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 124

Another weekend comes and goes.

Today we tried out a new venue for our morning jog. We went to the lake side, where we visited the Good Market last week.

It was really beautiful in the morning. The paths alongside the lake, lovely gardens with rabbits and a funny 'tail-wagging' goose and a cafe overlooking the water. Oh!, and sailboats too; two bright blue little sailboats.

I will take pictures the next time we go there. The sun was horribly harsh. I guess all the reflection made it worse. Struggled to cross the 6km mark and I think I did more walking than jogging.

I found a couple of pictures from a Sunday jog 2 weeks ago where there was a vintage car rally. I gladly took frequent breaks mid-jog to watch them show off up and down the roads. 

In the evening we went for the Colombo Book Fair. The scale was pretty impressive. Tonnes of stalls of various publishers and quite a variety of books. We browsed a lot. Unfortunately, they were more expensive than books in India, so didn't buy any. We did, however, get a poster of coral reef fish varieties of Sri Lanka. Can't wait to do some snorkeling/diving so that we are able to identify what we see.

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 116

Last week was dessert week. 

The first one was Cheryl's apple and cinnamon with amaretto and oatmeal crumble topped with whipped cream. It was so good. Such a contrast of flavours and textures. I ate it for breakfast. It was pretty much like eating fruit and cereal but on a completely different level :)

The second was my version of a lemon pie with a chocolate base. It was a lot of fun in the kitchen that night. A couple of crazy mishaps that sent us in a panic wave. But at the end of it we had two perfect desserts quite different from each other.

I was pretty proud of it and even posted a blog post. I had to take the desserts outside to photograph. Natural light is so beautiful to photograph in.

Read here- Lime and Chocolate Pie

This Sabbath was really nice too. It was the Adventist Youth Forum which was basically a get together of the youth from the other local churches to spend the day worshiping together. Really enjoyed the day especially the singing. I've missed singing with the praise team in Cunningham church, so it was extra special being able to sing again.

My mum and aunt will be visiting soon. I'm so excited. Counting down the days. :D

Day 113

The other day I got to Kelaniya Temple (where I change buses on the way to work) a bit earlier than usual, I walked through the temple complex. 

One day, I will take my camera along and properly check it out. The best time to visit temples is in the evening, when all the lanterns and candles are lit.

Day 104

100 days already! More than a quarter over?!! This is going so fast.

The past week has been nice. More fancy cooking at home. Last week's cuisine was Mexican. We made burritos with home made tortillas, soya mince and kidney bean chili, salsa, sour cream and salad. We also made cheese stuffed deep-fried jalapenos. What we used wasn't actually jalapenos, but it tasted really good. I spent a lot of that evening with my hands soaking in cold water because cleaning those chilies had really burned my skin.

Over the weekend, we went for a trip. Was pretty unplanned because we only decided to go late on Friday evening.

I've always loved road trips and this was a super fun one.

I managed to get the hang of the camera thankfully except for pictures in low light.

As usual, I have a lot of pictures and lots to write and this time had to split the post into 2 sections.

I managed to finish part one today.

Southern Escapades (part 1)

Day 96

I've been here more than 3 months! That went by pretty fast. 

In my research of desserts that don't need baking, I remembered that I had attempted a Banoffee pie a while ago in Bangalore. Despite it being a relatively easy recipe, it didn't come out perfectly then.

You can only judge a pie after it's been cut and a slice is taken out. This time the layers cut through perfectly and the consistency, flavours and textures were pretty much spot on. The only problem was that I didn't make enough.

I cannot remember the exact quantities I used to post the recipe here, but I am quite sure I will make this again.

The combination of biscuit, toffee, banana, chocolate and cream was absolutely yum! 
The rest of the weekend was a blur.

:)

Day 91

We have a new plan. Every week, one of our dinners is going to be a special one based on one specific different cuisine.

We did a Thai night a few weeks ago. Today we had a Japanese feast. 
I did lots of researching since I've never really attempted Japanese before. When I was in Bangalore in June, we had quite an authentic Japanese meal at Harima. I have since been inspired. Such an interesting cuisine. So many methods of preparation and yet their ingredients remain so distinct and fresh in each dish. Such strong flavours and enough substitutes to make vegetarian adaptations.

Nen found a Japanese store where she picked up wasabi, sesame seeds, seaweed and chopsticks. We may have lacked some other essential ingredients, but in general the meal came out really well. Next time, we'll add tofu to the menu.

We were quite pleased with how it turned out that we spent extra time in serving it up and taking pictures. I was a bit too tired to take out my camera, so relied on my cousin's phone picture for this post. Clockwise starting with the rice- sticky rice, oyster mushrooms in oyster sauce, bok choy with sesame seeds, tempura fried zucchini, sushi with dipping sauce and wasabi, fried eggplant and satay sauce.

We started watching a Japanese movie (I think it was a Chinese movie actually, but I wouldn't know the difference) to add to our Japanese evening, but it was so hard to pay attention with all our focus on the chopsticks and trying not to drop the sushi in the dipping sauce.

And if that wasn't enough, we had apple pie (bought, just in case you thought we had time to bake a pie too) and whipped cream for dessert.

I'm so stuffed and there's enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

Next week is either Mexican or Burmese. :D

Day 90

Hello to routine- work, home, cooking, a movie maybe and bed.

I still have so many pending posts from my South Africa trip, but sadly haven't managed to finish any. Last week my laptop crashed. It's five years old and has been though a lot, so it's probably just old age, but I was determined to fix it. I went through website after website and read through too many laptop forums that went way over my head and I managed to get it to some form of working condition. Unfortunately my graphics is a bit conked and all attempts to save it have so far failed. All hope is not lost (yet).

I had to edit pictures blindly and then check them on my phone to make sure the quality was good. My laptop makes movie watching very vintage now.

I did manage to finish one post about driving though South African countryside- Yellow Buildings, Canyons and Macadamias

Today got to go on a site visit two hours away from here to Kitulgala. This little town set in a rainforest up in the hills is known for the sets of the 1957 movie The Bridge on the River Kwai. I remember watching this movie about 14 years ago with my Dad. 

We stopped for breakfast and lunch at the local rest house and had the most beautiful mealtime view. The river, the forests and the clouds moving over the mountains.

The site we visited was set alongside a waterfall of one of the tributaries of the main river. Each chalet was barely 15m from the edge of the water. The surroundings were very overgrown with ferns and moss of all types covering the forest floor. Rubber and teak trees formed a canopy over the site making the rain fall unevenly over us. 

Unfortunately this was a site visit trip and not a holiday. I would have loved to walk downstream or possibly jump in for a swim or even better- raft down. Kitulgala is known for white water rafting. Definitely cannot wait to do that while I am here. The setting was so perfect, it seemed almost a crime to have a steel/concrete roof over your head. A tent would be so much cooler.

The coolest thing I saw at the site was a really interesting mushroom- Phallus indusiatus or the stinkhorn or the fanciest of names- the orange veiled lady mushroom. At first I thought it was a mushroom growing through some plastic mesh and only when I looked closer did I realise that it was a part of the mushroom. Now I wish I had gotten close enough to smell it's distinct odour. It's not a very common species, but is known to grow on extremely wet forest floors.

They say you can't visit Kitulgala without taking at least one leech back with you (my boss's words) and I stuck to tradition and left the site with a little black bloodsucker on my leg. Thankfully I found him fast before it got fat and ugly. Blahh.