Day 218

Sigh. If only my laptop wasn't so fussy and stayed on for more than 5 minutes at a time. Woe to all the pending posts of trips long past.

November came and went so fast. Every weekend was busy. I traveled a lot, had visitors and did so much. Even work was busy. Sadly the interns leave this month and it'll be a bit quiet at the office before the next ones join us. 

This post has been in the drafts section for so long and I've had to change the post Day so many times.

The past month has gone by fast. Work has been busy on and off. And weekends have been as busy as weekdays with play and choir practices for the Christmas programme.

But it's December and it's the bestest month of the year and even though I am away from home, it's going to be a great Christmas.

Aside from the music and the baking, we really needed a tree to get our house in a true festive mood. We researched many kinds of DIY Christmas trees before deciding to make one out of paper cones. We spent about 4 hours of folding and sticking and trying to keep it from toppling. The final touch of the lights made it just perfect.  :)

We went for an absolutely grand concert last week. The Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka. Watching an orchestra live is a totally different experience. So many instruments it's hard to focus on one thing at a time. They played some familiar classics in the first half and then played a selection of Christmas music with a choir backup. It was so perfect. For the last 3 songs, the audience could join in. The three of us sang loudly, with absolutely no shame. So much fun. :)

With a few days off next week for Christmas, we'll hopefully squeeze in a trip to the hills in between all the other Christmas things.

Here's one of the interesting covers I heard over the past few weeks.

Day 132

The past week has been busy and the best kind of busy. My mum came to visit and I got to spend 4 days away from work with her. I've been looking forward to this for so long. She arrived Wednesday night and although my aunt sadly couldn't come, we all still had such a grand time.

Thursday morning was our perfect kind of morning. Slept in, had a big fry up for breakfast and watched Schindler's List while still in our PJ's. 

We headed over to Water's Edge for The Good Market. We had visited the market just the week before (read here) and knew my Mum would love it. As we hoped, the market was a lot more fun this time. There were loads more stalls, and because we were there early, the food stalls were plenty and the food was so fresh.

Skipping lunch gave us great appetites. We went straight to the food section. The tables covered with icing topped cakes, gooey brownies, fruity pies, perfectly decorated cupcakes and trays of cinnamon rolls and other delicious things. We liked the 'Butter Boutique' best. Desserts that don't skimp on butter are true desserts. :) We had a lovely smooth chocolate-y pie, sticky cinnamon roll and one very rich dense brownie.

I wish I could have taken more pictures, but the desserts were too distracting and my hands full anyway. We beat the heat with some passion fruit popsicles.

We stopped at The Bread Company. We didn't buy any of those lovely rolls, but we made use of the free samples. :P We picked up some bags of ground nutmeg and cinnamon from Saaraketha and got a slab of jaggery and some Kithul treacle for my Mum to take home.

We needed something savoury to balance out all that sugar. While there was a ten minute downpour, we took shelter in a very popular stall; the toasted sandwich stall- Panino. They hot crispy toasted stuffed sandwiches were in great demand. So much so, that things got crossed of the menu while I was ordering. The hot sandwiches with oozing cheese and fresh mushrooms and veggies were definitely worth waiting in long queues for. We ended the eating spree with some polos (baby jackfruit) cutlets along with garlic+chili chutney and mango+peanut chutney. Yummy. 

The other stalls weren't as exciting as the food section. Loads of clothes, crafts, paintings, shoes, etc etc. Plenty of colour and textures, especially in the Selyn stall.

The ambiance was vibrant. A live band complete with a double bass and a harp, a lone percussionist with a drum at the percussion instrument stall (I've always wanted to own a rain stick). Little kids covered in wet smudges of colourful paint and another gang of them walking around in single file with animal faces as part of the Ecokids walk, plenty of photographers trying to capture the spirit, and loads of interesting aromas which sadly no gadget can capture yet.

This has become one of my favourite things about Colombo. Was a great afternoon spent with the mother and cousins. 

Thankfully all the food was digested fast enough to make room for our Japanese dinner that night. 

Day 125

Happy Onam! (the Kerala harvest festival)

I am one quarter Malayali and I am quite proud to say that Onam is my favourite food festival. Sitting on the floor and eating almost 20 differnt things off a banana leaf.

This year I missed out in being in Bangalore and getting to be part of an Onam Sadya. Over the weekend and today, there were so many people posting pictures of the large spread of food. It was more than enough to bring about sudden cravings.

I went through many websites for recipes. It was so hard to chose a few that I could make. But finally narrowed it down and came up with quite a menu. Cooking was quite fun and my cousin- my food stylist and photographer for all meals in low light did a great job of making it look even better.

The blog I finally chose to follow- http://www.vazhayila.com/

Top Row (L-R): spiced banana chips, apalam, cabbage thoran
Middle Row (L-R): vazhakka kalan (green plantain curry), red rice, avial 
Bottom Row (L-R): More kuzhambu, sambhar, inji chutney (ginger and tamarind chutney)

Today is my Emily's 9th birthday. How I miss my drooling, hair shedding footstool. She's the sweetest dog ever.

