Certainly We Can Pick Them

On a few jaunts outside of the apartment Chris has pointed out some tomato plants to me.  Okay, I'll admit I probably didn't really notice but this one time as we were walking by she stopped and made me look and sure enough there was probably twenty or more cherry tomato plants, all dried up with plenty of ripe cherry tomatoes hanging from them (also dried up grapevines with plenty of grapes).

On our way back from our walk we stopped and looked at them again, I figured somebody just didn't feel like messing with them and neither would we.

So I start walking and notice Chris isn't with me, she had walked up the driveway leading to the plants and she's motioning me to follow her.  The plants our on a piece of land with what appears to be an abandoned apartment.  I couldn't see anybody living there.  We decide to pick the tomatoes.  I pull out a plastic bag and we start picking away.  Just then I see a lady approaching and I tell Chris.

The lady talks to us is native language and I'm telling her sorry (I actually just learned the word the previous day!) and she is saying "nema problema" (no problem).  She was not upset at all.  We thanked her and she  started walking away as did we, she turned around and made the gesture to pick more, we both agreed that was in fact what she was trying to tell us, so we picked more.

It appears she lived in a little camping trailer behind the apartments, probably a groundskeeper.  The Montenegrin people are amazingly kind.

Sound and Fruit Salad

Every work day around 1:00 that's what I order from the cafeteria at work. Of course the people who work there know this as I haven't strayed from this request in months.

Why soup and fruit salad? Did I hear somebody say because it's cheap? Well yes, and no.
The combined bill for both of them is 260 Rupees, about $2.30USD. But really I just find its a good deal that fills me up.

You get two rolls with the soup and the fruit salad is very big filled with mangos, papaya, banana, apples and watermelon. I find it hits the spot!

The only problem is that the soups are good. Problem you say? Good creamy soups are generally chock full of butter. Most of these soups are cream of something or another, delicious, but not good for the ol' cholesterol numbers!

I end up augmenting the meal in the morning with a banana and some dates and raisins and in the afternoon with a protein bar. So I guess I do cheat some!

Oatmeal, What A Meal

I remember when I used to hate oatmeal, even the sweet kind with bits of apple and raisins and all that stuff, I never did like the mushy taste. That was then this is now. Now being a much older guy who has had some bad cholesterol numbers in his day.

Initially I was still kind of shying away from oatmeal, Chris bought some plain oatmeal and I added raisins and some syrup and it was okay, but not great.

Then she bought a case of Country Choice Organic Multi-Grain hot cereal which technically isn't oatmeal, but does contain oats. I add some water and put it in the microwave for two minutes then take it out and add some flax seed, raisins and a bit of brown sugar. Delicious! Not mushy at all.

The Amazon reviews are pretty much 5 stars across the board:
http://www.amazon.com/Country-Choice-Organic-18-Ounce-Canister/dp/B000LKYRXK/ref=pd_sim_gro_1

I've been eating this stuff everyday for breakfast for the past two months. I'm curious to see if my cholesterol levels have gone down.

The Problem With Peppers

I love peppers, hot ones, mild ones, in between ones, I love peppers. But I also like to know what I'm getting.

The first time we bough some chili peppers here we brought them home and both thought they must really be hot, I mean this is Sri Lanka, home of spicy foods. I took a bite from the tip of one, not wanting to over do it, and nothing, no heat at all. Chris took a bite, same thing. They were fakes! Sure looked like something that was hot.

So Chris goes to the market and there are some chili peppers. "Are these hot?" and the vendor says that they are, they're not.

Another time, smaller peppers, these look hot, the vendors says that these are hot. They were, very hot.

Well a Korean lady from work gave us some Korean hot paste (Kind of hard to describe). I have always loved this stuff and have been looking all over for it. The great thing about it is that you can use it on raw vegetables and eat it with rice. I like it with banana peppers.

I noticed that there has been lots of banana peppers for sale at the market, so we bought some.

My mouth was practically drooling thinking about dipping them in the paste and eating them with rice.

When I think of banana peppers, I think of something with no heat all, or so I thought. Chris took a bite and handed it to me. I couldn't believe it, they were the hottest peppers I have had since we've been here, off the scale hot!

I think I'm going to have to stick with bell peppers, those I know are not hot!

The Vietnamese Dinner

Just returned from all I can say is quite possibly the best meal we have had so far in Sri Lanka!

