Droughts and Birthdays

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

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

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

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

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