A.F.R.I.C.A.

I'm going back to my favorite continent next week. This time I'm off to Mali, where you can't get in unless you actually get the jabs, so I'm writing this with 2 aching arms. I usually just cross my fingers!
But now my paperwork is up to date and all is well. Proofing the new book before I fly and then getting it off to the printers (well, HarperCollins do that), so things are moving along. Books take fucking forever to get out there...(Photo is one of mine from Rwanda, but will keep you posted!)

Orders are to be obeyed at all times: Follow your Leader!

Okay, so as some of you may know I was born out of advertising (hence the name - doh!) and so I still keep my hand in from time to time with some ad work. It is a great time to be looking at the whole ad game as it has changed beyond belief since the interweb revolution, and it is mutating into something that is a cross between entertainment, aural pyramid-selling, soft-porn, and a video game.

As a 'Cultural Leader' I am involved in the UK launch of the Honda CR-Z (I'm holding out for my free car) which is all about Cultural Engineers - people who are being creative and yet at the same time are doing some good. I applaud this as usually it's just about fuckers lining their pockets and trying to get out of paying the creatives for their hard work. (You'll get paid on the next job...)

So put all your prejudices about selling out and advertising aside and follow me into a world of pain, sorry, I mean the dream factory. There are some decent peeps in there...

http://www.dreamfactoryuk.com/cultural-leaders/

And now for something completely fucking different!!!

Been working on a kinda graphic novel for over 10 years now. Here's a couple of pages to jump start your working week after too much 'chocolate'...

It's totally fucked-up and mental view of the world of advertising and creativity.

Fresh Direction for Food/Blogs/Art

These guys got in touch with me from Australia and I love what they're doing. They're called the 'Bookery Cook' and they are doing something very unique with their recipes, art, design, and whole approach to food. As you might have read (check it here) I'm not that fond of what is happening right now with food in the media. You have to check out their blog and join them on FuckBook. Lots of wicked recipes, has to become a great cookbook...

Monday Night is Pasta Night

I'm sorting out a new pasta dish tonight (more later if it's successful), so I thought I stick up a classic NYC dish...


Penne in vodka sauce


Although this dish has not been anywhere near Italy, it is still one of the tastiest pasta dishes, and really easy to make too. Pretend you’re in the New York mafia when you’re eating it and talk about getting someone wacked. Let's just say that this comes under Italian-American cuisine!!!

Feeds 4

salt and black pepper
a good knob of  butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pack assorted Italian meat (Parma ham, salami etc), thinly sliced
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon caster sugar
2 red chillies, chopped
25ml/1fl oz vodka
500g/18oz penne pasta
1 small pot double cream
freshly grated Parmesan

Put a large pan of salted water on to boil.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan, add the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the sliced meat and fry for a further 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, sugar, chilli and some black pepper, and cook for 5 minutes before adding the vodka.
Then it’s time to put the pasta into the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes (or whatever it says on the packet).
When the pasta is ready, add the cream to the tomato sauce and cook gently for 2 minutes. While this is simmering, drain the pasta and put back into the big pan. Add the tomato sauce to the pasta and mix well.
Cover with grated Parmesan and serve.

Pro Bono Street Recipes - TRINCHADO

I used to eat this at the Dias Tavern in Cape Town as often as I could. Each time I'd go there I'd alternate between this and the Espedata (a serious Kebab) and I'd always be dragging my copywriter or whoever there for a quick lunch (2 hours that would then turn into a serious Jol).  Last time I was in Berlin I bought this dish from a crazy food stall (actually an old caravan) on a visit to a street festival held in June around the Kunstraum museum and park. It’s from Portugal originally but the recipe has mutated into something very Eurocentric. Bring it on!


Feeds 2

15g/1/2oz unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
675g/1 1/2lb rump steak, cut into small cubes
1 large onion, chopped
3 or 4 small hot red chilli peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
725ml/scant 1 1/4 pints/3 cups beef stock
1/2 bottle red wine
1 bay leaf
1 tin black olives, or a couple of good handfuls
salt and black pepper

Heat a large pan over a medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the butter and oil.  Once the butter is melted, add the beef cubes a few at a time and brown well on all sides. Don’t cook too many cubes at once, crowd the pan or rush this step: this is what gives the dish its flavour. Remove the cooked cubes and leave to one side on a plate.

