Today I had a photoshoot with restaurant owner, author and international speaker Pauline Nguyen of Red Lantern. Pauline’s such an inspirational woman! I absolutely love how she carries herself. She’s an awesome listener (I talked a LOT!), but when she opens her mouth to say something I’M ALL EARS! I really enjoyed talking with her pre and post shoot just as much as taking photos of her in silence whilst she was doing her (quite intense) yoga routine.
Chef Luke Nguyen and Lely the B’Day girl.
Co-owner of Red Lantern (and Luke’s sister) Pauline Nguyen, Lely and her husband Bernard.
The sisters and Luke (that’s my mum on the far right!).
My relos are always pushing it with the dirty jokes. Their heads are in the gutter I swear! Lely’s pressie, some edible nipple tassels!
Celebrated my Aunt Lely’s B’Day today at Red Lantern on Riley. My family are very used to choosing where to eat, but for the first time I felt like I got a word in and I’m glad I did as they all absolutely loved the food, and the company too as both Luke and Pauline Nguyen were in the house!
My 3rd time eating there now, and I am still in awe of how amazing the food is (yes, the beef, oh my fucking god the beef!!!).
For more info, visit: http://www.redlantern.com.au/riley
NINJAS @ Zen Garage last night.
Back in 2011 when we first opened up we had the NINJAS over to bless our space (revisit that feature here). Back then we didn’t have our shop fit out installed, we basically had an empty space, so it seems fitting that we invite the NINJAS back one last time now that Zen is completely empty again.
As expected, seeing the space so empty stirred up a few emotions. Zen Garage is but a shadow of the space it once was, the logos on the walls are the only real remnants of Zen, and as strong as they are they don’t carry across that great Zen vibe without all the other goodies we managed to cram into our man cave over the past 3 years.
Like the first time, we ordered Pizza and again we had no table or chairs to eat it on, but the great company, conversation, food, tunes and beers helped get our minds off the empty space that once was Zen Leichhardt.
Soon after dinner we got the Pedalkhana going. A course which saw a fast slalom through the pylons, a slow and slippery figure 8 through some posts then a roll up a couple of down low ramps into the office through to a step drop off into the finish line.
The first round saw contestants use their bike of choice, the second round was much the same except riders weren’t allowed to set a foot down (if they did they were instantly disqualified). The third round levelled the playing field and saw all competitors use the funny bike!
View the full feature on Zen Blog: http://www.zengarage.com.au/2014/08/ninjas-zen-garage-the-last-hoorah
Alain and Glenn following the video installation guide.
We have light!
Almost there!
As soon as it was finished we turned the lights out in the lounge room and… Boom!!!
We then went to the bedroom to test it out, awesome!
Whoooo!
I stumbled on some images of a bedroom on tumblr lit up with the galaxy, after some hunting around I found the device! It’s a cheap LED powered light which you have to build on your own. The instructions are rubbish (they’re wrong) but there’s an easy to follow video online which makes putting this gizmo together quite easy (not that I did a thing, Alain and Glenn made it!).
The results are stunning! Can’t wait to do a shoot with it!
Had a great shoot at the beach house yesterday with actress Ari Putnam, who brought a LOT of energy to the shoot. Ari also brought a whole suitcase full of gear. You’d think she was moving in! Lots of great Black Milk stuff which was fun to shoot. Be sure to follow her on instagram: @ariputnam.
All the photos gathered from the Zen Photowalk last weekend are now up on the Zen Blog! Was such an awesome day out, so much luck was on our side, from the rain holding out, to the cops not pressing charges when they caught us breaking into the Rozelle Tram sheds!!! Check out the full feature, it’s a rippa!
New owner driving NA8C home.
On a whim the other morning I put up an EOI on my MX-5. I was never meant to sell this car as it’s my second NA8C, and this time I was going to go all the way, flares and a high comp engine. I’d bought some stupid expensive rare parts for this car. Stuff that is totally not worth the money. I even had a spare engine too, but my looming Japan trip (want more spending money!) combined with the loss of Zen Garage as a place to store my cars pushed me to put up an EOI, and as soon as I did the interest came in fast.
$5k, $6k, $7k offers came flying at me. Just when I was going to sleep on the $7k offer an offer of $7500 dropped. I decided to ask for $8k and had a mate keen on the car, as well as a kid who knows the car well, has seen it in real life and he was just waiting for insurance money to clear (as his MX-5 was totalled in an accident which wasn’t his fault). I then got a call whilst I was at Zen from a guy who dropped in and boom, he took it. I feel bad for the kid who really wanted it, and my other mate had taken the cash out and dropped by later that afternoon despite the car already being sold!
It’s amazing what a detailed build thread can do when it comes time to sell a car. The build thread on JDMST was so many pages long. Every time someone asked me about the car I just sent them to the build thread instead.
The snap above is of the new owner driving the car away. Locked into memory now, it’s always sad seeing your cars drive away at the hands of their new owners!
Mia Mao Mao now on facebook, tumblr and Instagram!
Had to be done! Mia’s now got her very own facebook page, tumblr and Instagram account!
Like: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mia-Mao-Mao/695893073831537
Follow: http://instagram.com/mia_mao_mao
Follow: http://mia-mao-mao.tumblr.com
Skylines Australia (SAU) celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R last Saturday. I really wanted to go and represent, but I’m not a morning person (I get up at 5-6am most morning but don’t get out of the house until 10-11am!).
On Friday night I saw old mate Adrian Hodgson make a call out on his facebook page looking to borrow an R32 GT-R for a day. I knew it had to do with the SAU meet. Adrian’s the editor of Performance Garage Magazine (my car’s on the cover this month btw! Perhaps a blog post on that soon) and turns out he wanted to cover the event.
Without too much thought (because if I think too much I get paranoid and just end up doing nothing at all) I let him take my car to the event. Turns out he hired gun photographer Matthew Everingham to shoot the event too so I’m looking forward to the photos!
For now, enjoy this one shot above by Stefan Trajkovski.
PS: I always love hearing the positive feedback from everyone who gets to drive RB26. Adrian made a lot of mates driving my car (many who thought he was Justin Fox, haha!), many thumbs ups too (I’m always getting the thumbs up when driving this car). Newfound love, the feedback always brings it home!
PPS: The price of these cars (well, my car) is finally going up. Last weekend I received the biggest offer on the car to date. I was tempted… for all of 10 seconds! Haha, the car is not for sale!
Yeah you know me!
A while back the Zen crew feasted like Kings at Red Lantern on Riley. The food was mind blowing! We’ve been in touch ever since and we’ve managed to secure a few ZEN GARAGE VIP CARDS to hand out which get you a massive 20% off your meal!!!
What a mad collab! I’m stoked. All orders from our online shop will get a card as of today until they run out!
Check out our review of Red Lantern on Zen Blog.
PS: Could not resist giving the card a spin last night, and had the best catch up with Felix and Di for dinner at Red Lantern on Riley last night. The food was EPIC. The beef, OMFG the beef.