The Racing Geek http://www.rahulnair.net/blog The ramblings of a car crazy tech geek Wed, 12 Mar 2025 05:51:22 +0000 en hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.5 6395172 Pasta Dinner http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2025/03/11/pasta-dinner/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2025/03/11/pasta-dinner/#respond Wed, 12 Mar 2025 05:39:23 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=2020 black truffle explosions

For our first multi-course meal at our new place in Hayward, I spent a lot of time brainstorming a theme. My initial idea was to base it on ice cream because it would be completely prepped ahead and offer a unique twist. I found some really interesting recipes, including several savory ice cream options, but ultimately, I felt it would be too much sugar and too one-dimensional to be a complete meal.

My second option was to go with a potato theme, especially since I had always wanted to recreate the Hot Potato Cold Potato dish. However, I remembered that the last time I did it was also a potato-themed dinner, so I decided to switch things up and go with pasta and pasta-adjacent dishes instead.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2025/03/11/pasta-dinner/feed/ 0 2020 Full English Breakfast http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2023/02/27/full-english-breakfast/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2023/02/27/full-english-breakfast/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2023 02:00:37 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1971 When we went to the UK in 2016, one of my favourite things to eat was a full english breakfast. The mix of bacon, sausages, eggs, black pudding, baked beans, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast really hit the spot especially when served with grilled haloumi. Also its a truly iconic meal and we got to try several versions ranging from the traditional at the famous Layer Cake diner and a deconstructed version at the Fat Duck.

Fast forward to 2022 and I had a meal at Gucci Osteria da Massimo Botturo where they served a fantastic American Breakfast dish which consisted of poached quail egg and caviar covered with a potato foam.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2023/02/27/full-english-breakfast/feed/ 2 1971 The Thomas Keller Affair http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2022/07/21/the-thomas-keller-affair/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2022/07/21/the-thomas-keller-affair/#respond Fri, 22 Jul 2022 00:28:12 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1921 As we got ready to move out of our house in Santa Clara, I wanted to cook a final meal in our fancy kitchen before we left it behind. I had always been fascinated with the famous French Laundry preparation of Oysters and Pearls and very early on decided that it was going to be the anchor dish of this meal. As I kept looking for other dishes to go with it I was intrigued by enough TFL dishes that I decided to go all the way and make this a Thomas Keller themed dinner and to only cook dishes that either his recipes or are served in one of his many restaurants.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2022/07/21/the-thomas-keller-affair/feed/ 0 1921 The Aston Martin V12 Vantage S Manual registry is now live http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2022/03/08/the-aston-martin-v12-vantage-s-manual-registry-is-now-live/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2022/03/08/the-aston-martin-v12-vantage-s-manual-registry-is-now-live/#respond Tue, 08 Mar 2022 07:47:49 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1904 The Aston Martin Vantage is a car that I have been fascinated with ever since the VH II based V8 Vantage first came out in 2005. Luckily my Lotus dealer at the time was also an Aston dealer and gave me a chance to take their demo V8 Vantage for a quick spin up CA-17 and back. However I felt that while it was an achingly beautiful car in person, the performance of the original 4.3L cars did leave something to be desired. Aston seemed to understand this too and a few years later went to the 4.7L engine which improved performance but it still wasn’t a true supercar yet.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2022/03/08/the-aston-martin-v12-vantage-s-manual-registry-is-now-live/feed/ 0 1904 A Michelin Tasting at Home http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2021/06/22/a-michelin-tasting-at-home/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2021/06/22/a-michelin-tasting-at-home/#respond Wed, 23 Jun 2021 03:30:40 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1836 In the last year of COVID life I only made one multi course meal and it was a collection of old favourites that I put together for a Pandemic Thanksgiving meal. During the meal I was talking to our guests about those recipes when I realised that I hadn’t really made a truly new menu since my Potato Dinner of 2018. We got to talking about cookbooks at that meal and I brought out the Alinea and Manresa books to show people. I then spent the Christmas break going through the two books and marked out a selection of recipes that I thought were both interesting and practical to make at home.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2021/06/22/a-michelin-tasting-at-home/feed/ 0 1836 Viper Video Feature http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2021/01/24/viper-video-feature/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2021/01/24/viper-video-feature/#respond Sun, 24 Jan 2021 22:37:55 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1805 A Youtube Video that Throdle shot in 2019 about the Viper has finally come out. The funny part is that this video came out exactly a week after I sold the Viper. In total I had the viper for 2.5 years and put several thousand miles on the car. I even used it as my daily driver for a few months and found it super practical to live with. I really enjoyed my time with the car and I will definitely have to get a Gen V Viper some day. But for now I am going to move on towards other interesting bucket list cars that I have always wanted to own.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2021/01/24/viper-video-feature/feed/ 0 1805 Video feature on the Elise http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2020/12/29/video-feature-on-the-elise/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2020/12/29/video-feature-on-the-elise/#respond Tue, 29 Dec 2020 23:40:17 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1793 Just in time for the 15 year Anniversary of my Elise purchase, the Throdle Youtube channel released these videos about my Elise ownership experience. We talk a about what its like to have the Elise as a daily driver and how it eventually became my track car instead. The Elise is now my least valuable car but in terms of memories and experiences it is the one car that I will never sell.

