"Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film." ~Steven Wright

Bout to go to bangkok for a holiday, and hopefully wander through Laos and Cambodia before ending up at Hanoi with 2 of my beastie friends. Beasties are sorta those special friends that also manage to lead one astray more often than not. As DrP gloomily predicts my alcohol intake is about to treble, a prediction that might be actually erring on the side of caution considering I've managed to get it down to one night a week (okay, maybe 2, but it's a gentle 2).

I've also managed to give up smoking for 4 months and it seems quite perverse to go to SE Asia where you can cheaply remove whole afternoons in a blur of alcohol and nicotine. It's a holiday though, and i so need, a good long walk. Having all those overstressed danger signals where you start to think that you might be actually important at work (as opposed to valuable) and the whirly brain of what-do-i do? with said life.

Project 1 for trip is to start on a series of 100 photos of strangers - one per day at the least! It's a flickr group, and i think it will make a great set - complete with their name and their story.

Alex's Goat Curry

Alex made this for dinner the other night and it was fantastic. I'm going to attempt to make it next week. For dinner on Sunday night i'm trying out the world of goat in the slow cooker - with Rogan josh curry!

Curry paste
6cm galangal
3cm turmeric
5cm lemongrass (white part only)
1 onion
4 coriander roots
4 garlic cloves
5 dried small red chillies (soaked in water)
2 tblsp coriander seed
1 tblsp cumin seeds
1 cinnonman stick
2 teasp black-pepper corns
4 teaspns salt

Meat part

2 kilos goat meat - halal butchers on enmore rd does good goat
1 tablsp galangal powder
1.5 tablspn sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
teaspoon of butter
10 fresh curry leaves
2 tablespoon yogurt
250ml chicken stock
250mls milk
540 ml tin of coconut cream
one bunch of rice paddy herbs (garnish)

Fry onion, garlic turmeric lemongrass etc till soften(ed). Add little water while frying.
Remove from heat. Pound into paste with mortar and pestle.
Pound into past, and ADD into the wet paste above. This is the curry paste.

Add goat + 1 teaspn of salt & sugar & galanga power into saucepan
cover with water
Bring to boil and simmer for 45mins
Cover with lid. Strain meat (ditch water).

Take the cooked meat, stock and milk and coconut cream, and add to saucepan
bring to boil the on low heat simmer for 45mins.

Bring to table with jasmine rice and viet ditch weed for garnish.