander leaves on top. Squeeze a slice of lemon into the bowl and serve with additional slice of lemon.

Enjoy the delicious pho..

Pho

2011-08-14T21:13:00.000+12:00

One of the things that came out of the trip to Vietnam was the intense appreciation for Pho and I've been trying the same dish at some of the vietnamese restaurants in Auckland and I'll put those up once I finish checking out 2 of the restaurants that I still haven't visited yet.

I made some Pho Bo from scratch earlier in the week and it turned out AMAZING. It definitely ranks right up there with some of the best pho i've tasted - even in Vietnam. The recipe was a mixture from 2 books and will post it up in some other post. I'll sign off now with a photo of what I cooked up.

Pho Bo

Amit

To write or not to write

2011-08-12T18:37:00.002+12:00

Trying to share thoughts on here has taken such a back seat that I'm questioning whether there is any point of keeping the blog, especially since the updates from me are now so spordaic [the last post was almost a month back].

Julia and Nico

Monday coffee catchup with Julia

I've been biking to work almost everyday (there've been 2 days where I drove in instead of biking in)- no matter what the weather. It's good exercise and i've bumped into a lot of people I haven't seen in a while. It's good fun even though some of the hills are very punishing.

Korean sailors making some buoys

An old couple checking out the views

Pillars of Heaven

Boots n' All

A colorful walk

There was a photo competition by Fuji Film and I entered one of the pics I took of Nishil as it fit the entry criteria. Recently they sent a letter saying that it was adjudged one of the top 20 (from more than 1000 entries) but didn't win the prize [a finepix X100 camera]. Encouraging for sure but damn - wish the photo had won.

Running TV channels

That's all for now
Amit

Downtime

2011-07-17T08:41:00.000+12:00

Finally some downtime with 4 days off where I don't have to worry about work or anything else for that matter. Just solid downtime.

Might update the blog with India entry if I get around to it. Bought myself a road bike to cycle to work and on the test run it took me about 9 minutes to bike in and about 15-18 minutes to come back.

Thats me for now.
Amit