Apart from the driving experiences, the Elise also got me into the GGLC orbit and has led to many of my automotive friendships in the bay area.

FYI the videos were recorded in 2019 which is why it seems weird to have people standing together without masks.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2020/12/29/video-feature-on-the-elise/feed/ 0 1793 15 Year Anniversary of my 2006 Lotus Elise http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2020/12/06/15-year-anniversary/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2020/12/06/15-year-anniversary/#comments Sun, 06 Dec 2020 23:57:21 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1749 Today was the 15 year anniversary of my picking up the Elise. I did post some pictures after years one and two but I figure a milestone event like this is worth a few more. Click through on the pictures to see them in more detail on Flickr.

Picked up from Los Gatos Luxury cars on 6-Dec-2005 some 5 months after I placed the build order. I was told that this was the first 2006 Elise delivered in California.
ZoneTag Photo 16:54:43 PST

Did the 1500 mile break-in down Highway 1. I was at the dealer 6 days after pickup with the odometer at 1490 miles.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2020/12/06/15-year-anniversary/feed/ 2 1749 Back in a Seven http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2019/07/30/back-in-a-seven/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2019/07/30/back-in-a-seven/#comments Wed, 31 Jul 2019 01:30:16 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1668 Little America, WY

I am happy to announce that I am the new caretaker of this wonderful V8 Stalker and am back in the Seven life. When I sold my Ultralite a few years ago, I didn’t really miss it too much since I had my Elise as a track car. But then I went to Spa with some Sevens and remembered just how much fun they are on track. I decided that I would have buy another one at some point and ideally do either a bike engined Caterham or V8 Stalker to try out a different style of Seven. I wasnt actively looking but when the builder of this car poseted that he was thinking of selling it I was intrigued.… Read the rest

]]> http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2019/07/30/back-in-a-seven/feed/ 2 1668 Spa-Francorchamps http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2019/04/14/spa-francorchamps/ http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/2019/04/14/spa-francorchamps/#comments Sun, 14 Apr 2019 20:55:53 +0000 http://www.rahulnair.net/blog/?p=1638 462337_FB

A couple of slow laps (3:17s) from Spa – unfortunately I did not get good video on day 1 when the weather was much better. My theoretical best was 3:11 which I am pretty happy with for a FWD GTI hatchback rented from RSR Spa.

Eau Rouge really is as difficult as they say and the track has a bunch of corners that require way more trust in the car and your abilities than I had for my first time there. This was my first international track day and Book-A-Track did a great job. It was a bit weird to only pass on the left but they ran a great event and I liked the open track (non-session) aspect of it.… Read the rest

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