Tavern's Member Picture Gallery.

@Lae I use 'Faff' a fair bit too. Sounds so much less harsh than 'procrastinating', which is what I'm really doing when I'm faffing.

 

So we went to London with @KaTrian and, of course, had to check out some Indian restaurants for some of that famous British curry. I was really looking forward to getting my teeth melted by a bonafide phaal. Well, my hopes were half-granted:



The phaal was extremely tasty, but unfortunately barely half as hot as the curry I usually make at home. Granted, I have a hunch they didn't even use capsaicin extract, but I guess I have to wait until next time to meet my match. Great food, but not spicy enough. For some reason I got the feeling I wasn't supposed to say that to the staff when they asked how I liked the dish (which they kept warning me about, apparently thinking I was yet another doughy foreigner just looking to impress his girl only to end up crying and wailing when the heat gets unbearable) because they seemed a little miffed after that. Or maybe it was because I didn't wind up in tears with a nosebleed and an aching stomach.

One thing that lessened my disappointment was a positive surprise: I bought a new electric cigarette. I've been vaping for funzies for a couple of years now, so I kinda figured I had a pretty good idea of what to expect even though I usually favor cartomizers over clearomizers (which is what came along with this battery, as well as a bottle of 18% e-juice). Little did I know that at least this clearo was far more badass than I expected:



PS. We actually aren't nekkid: I just had my shirt off 'cause it was a hot day. Honest!

 

Porn!

 

Well, every picture thread does need its dose of food porn.

 

If you're into making your own curries, try pilchards as a main ingredient. It tastes a lot nicer than it sounds.

 

@T.Trian

Did they give you a magnifying glass so you could see your dish?

 

@Aled James Taylor, thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try if I can find it here in Finland.

Actually, there was plenty to eat (at least by my standards; I'm not good with volume, but I can tolerate heat pretty well), it just seems that Indian restaurants usually serve their curries in bowls like that which make it look like there's not much, but when you start eating, it takes a good while to see the bottom of the bowl. The two curries I ate in London (different restaurants) and all curries I've eaten here in restaurants have been served in similar metallic thingies. Maybe it's a traditional way of serving curry or summat?

 

It's called a balti.

 

@T.Trian

You must have got unlucky with the place, because a Phal should be ridiculously hot - say 3 to 4 times as hot as a vindaloo.

The first time I had one I was really hammered, but the Phal sobered me up in the same way that I've heard being in a car crash can. Also, the next day when I, er, visited the lavatory, I literally had to do it in two goes. Think Ring of Fire. It was terrible.

I can't believe that you routinely eat homemade curries twice that hot!

 

I'm pretty sure I just got unlucky with the place or maybe the chef hadn't the ingredients that day or something since the restaurant (Noor Jahan) was listed (in allinlondon.co.uk) among those that were supposed to serve London's hottest curries. It was almost next door from our hotel, so we figured what could go wrong? Maybe my mistake was not bothering to make the long-ish trip to Brick Lane (a mistake I'll definitely remedy the next time around) and try out one of their chili challenges.
And yeah, they warned me about the upcoming evening, but I didn't even get the ring of fire -experience. I usually don't, though, my stomach's probably lined with concrete or something, but if the dish is truly hot, my stomach does start to burn a few hours after the meal, but it's nothing a few gulps of milk wouldn't cure.

Maybe they went easy on the chili 'cause I do look like a bit of a wuss. Oh well, hopefully in a few months my mom's Trinidad Scorpions will start bearing fruit; thouse I know are definitely more than hot enough.

 

I like hot food but it makes me blow my nose and that is kind of disgusting to do in a restaurant constantly.

 

I love you guys. Group hug.

 

Poop.

 

Yeah, that's kinda unavoidable (although even that didn't happen with that particular phaal except after the meal ), but since @KaTrian doesn't mind me sniffling next to her (probably 'cause usually her nose is leaking too from whatever hot food she's having) and hers is the only opinion that matters to me, I consider it a license to wipe or blow my nose mid-meal.

 

@T.Trian @KaTrian you guys enjoy london? that there's my hometown!

as for spicy food. I cant handle anything hotter than a mild tikka masala haha, I can eat hotter but i just dont like it, comes to a point where all i taste is the spicey hotness rather than the food if that makes sense.

 

Dude, London was fucking awesome! We checked out the musical instrument shops on Denmark Street and I got to try out some of the Blackstar LT guitar pedals as I'm hankering for the LT Metal, and one shop had a pretty damn sweet deal on a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier head and 2x12 cab (one of the holy grails of high-end rock & metal amps), but dragging a 20+kg amp and a 25kg cab to an airplane... yeah, just no.
And we visited a cool graveyard where some random granny gave us an impromptu tour to the graves of a suffragette and some old singer guy, and of course there were the sights we visited, a two-floor sex shop, a small, but cozy local pub, and massive book stores (where I found a guide book for drawing, easily the best of the ones I own).

