Robot Personal Trainer
It’s not all fancy food and shoes. Don’t think that I roll out of bed and go straight in to gluttony and materialism. I have been on a bit of health mission for the last few years. Getting fit and staying that way is the hardest thing that I have ever done, incredibly frustrating but ultimately worth it.
Being a poser at Lyall Bay, Wellington.
What did I do today
Carnitas.
Slow cooked with orange, cinnamon and cumin. Then back into the pan for a final crisp fry.
AM1 USA. Fresh off the boat from London.
After months without, I can finally start wearing some of my treasures. These are so classic and still holding up very well despite their age.
Starting to sort and Label the collection
A lazy hour or so in the sun, just opening up boxes, checking that everything survived the trip. Still waiting on some racks for the rest of the kids.
Tropical Pirate Grog
A quiet nightcap at The Library, with the exotic name of Tropical Pirate Grog, served in a Tiki mug for effect.
Welcome to your new home !
After months of packing, traveling and waiting something pretty awesome happened yesterday. All our stuff arrived. Imagine a Christmas morning where you know that everything you want is actually in the boxes.
And speaking of boxes…..
Just the shoes !
Still a long way off actually having everything unpacked and sorted but the first order of business was to get something on my feet.
Same kicks, new location !
The ocean is so clean and cold here, the seafood is amazing. They are practically giving away live green-lip mussels. All this leads me to thinking that better put bouillabaisse on the menu for dinner.
A bottle of cheap wine and some very expensive saffron. Leeks, carrots onions, tomatoes and a few spices combined with mussels, Australian prawns and some local butterfish.
Even had the time to make my own spiced mayonnaise for dipping !
An old compilation of my collection
Like most people I really enjoy the little buzz you get from walking around in a favorite item of clothing. Imagine being able to do that everyday. I never planned on starting a collection. I just got annoyed at wearing holes in my favorite shoes and not being able to find that pair again once they were worn out.
Some of my favorites
Then I went looking for similar pairs and discovered that there was a near limitless amount of variety to be found. New colours materials, designs and ideas all working off the same theme. A nearly endless source of inspiration and a world of exploration.
So much choice
Eventually it was the search and the discovery that captivated me.
But at the end of the day, I still love wearing my favorite pair of shoes……. even if I now have many many favorites.
Singapore Chilli Crab. Roland Restaurant, Singapore.
Few things in life are as gratifying as getting really really messy in search of a good time. In a country famed for its obsession with food there is one thing that stands above the rest. A national symbol of food culture that is proud, brash and fiery. Although most Singaporeans will tell you that they prefer the Pepper or even the Butter Crab, everyone and I mean EVERYONE has a favorite place for the classic Singapore Chilli Crab. This fine example comes from Roland Restaurant, the original crab palace and some say still the best.
Many of the best crabs available in Singapore are actually Sri Lankan and they are only worth eating from a place that has live tanks and also allows the customer to select their specific crab in person. Like those at the incredibly popular No Signboard in Geylang:
Black Pepper Crab. No-Signboard, Gaylang. Singapore
Shoe Tree. Patta, Amsterdam
Not every shop is created equal. Some are much better than others. Whether it’s because of the people who run it, the location, the stuff they stock or just the vibe there are places that stand out above the rest. This is not a complete list of all the best shoe stores in the world. This is just a couple of my favorites, some are gone and some remain.
Flight Club, Soho. NYC
It’s a dream factory. If you love shoes and you have never been here then it must be at the top of your list ! There are several Flight Clubs now, including a new flagship store, but I still remember walking into this Soho store and being amazed by all the variety and colour stacked floor to ceiling.
Warped, Singapore
Not at all the sort of thing you would expect in a crummy B-grade Mall, in a City that flies way off everyone’s radar as far as shoe collecting is involved. But Warped is amazing one of the finest and most diverse collections of stuff for sale that you will see anywhere in the world.
Footpatrol, London.
A long time hero that disappeared and then re-opened in 2010 with more force and vigor than ever before. Footpatrol is great not just for it’s location, vibe and amazing Tier 0 hookups. The people who work there are just plain cool, especially Jimmy, who goes out of his way to make everyone feel like a valued customer.
Skit, Osaka.
Not the most famous branch of this infamous Japanese store. But the Skit in Osaka is cooler and more low key than most of the other stores in Japan. I was the only customer in the shop when I took this pic and the guy behind the counter had very limited English to match my terrible Japanese. He still made it clear that he was cool with me just looking around at their amazing collection and couldn’t hide his enthusiasm for the pics of my collection that I shared with him.
1948, London.
I know that a lot of people love the 21 Mercer store, but it has nothing on 1948. In my opinion its the coolest Nike store in the world. Back alley location, obscure branding and a constantly innovative evolving design. Simply put, no body does it better.
Its also one the only places I have ever physically lined for shoes. When I was foolish enough to head down early and hope to catch a pair of the AM1 Patta x Parra, despite being unsuccessful on that occasion I did manage to actually score a pair. (but that’s another story)
Which brings me to my final store… well actually it’s two. Gone but never forgotten the twin towers of Dutch shoe mastery Patta and Precint5. Legendary temples of cool footwear.
Patta, Amsterdam
Precint 5, Amsterdam
Macchiato with an 8 bit twist. Milk Bar, London.
Coffee is an obsession for many, one I can easily understand. How many things in life are we allowed that are actually luxurious, sophisticated and energizing at the same time ? Like a lot of people I love coffee and like a few I am snob. That means that those massive milky mass produced sugary drinks that you see on American TV belong to some other category of beverage. I have news for anyone who wants more than 8 fluid ounces in a cup or wants to add some kind of syrup…. you don’t like coffee !
There are so many ways to enjoy it but in my opinion the Flat White is the perfect expression of the Barrista’s art. Strong enough to retain the true flavor of the bean, but with the added challenge of creating sublime milk. Taste, texture, temperature and presentation all rolled in to one.
Flat White. Workshop Coffee, London.
Nike Flyknit Trainer
It has been a big year for innovation. Arguably one of the most impressive things to come out of the big ‘N’ in a long time is Flyknit. This technology which will find its way into a number of their products is a lightweight weave manufacturing process unlike anything that can be seen on another shoe. These Flyknit Trainers are super light and comfortable but also are an amazing looking pair of shoes. I’d be prepared to bet that if they released these without a Swoosh on them people would consider them cutting edge fashion.
Check out the video below which explains, in marketing speak, why the Flykint is an amazing piece of design.
A video about how the flyknit came to be
Air Max 1 : History of Air (2005)
In 2005 Nike released the History of Air pack with the tagline “3 decades of cushioning”. This pair was part of the now legendary Nike Powerwall which was a collection of 8 Air Max models released in 8 different styles or ‘colorways’ as they are referred to. The HOA shoes make up the top line of shoes in the wall image and where the most common release. The rest were much rarer with the bottom row only being available at certain select outlets who had special seller relationships with Nike referred to as ‘Tier 0’ accounts, in very limited numbers. (allegedly 144 pairs per shoe). Because of this the shoes that make up this row are often referred to themselves as Tier 0.
The Nike ‘Powerwall’
Some debate continues as to whether the fourth row is actually part of the so-called Powerwall or a special sub-release as they were named Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) packs in honor of the name of the company that was a forerunner to Nike.