Lower the heat to medium, add the onion and chilli and cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Pour in the stock and red wine. Stir until the sauce thickens a bit, about 3 minutes. Then add the bay leaf, olives, browned beef cubes and any juices that may have accumulated on the plate.  Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 2 hours. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Serve with lots of crusty French bread for dunking.

Killer!!!

My Street Food Cookbook is sizzling on the fire. Been checking out some killer ideas from around the globe, but then again isn't that what it's all about?
Photo above is of an ingredient from back a yard Trenchtown, from one of my new new new recipes that I'm mixing up right now, and the photo below is an inspiration for a dish from a township in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda...

Roll on Summer...

First real day of spring! Sun is shining and everything is sweet, makes me want to move my dancing feet. Praise be to Robert Nesta Marley - rest in peace bru! Roll roll roll on the summer months and outdoor times!!!
I'm gonna leave you with a shot from a festival last year. Don't know who the fuck he is but he was certainly cuddling up to the one he loved!!!

Church of London and No New Enemies

Okay so I don't just fly solo, I work with a ton of peeps around the world and two of the organizations I work with are Church of London and No New Enemies. All good stuff, all lekker people.

The Church of London

No New Enemies

Bunny Chow Recipe

This is a recipe straight outta Durban, South African, home to the largest Indian population outside of India, but today the Bunny is now eaten all over SA. The dish originated from when some kids wanted some curry from a street stall and didn’t have any plates, and so used a holed-out loaf of bread instead.

Part 1
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp fennel seed
3 tsp cumin (ground)
1/2 cup oil
1 onion (chopped)
Part 2
3 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp turmeric
Part 3
1 tin of tomatoes.
2 lbs leg of lamb or beef or chicken (cubed)
75ml stock (matching whatever meat)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground ginger
6 curry leaves
Part 4
2 potatoes, (cubed)
½ bunch fresh coriander
1 tsp peri-peri spice
1 Large French Stick or White Loaf.

In a large pan, fry ingredients from Part 1, until the Onion begins to brown.
Then add Part 2 and when everything beings to stick, add part 3
Cook for 1 hour (30 mins if using chicken) then add part 4.

Cut bread in half and hollow out . Fill with curry. Eat. Lekker!

RWANDA!

This is the film to accompany my feature in this weeks (the 17th Jan) Independent on Sunday on the music scene in Rwanda.
Oh to have my feet back on the red earth of Africa!

250 SECONDS IN RWANDA from king adz on Vimeo.

DRINK OF THE MONTH!

HOT VIMTO! This season's apre-sledging must have!
Just ad boiling water to shit-loads of Vimto!

Next Film Up!

A visual Remix of the first film. The idea is to show how much difference a soundtrack can make to how you see the visual. Oh, yeah, and I made it B/W.

45 SECONDS IN L.A. (GOMEZ REMIX) from king adz on Vimeo.

New Year New Project

Go and check the 100proof FILM Series.This is a project about story-telling using film/video, music, typography, and voice-over. The length of each piece is the same as your average TV spot (30 to 90 seconds) and so is easy for all you web-addicted ADD motherfuckers out there to digest. The subject matter is the usual bullshit that interests me: (places, faces, stories, talent).
First film up now and more to come...

30 SECONDS IN L.A. from king adz on Vimeo.

but I went via

Nairobi...
Busy typing this shit up...

and then I had to

go to Rwanda...

Sorry for no words... But I went to...

Dublin...

Sound of Silence

Sorry for the absent words, been busy finish off the new book.Can't say or show anything at the moment and so I will just have to post this photo I shot in Venice Beach. Fuck-know why but this should slate your thirst...
Some nice food coming your way this week, promise...

1percent

Okay, alright...It's been 14 years since the beginning of '1percent'. Now on line for the first time in ages, you can have a butchers at what it was like in the old days, before...
DOWNLOAD HERE

Chicken & Egg Pilau

Sorry for the distinct lack of action on this here blog but it's been a busy week and lots has been going on (nothing I can talk about, yet). In between the madness I cooked a Pilau for my mates Walks+Kirsten who have no kitchen (it's being fitted as we speak) and a 6-week old baby daughter. So the best thing was to cook a rice dish, keep the lid on the pan and make a Rasam that could be nuked in a microwave. Cooked the pilau (chicken) and shot round there. All good, rice was still hot and banged some rasam on the top. Sat around nashing, cooing over the baby and laughing at the crap telly.