And yeah, it makes sense you wouldn't taste much of a dish that's too hot for you: that's why naga jolokias are often mistaken to have only heat and no flavor because the people saying that aren't ready for that heat level. Give a child regular Tabasco and he won't taste much but the heat, but when your heat tolerance goes up from eating hot foods regularly, like once or twice a week, you can taste all the flavors even in a ghost pepper (kinda like a cross between the fruitiness of a habanero and the bitterness of a tomato, but tons of flavor).

 

Never thought of it that way, i am enjoying the odd spicy dish here and there so maybe i should try a few more now.

a book for drawing? which one? loomis?

The sex shop, and a massive book store. was it foyles and the sex shop next door?

Im glad you liked it, london gets a unfair unfriendly rep but ive never had any problems nor any foreign mates that have come over to stay. If you like graveyards...(thats an odd start to a sentence ) then highgate in north london is great, getting to all the tourist things are good but cCamdenCamden lock i think would suit you guys.

 

Getting to the last of summer produce in the garden. No more cucumbers



@T.Trian : I remember my two mates from Uni, one Vietnamese another Sri Lankan, having a 'whose mother makes the hottest curry' cook-off. The Sri Lankan guy brought phaal, the Vietnamese guy something else, both were black from heat. It was so hot, just touching it with the tip of my tongue gave me feeling of a non-healing blister for hours! The two of them, animals, ate the whole lot, however, they both sweated like crazy. In the end, phaal won, but only just.

 

That's how it goes; the more often you eat hot foods, the hotter you can tolerate.

The book is Tom Nguyen's "Incredible Comic Book Women" (it was cheaper in the book store than on Amazon or any book store in Finland that carries it). It focuses on anatomy, different ages, even the facial features of different races etc. I like it 'cause it's not just an excuse for the author to draw naked girls and actually contains useful information (to me anyway; might be a bit too basic for better drawers).
It comes in handy 'cause I've always had trouble drawing women (I drew men pretty much exclusively throughout my childhood so I have a much better understanding of male anatomy, dimensions etc), but this book seems to address most of my biggest weaknesses.
Too bad the series doesn't have a similar book focusing on male anatomy and stuff since @KaTrian is the exact opposite; she can draw women, but men are more problematic.

And yeah, it was Foyles and the adjacent sex shop. The latter carried some pretty suspicious things, like large, inflatable butt plugs...
Too bad Foyles hadn't the two non-fiction war books we were looking for, but we can always order those. It was still great 'cause when Kat and I go to a book shop, it's like setting two kids loose in a toy/candy store.

We visited the Brompton cemetery. We were surprised how many joggers there were running around the graveyard; nobody really does that in Finland. Camden Lock was on our list but we didn't have the time. Oh well, next time...
And btw, almost everyone we met were really friendly, so I don't know, maybe some people have just had bad luck?

Hot food cook-offs are great! Usually my friends' comments to me amount to "you want some food for your hot sauce?"
Btw, those veggies look awesome, especially the cherry tomatoes. They'd go really well in a shopska salad.


Btw, I found the pic I snapped of the sufragette's, Emmeline Pankhurst's, grave. Excuse the guerrilla style photography; all I had was my phone's camera.

 

Eh, shopska salad... Instantly teleports me home Whose specialty is it after all? Both Serbs and Bulgarians have it, but I'm thinking, is it (like so much down in the Balkans) Turkish? Greek? In any case, yum! Especially as an accompaniment to cevapcici
ps. Or burek

 

Shopska actually does come from Bulgaria, but a big part of the quisine really is borrowed from e.g. Turkey (e.g. baklava) and Greece. And yeah, shopska followed by any meaty dish is pretty much a guarantee of an excellent meal. Add some rakia to go with the salad and you're all set.

 

If it is that I go the self-pub route, I'm getting a cover artist who has an eye for retro. Just got these in the mail today. I think they're awesome!

 

That ship in Star Surgeon looks AMAZING.

 

I'm pretty new here so I'll post a couple pics.

This is just me


my wife and I exploring in the bahamas on our honeymoon


Just before we jumped in the water to go snorkeling with sharks




I probably made her mad or something


This was just the other week in front of our car at the car show

 

Welcome @eg8hardcore. I'm still trying to figure out your member name...

Thigh-high, white patent leather go-go boot rockets anyone? Also, dude in a unitard.