Apparently this is the second or third year that Auckland has hosted a carnival on K'Rd. I was pretty impressed. There was a lot of great music, featuring 2 samba bands that both kicked ass, a decent market street market and a cool little parade.

Easily, the highlight of the night for me was the samba bands. Lots of percussion and lots of energy. There was a fair bit of rain coming down, but it was pretty warm. The whole atmosphere just made me want to peel off my wet top and just keep dancing, but that was not to be. It's a family show, folks.

The parade was fun, but not nearly so interactive. A few fetishes managed to peek out amongst the background floats. A helluva lot better than the Christmas parade last weekend.

All told, the event was great. It brought together a great time and a bunch of great friends, battling against some crap weather. The fun won.

I stopped off at Real Groovy on my way back to the house after lunch today. I didn't really intend to buy anything, but that's often the case. I ended up with 3 new things to shuffle through the player.

In 2003, Amon Tobin recorded a live show in Melbourne. The world is a better place because of this. I've been blown away repeatedly over the course of the last hour or so that it's been playing. It shows off both talent and vision, and carries an energy that really draws you in. Recorded Live is a must have for everyone. Really.

A few years ago, back in Calgary, I ran across and album that made me dance. I was in Eau Claire market and I don't dance. It was pretty impressive. That was São Paulo Confessions. At the time, I didn't know that Suba had died right after the album was released. Time passed, and some of his mostly finished work came to light, combined with remakes and remixes of some old work. This is what Tributo has become. I had heard of the album before, being released in 2002, but I never ran into a copy. As I was listening at the store, I waffled a bit. Good moments, average moments and some great moments. Picking it up was a last minute decision. Since getting back, I've decided that it was probably a good one.

After the really infectious samba shows at the carnival last night, I was interested in grabbing a bit to explore. I had a hard time finding something that might be representative, and the jury is still out. What I ended up with was a compilation album. I'm hoping it's a decent cross-section of the genre, but I may never know. I have yet to get all the way through it, but the randomiser has pulled only average moments so far.

All told, I'm winning this round. I'm happier having them than not having them.

By some lack of forethought, I used all of my vegetable stock for the lamb stew-ish thing that I just put together. That left me with a limit of options for the couscous that I was planning to make with it. Using water wasn't the best of ideas, since I wanted something a bit more interesting. And interesting it was.

1/3 cup couscous
2 tbsp amaretto
2/3 cup water
1/4 cup dried currants
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup almond slivers

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan.  When hot, add dry couscous and allow
to heat gently.  Add water and amaretto, allowing time to absorb and cook.  Just
before all the liquid is absorbed, add currants, pumpkin seeds and almonds.
Stir well, ensuring that couscous is not clumpy.

I'm more than happy with the result. The tomato-y stew-ish thing was well complimented.