Gentleman Bandit at Leopold cafe

Greg Smith

• 1977- In a 3 month spree, armed with an imitation pistol, he netted $32,650 AUD from 24 armed robberies
• He was known as the “Building Society Bandit” and the “Gentleman Bandit”, because he had chosen to rob only institutions with adequate insurance, he would wear a 3-piece suit, and he always said “please” and “thank you” to the people he robbed.
• 1978- He was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment for a series of armed robberies of building-society branches, credit unions and shops, committed with a toy pistol while addicted to heroin.
• 1980 – escaped from Victoria’s maximum security prison in broad daylight to become one of Australia’s most wanted men. Tortured while in solitary confinement.
• After briefly going to New Zealand, he lived in Mumbai, where he became involved with the local mafia, and lived there for 10 years.
• In Mumbai, was thrown into Arthur Road jail and tortured there as well, by being tied up, hung upside down and beaten with sticks.
• He was released from the jail some time later due to bribes paid by a senior member of the Indian mafia. Roberts ended up working for the mafia, smuggling drugs and passports.
• Some say he also went to war in Afghanistan to fight with the mujahedin.
• 1990 – captured in Frankfurt after being caught smuggling heroin into the country.
• Extradited to Australia and served a further six years in prison, two of which were spent in solitary confinement. He escaped prison again during that time, but then he relented and smuggled himself back into jail. His intention was to serve the rest of his sentence to give himself the chance to be reunited with his family.
• In prison he began writing a novel. The manuscript was destroyed by prison wardens, twice, while he was writing it.
• After leaving prison, he was able to finally finish and publish his novel. The book’s name comes from the name his best friend’s mother gave him, which means “Man of Peace,” or “Man of God’s Peace.”

Thanks to Vinod, Jemin and the clumsy waiter at Gokul; we came across the Author of “Shantaram.”  –  Gregory David Roberts at Leopold cafe

Update:

Some Videos I came across

The Doughnut Burgers

After Bacon Cheeseburger Turtles and The Bacon Cheese Pizza Burger, here is one more addition to the list of tempting food stuff, and it is called The Doughnut Burgers.

Doughnut Burgers

And here is a video demonstrating a quick way to create one at home or office.

Bacon Cheeseburger Turtles

By far the strangest and the most yummiest recipe I have came across on the internet is the one for “The Bacon Cheese Pizza Burger”. However, couple of days back picture of something called “Bacon Cheeseburger Turtles” started floating on the internet. I don’t know its source but here is the image.

Bacon Cheeseburger Turtles

I am searching the internet for the recipe of Bacon Cheeseburger Turtles. If you have any information about method of its preparation please post a link or any tips in the comments.

Update: More Tempting Food Delights

• The Doughnut Burgers
• The Bacon Cheese Pizza Burger

World’s Best Chicken Curry

My Grand mom has the awesomest recipe for Maharashtrian style chicken curry.

Couple of week’s back I was at her place picking her brain to teach me how to prepare this “World’s Best Chicken Curry”. She agreed and asked me to help her out with all the ingredients. I got a kilo of whole chicken from the shop she suggested. Took out all the spices and grated the coconut for its cream, chopped up the chicken, washed and cleaned all the vessels that are required, etc. And got ready to document everything she did while preparing the world’s best chicken curry.

My Grand mom started with marinating the chicken in oil, green chili and coriander paste along with some salt and Indian masala. While the chicken was marinating she roasted some desiccated coconut along with some onions, ginger, garlic, cashew nuts, whole garam masala and poppy seeds (Khus khus); this mixture was ground to a paste and this forms the main content of the curry. Then came the tomatoes, she prepared some tomato puree after selecting the best three.

Now that all the raw material was ready to use the vessel was heated and some homemade desi ghee (non- processed butter) was heated and to it she added some finely chopped onion and ginger garlic paste. Once the onion was golden brown she added the tomato puree and reduced the mixture till some ghee oozed from the mixture. Then the marinated chicken went in and it was stirred till cooked properly and covered in all the awesome masala and onion-tomato mixture. Once the chicken was cooked she added the desiccated coconut mixture with onion, garam masala etc. prepared earlier.  She added some water to it and gave it a good stir. Then covered the vessel with a serving plate and filled the plate with water, this helps the steam with the flavor from the food to condense and fall back into the curry.

