There is 337 comments over 34 pages about CA's base so other members have commented, you just have to read the threads.

Yes, but nothing from the more experienced members on the use of plum tomatoes (the question that's been hanging unanswered for some time now). Having just skimmed this thread I see that there are plenty of posts on doubling this recipe, including one by CA himself.

Thanks _Jon_! I am going to go with single portion. It's my first time cooking CA's, but looking forward to it. I'm just a bit tired of keeping all these different mix powders overtime :-)

Having now checked I see that in post 104 (currently page 11) CA says you can double the recipe, he doubles the time too.

For a while now I've been sticking with this base so that I can better judge what effect my cooking technique has on the finished dish, therefore keeping many mix powders isn't a problem (just the two CA powders plus a generic mix)
In my experience the recipes posted by CA are extremely good and very well described, which in my view makes them more suitable for honing technique than many other recipes I've seen.

Your right Jon easy to do

Yes, but I should point out that knowing the trick doesn't stop me appreciating its execution. I think this is the best one I've seen too. In fact I don't remember seeing this technique applied to a normal image before, it's usually just flags or a monochrome Jesus

Did you make it yourself?

You can make these illusions yourself quite easily.
Take any image you like, the larger the better and ones with large areas of similar colour work best.
Invert the colours.
Smack a small focus point, any colour you like, somewhere in the middle.
Job done.

The focus spot is just there to stop your eye flitting around as it would normally (to avoid the issue that creates the illusion).

If you want to get a good understanding of the current theory of how humans (and devices) perceive (measure) colour then I'd recommend: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-World-Color-Management-Industrial-Strength/dp/0321267222

If you need any help understanding RGB just PM or email me with your question(s)

People seem to think all the magic is in the ingredients. It isn't, the ingredient list is the easiest part of the recipe. It's imparting the knowledge and information as to what you do with those ingredients that's the hard part and that's the part so many people either don't bother with or don't explain properly.

This is 100% correct.

h4ppy-chris, do you have any videos that just keep the pan in frame, as large as possible, for the whole time? As in from the moment the ghee goes in to the pan up to the point where the dish is ready. That would be really useful.

I get reasonably consistent results when I want to, but I'm (overly) obsessive about removing variables.

I make a double batch of base sauce so I can maximize the number of curries I make before I have to contend with the variability of the quality of vegetables. There is of course a deterioration of flavour due to freezing but that's one variable from the infinite number of possibilities that a new batch of base sauce provides and it is easily identified. BTW this isn't a criticism of those who don't make large batches of base it's just an observation of the consequences in relation to the consistency of results.

The same observations apply for the mix powder, from a consistency point of view it's better to have a larger quantity of powder that remains the same except for the deterioration due to time. Of course the best tasting curry will come from fresh ingredients, but if like me you're still working on technique I think the consistency is essential otherwise you can't judge the results of your technique.

I make my curries at night and use the same lighting arrangement each time so that I can more accurately and precisely judge frying times on colour (and the bubble rate of course), variability of the hob's temperature becomes less of an issue but of course there's an element of experience to know what colour is good (this is something I need to work on). For anyone who doubts that lighting makes a difference try cooking bread to as brown a shade as you can get without burning it under artificial light then view it daylight. On a related note anyone who tries to judge colour from a video or picture is likely to fail

When making the final dish I have my ingredients measured out as accurately and precisely as I can before i start cooking, I even have my saucers and bowls laid out in the same order each time I make a dish I also have a watch with a second hand on display to give an indication of the heat of my pan and adjust it to give about the same cooking times on each occasion. I always use the same pan too. I find that different pans can give very different results.

When I experiment, which I would never do before getting consistent results with a recipe first, I change only one thing at a time and decide ahead of time what that will be. Knowing what changed the quality of the end results is then trivial.

I expect that the reason the chefs don't taste the individual dishes is that taste is too subjective an assessment to be useful, as spiceyokooko pointed out: "Your taste buds would probably be frazzled to the point you couldn't taste jack shit."

For the record I'm not a great cook but I know a variable when I see one