Two more days for my Mum to arrive. So excited.

Oh, today my Covent Garden blog post was featured on The Open Window Exchange. Extra excitement.

Day 121

Every Thursday from 12-8 pm the marquees of The Good Market fill up with exciting stalls. 

We had heard about this a while ago but always assumed that it would be too late once we got home. So glad that we decided to check it out this week. 

The market is at the edge of a lake and the lights and glowing canvas tops cast reflections on the water. The whole setting created a hazy blur through the light drizzle as we drove up. 

Despite nearing closing time, we were still able to enjoy the number of exciting stalls ranging from healthy desserts (quite an oxymoron! I personally prefer full-fat desserts), handmade jewelry, spices, art, organic vegetables, hot food and some other stalls too which were packing up when we came.

The whole setting was faintly reminiscent of Bangalore's Sunday Soul Sante, but a less-glam, smaller scaled and more homely version. 

One of my favorite things about food markets like this is the people. All the stall owners were extra friendly and chatty. We got to sample some of the food too (another reason I love these places); healthy kurakkan brownies, cinnamon tea (perfect for the weather) and some tangy tamarind pulp. 

The hand made jewelry stalls, aromas of coffee, crepes and egg hoppers wafting through the space, live portrait pencil drawing and the music by a banjo player created quite an exciting evening. 

After buying some cauliflower and potato tartlets, apple and cinnamon cake and some spicy banana chips we walked around the aquarium. I would much rather see fish in the ocean than in a tank, but it was a nice addition to the market entertainment. 

Looking forward to more Thursday evenings spent here. 

Day 70

I've been putting off updating this blog even though there have been things to write about.

It was Poya on Monday and we had a nice extended weekend. My first Bangalore visitor was here in Sri Lanka for a short visit and I got to take him around Colombo. Well, there isn't much to see in the city, but we walked around Beira Laka and then to the pretty Seema Malaka temple on the water. There was a long fancy perahera (Poya day procession) around the lake and through the city, stopping traffic everywhere. Lots of fancily dressed up people dancing, but was a bit lazy to take pictures. 

I took some pictures at the temple, but the lake was a horrible algae green and spoiled the look of the Buddha statues. So, black and white it is. We then went to the coast and did another walk from Dutch Hospital down the Galle Face along the beach. 

Dutch hospital is one of my favourite places in the city. It's an old Dutch hospital building which is converted into shops and restaurants. I love the courtyards and the ambience in the evenings. I was back there again Tuesday evening at the Heladiv Tea Club. I really enjoyed the chocolate fudge cake that I ate, but I think it was the dim lights against bright yellow walls, the old wooden window shutters and the concrete tables on the stone paving that  makes me love the place. Will take the camera along next time I visit.

The tropical monsoon weather has been particularly crazy the past few days. I got terribly drenched on my way home yesterday, despite having an umbrella. I was slightly tempted to ditch the umbrella and run through the puddles. But they might not have let me on the bus. Even this poor cow was trying to get out of the rain. :P

I did a bit more experimenting with food today. Made some Thai curry. My mum makes Thai at home and this was my first time trying it out. It didn't come out the same as hers. I lacked some ingredients, but still tastes pretty good.

The weekend is almost here. Woohoo! :D

Day 17

The weekend came and went so fast. I have a busy week ahead. Lots of work at the office and some annoying visa things to sort out.

I finally finished putting together my write up for Vesak. Read HERE. Taking pictures at night was not that easy. So many blurry ones. :( Managed to get enough good ones for a blog post.

Today we went into the centre of colombo. We drove down Galle Face Drive up to the World Trade Centre. Fanciest part of town- all the posh hotels and big offices are in this bit of the city.  We had lunch at The Dragon. Sri Lankan Chinese food is definitely different to the Indian version. I enjoyed the meal except for the Chinese Tea. Bleeah. The Dutch Hospital building is a beautiful contrast to the modern high-risers. Can't wait to visit the little cafe there with an empty stomach.

Day 11

My second weekend in Sri Lanka was spent in the beautiful hilly town of Nuwara Eliya. I missed having the Canon 450D around, but the G5 was not as bad as I thought. The camera battery didn't last as long as I hoped and I realised that many of the pictures were over exposed and some out of focus. It will take some getting used to.

Anyway- the blog post is up on Fudge Together since it is a feature post- Read HERE.

Day 10 was mostly spent at home washing muddy clothes and reading my camera instruction book. In the evening, we courageously drove into town to see the lights of Vesak. It felt like the entire Sri Lankan population had come into Colombo. But the lights and lanterns on Beira Lake was really beautiful. The reflections in the water, the hanging lamps and the competing lanters all created quite a colourful setting. That blog post will be up soon.

Today, I cooked with another new vegetable- Thai Eggplant. Apart from the appearance, it was only a bit firmer than the usual brinjal and hence took a little longer to cook. Tasted quite similar too.