Clay Oven - The Best Indian Restaurant in the Universe

Born in Durban South Africa, I grew up in a culture that was influenced by the large population of Indians who live in the Durban area.
In Durban, you could pop down to almost any corner in the town center and find an Indian restaurant or take out. There you could order many Indian dishes and some which apparently were dreamed up in South Africa only, like Bunny Chows. (By the way, Bunny Chows have nothing to do with Bunnies but are a half or quarter loaf of bread with the center scooped out and replaced with chicken or beef curry).

While I would indulge in the occasional Quarter Bunny, I was a real wimp when it came to spicy food. Since I have moved to the New York area, I have started really enjoying it.

Karen and I have tried many Indian restaurants in our area including the amazing Chutney Mary's (later renamed to Chutney Manor), but when we tried the Clay Oven on Route 130, we found Indian dish heaven.

Clay Oven started slowly and seemed to be more geared to take out eating than eat in, but over time, as they have become more successful, they have improved the restaurant eat in experience .

Karen and I always tend to have the same dishes (Chicken Tika Marsala and Chicken Corma) but have been known to try other dishes on the menu.
We have never been disappointed no matter if we eat in or order take out.

The Clay Oven will make your food mild if you are one who can't handle food that is too spicy, but the flavor, texture and overall great taste will remain.

I highly recommend paying them a visit or ordering some take out from them.

Their address is:
2186 Route 130 North (South of Adams Lane) - map
North Brunswick, NJ 08902

Their phone number is: +1 732 297-9400

Customs, Interviews, PodCasts and Books

I have finally completed this software rollout which has had me traveling all over the planet.
I do like to travel, however on these trips, I never had any time to do site seeing and so they were just work. The pain of traveling abroad is definitely heightening and I found myself grimacing at the thought of having to be asked multiple times at the same airport who packed my bag and if I was carrying any sharp objects and battery operated items.

On my second to last trip, when I was returning from Belgium, I was stopped at customs because I carry a South African passport. You can read all about it in a previous post.

This last trip had me traveling to France. On my return, I was not spared. I was made to go into the waiting room. This time I had to wait about 20 minutes while they processed other people. When I finally got my passport back I asked the officers if this could be avoided.
They told me absolutely not and that every South African would be stopped every single time.

All of this thanks to some idiot selling South African passports to al Qaeda.

Today I was very fortunate to be able to interview John Berks for my Capital Radio 604 web site. John Berks has had a very long career in South African radio, including a few years on 604.
I was using my Gentner SPH-5 phone hybrid for the job which allows me to record phone interviews with great clarity. Sure this Gentner is old but I bought it off eBay and it looks in mint condition. It works very well.
Since I have given up my regular phone service (and those archaic copper wires), I was using my Vonage phone for the interview. In all reality, using Vonage is no different from using say, Verizon, its just that Vonage is much cheaper and more flexible. The Voice over IP call provided better audio quality than my old Verizon phone line would have which added to the quality of this interview.

There was an audible AC hum on John Berks' side of the call (which he told me happens quite often) but I was able to digitally remove it using my trusty audio tool of choice, GoldWave.

I made the interview available as a Windows Media stream, but decided to also make it available via my new PodCast. I decided to try out PodCasting because it is rather a neat idea.

A few years ago, I wrote a business plan for a re-launch of Capital Radio 604, and proposed the idea of making on-air broadcasts available to download to MP3 players like iPods.
Now, it seems, someone has come up with a clever way to automate this process. The PodCast concept is designed for Apple iPods and iTunes, but the general concept could be applied to any MP3 player.
You put an MP3 file(s) on your web server and create an XML file which has details on the PodCast and the MP3 file(s). The user installs a PodCast client like iPodder. They subscribe to the PodCast by using the XML file in the PodCast client (similar to the way you use an XML file to subscribe to a BLOG). The PodCast client will check for updates on the PodCast and automatically download the file and insert it into your iTunes playlist.
The PodCast creator can add multiple MP3 files to each PodCast.

To subscribe to the Capital Radio 604 PodCast, click here.

Last, but certainly not least, I am in final negotiation stages with John Wiley and Sons Publishers to write a book. I will disclose the book title and contents later, but its safe to say that it is a 500 page technical book.
I should be finished with the manuscript in February 2005.