After about 5-10 minutes she took off the lid and tasted the chicken, added some Indian masala and salt to get that perfect taste. Then as the finishing touch she added the coconut cream and tasted it again just to make sure every this is still perfect. And then it was done.

It was now, my turn to eat….!!! I genuinely enjoyed every morsel of it. This is the time in life when everything is right, every worry disappears and I enjoy the moment to its fullest.

Couple of day’s back I recreated this recipe and made sure everything was done the way my grand mom did it, down to the last detail. I even bought the chicken from the same shop she suggested; I borrowed all the spices from her and even the desi ghee.

After about 2 Hrs. it was time from me to taste my creation and as I had guessed it, the chicken curry was OK. Just OK, I exactly replicated everything my grand mom did, down to the last detail and yet I could only come up with a chicken curry that tasted OK.

I called up my grand mom and explained how I did everything the way she thought me and yet my chicken curry was just OK and not even close to her ‘Best Chicken Curry in the World’. She paused for a moment and then with a smile replied “You did not the best grand kids in the world to taste your chicken curry.” She suggested “You should give it a try when you have grand kids and then you’ll get it right.”

With this I realized what I had missed. I missed some loved one to share the chicken curry with. Not that I don’t love myself, but it would have been better if someone who appreciates good food would have accompanied me for my chicken curry.  🙂

My Weight Loss Diet Plan

It’s about time that I should go on a diet. For the entire last month and a half I was under house arrest thanks to my leg injury. Now the burn wounds are healed, only the scar tissue remains and I’ll be ready to hit the gym by next week (keeping my fingers crossed for that).

I have managed to put on around 5 Kgs while I sat home waiting for the wounds to heal. So it is now necessary that I take some professional advice, I would have gladly said ‘This is where my beloved mom comes into play’ as she practiced as a Nutritionist for years; but she know we way too well and refuses to give me any tips on my diet plan. She tried her best to keep my diet in control but I have failed her over and over again 😛

This is where my dearest friend (more of an elder sister) Surabhi comes in to picture. She is a nutritionist with her own private practice and is a consultant at a clinic in Andheri and prior to this she has worked with some big names like Raheja and Wockhardt. Surabhi is confident that I’ll follow her dietary advice and shed some unwanted pounds (or Kgs). I don’t want to let her down.

Here is the diet she has chalked out for me. If you are 89 Kgs and 168 Cms tall take a look and do let me know if it helps. Also, let me know whether you think I’ll stick to it. 😉

Mr. Hrishikesh Sarvankar
Date: November 13, 2009
Ht.: 168 Cms Wt.: 89Kgs

Daily Diet Plan:

7:30 am: Luke warm water + lemon drops

8:00 am: Cornflakes with Milk / Muesli / Sandwich (tomato and Cucumber) /Egg Omelet (Only Egg White)

12:00 pm: Buttermilk (1 Glass) / Coconut Water / Fruit

2:00 pm: Salad (Tomatoes, Cucumber & Onion) + 1 Chapati (Indian wheat bread) + 1 ½ serving of Dal + 1 Serving of Vegitable + ½ serving of Rice.

5:00 pm / 6:00 pm: Tea + Puffed rice / Popcorn / Khakra (2 nos)

9:00 pm: Soup / Salad

10:00 pm: 1 Chapati + 1 Serving of Dal + 1 serving of Veg

Note: Avoid – Banana, Chickoo, Sitaphal (Custard apple), potatoes, etc. (food stuff with high calorie content)

Well this is the diet for me. If you wish to get a diet plan customized for your life style feel free to drop in an request at surabhi[dot]paranjpe[at]gmail[dot]com , you can also visit her blog  “Nutritionist Online” [http://nutritionistonline.wordpress.com]

The Bacon Cheese Pizza Burger

I came across this recipe quite some time back…. and today while having a Pizza the images on thechive.com falshed before My eyes.. . and tought I sould share them with you..

So here is what you do when you really need to put on Weight …

Weight gain recipe.

Note: No Matter when you decide to give this recipe a try always, I mean always invite me over to share… 😛

Update: Few more mouth watering food items that came across:

• The Doughnut Burgers
• The Bacon Cheeseburger Turtles