NZ Care Package

Today I received my NZ care package, courtesy of Real Groovy. I figured I needed some new music and what better than something from home, as the local music is world class these days. When growing up I was never really into the local stuff, some of it was good but always came and went. I think I just fell for the marketing ploys of the shops promoting the imported CD’s. Its nice to just get a whole lot of new music, to listen to over and over, and find new favourites. Once they are worn in, then I can put on an old album and its like new again, and the cycle continues. For those who know it, in the pack I got some Blindspott, Salmonella Dub, Pitch Black and Opshop for some ambient listening.

To try something new I grabbed some psychedilc jazz off amazon. Its a bizzare mix of low tempo jazz meeting a chillout album. Some nice deep sounds in places, and upbeat vocal stuff in others, all with the live music sound. I like it

In other news, started my darkroom course on tuesday. All the technical stuff is out of the way, got film in the camera and a mini-assignment to do. Next week we develop our own film, then do printing the week after. Looking at possibly getting a medium format camera. There are some old russian ones on ebay which are recommended by our tutor. Nice sturdy made-to-last cameras. What this means for you no-photo people out there, is I can take photos at 6cm x 6cm, meaning some cool big prints with lots of detail Another update after next weeks class..

Smoked Trout Salad

Just thought I’d make another post about what is happening in my food world, since as Amber put it – i’m now a foodie. Not in the takeaway’s every second night, washed down with a tall ice cold coke. But more of a general awareness about food, and understanding how it all combines in so many ways to awaken the taste buds on a daily basis. We are frequently heading down to the farmers market every 2 weeks to find some fresh produce. With simple things such as carrots, buying a big bag of fresh dirt covered vege, the resulting taste, colour and smell is better than anything down at the supermarket. Almost makes me want to start a vege garden. Almost. I doubt that will happen. Over the last year here, we have managed to suss out the best little shops for food, trying to avoid the big supermarkets for anything other than milk, bread and yogurt. Easy to notice in the taste

Trying out a chickpea curry tommorrow night, with the long soaking process starting tonight. Its a bit of a big effort but hopefully worth it. Going to try making some Roti to go with it all. Feast for a king, or just me

London Trip

I’m a bit late with the update, but we had a cool weekend in London. The weather was perfect, the smog was minimal and my feet are sore from all the walking and exploring. We were on a bit of a shopping mission, just exploring all the cool areas that only london really offers, and finding a few more hidden places worthy of a revisit. We were staying in the finest accomodation – a blow up mattress on a lounge floor in putney. Perfect. For some strange reason most of the people I know in London happened to live in the same area, so I managed to catch up with quite a few people I hadn’t seen for a few years. Sorry to those who I couldn’t make it out to see. Next time. London always seems to fasincate me, I just love sitting back and people watching no matter what the suburb or place. The variety of cultures, influence, and attitudes are everywhere blending to create the crowds of london as millions of people try to live together as one giant mass, pushing, shoving and usually found on the tubes are rush hour. This time round I manged to time the distances a bit better, but slightly forgot about the masses of people, it never seemed to stop moving. There are times when I love just being part of that busy crowd though.

Hopefully be back in London in the early summer. Returning to Scotland, life almost returns to normal with Halloween ghosts and goblins running around, and a warzone of fireworks exploding in the park outside our place for Guy Fawkes. With winter setting in we are already thinking about our next trip – somewhere nice and exotic, slightly challenging, tasty food, rich culture, minimal tourists and a toasty climate. Morocco is next on the list, not till possibly April next year though..

I’ve been really slack on the emails too, so i’ll be in touch with many of you soon