Colombo is currently holding a World Spice Festival and all of the hotels and fancy restaurants have selected a country and in some cases brought a chef from that country to make something special.

Chris and I went to the outdoor festival and was not impressed. All the food was very generic and we didn't sample anything. So when Chris told me about one of the hotels serving Vietnamese I was a bit skeptical. We both love Vietnamese food and the curiosity got the best of me.

We went to the hotel and found the restaurant (They have three) and conversed with the manager a bit.

After taking our drink orders we browsed the buffet and wow and double wow. First nothing had been touched so the display was extraordinary, you just wanted to dive in. But what caught our breath was the Pho' (Vietnamese soup) station complete with a Vietnamese chef.

We started off with cheese dishes sampling a little bit of everything, bree and plums, yum!

Next was the salads, plural, I can't even begin to describe the many different salads with calamari and tuna and even dried sardines. Honestly I think the salads may have fallen closer to a Mediterranean style, but very good. The shrimp rolls in rice paper wrap was so good and the peanut sauce had a mild kick to it.

We then had to go for the Pho' and it did not disappoint. There was a sous chef that added the accoutrements which was a little different as your typical Pho restaurant has this on the table.

Afterwards we made a platter of the hot dishes. Incredible. Meat falling off the bones of the pork ribs and a fish that had you wanting more and more.

Could we do another round of Pho', maybe more salads. I was thinking of a few more shrimp rolls or do we just do what we both knew we wanted to do...yes, hit the desert line.

The deserts are in little portions so you can sample a little of each without feeling guilty. I'm not even going to try to describe the deserts, so good!

The bill didn't hurt so bad, worth every penny. Live lounge music played all night with many of our favorite tunes. It wasn't crowded and just scant few tourists. Two and half hour dinner, gotta love it!

The Chinese Dinner

A lady at work has been inviting groups of people to go to a Chinese restaurant and eat a family style dinner and Chris and I keep forgetting time and time again. This time I said we wouldn't forget it. I even made a calendar reminder that sent me an email although I didn't need it.

We went with her the restaurant and the first neat thing was that we got our own private dining room, even had it's own bathroom.

The table had a big glass ring in the middle that rotated around (Ala lazy susan).

Another couple and family joined us for a total of 8 adults and 3 children.

Our host ordered multiple things for us off the menu.

The food kept coming and coming and was placed on the glass ring and we would just turn it and scoop some food on on our plates or take some soup and continue.

This was not your $8.99 Chinese buffet food, this was authentic Central China food. In case your wondering, yes, they had Chinese cooks.

It was very delicious and not overly spicy. There were plenty of dishes to even satisfy the vegetarian's amongst us.

The wait staff was quick to clear the table and pour cup after cup of green tea,

After it was all said and done the bill came to about $86USD. Absolutely incredible.

We are definitely going to be doing this more often!

Delicious Meal

Chris made me the MOST delicious sandwich I have ever had, so I had to blog about it.
It was a shrimp and bacon sandwich on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes. The shrimp was so good, I had to find her secret. Well she cooked them the good ol' Southern way in Old bay seasoning but after she cooked the bacon she sauteed the shrimp in the bacon fat, the piece de resistance!
If that wasn't enough she even fried up some shoestring french fries and made me a tall glass of lime soda, with real limes!

I tried to take a picture of it before I chowed down but the chef insisted that I eat before the fries got cold : )

The Proper Eating Utensil

One surprising thing about many Sri Lankan's is that they eat most meals with their hands. It amazes me that they can eat the curries with their hands, yet they do. They take the rice and ball it up, add some curry to the mix and pop it in their mouth. There is a proper etiquette to eating with their hands.

Almost every restaurant has a common hand washing station where those who have ate with their hands can clean up. Fancier places will bring a bowl of water to each person at the table to clean up table-side. The idea is not to go past your second knuckle with the food.

Most food is served at room temperature so as not to burn your hands.

I have tried on a few occasions to eat with my hands, it is a little awkward, easier when there is some flat bread available.

The other way Sri Lankan's eat is with the fork in the left hand and a spoon in the right hand, the fork is used to scoop the food onto the spoon and or tear the food apart. I might have that reversed, be looking for a comment from Chris soon.

The Need for Coffee

Coffee, the wondrous elixir that it is. Chris and I go through gallons of it, which equate to pounds of coffee every month. We usually order it off of the Internet, but fell behind so had to get some locally.

Which got me thinking about all the coffee that I have tasted throughout the years.

My first memory of coffee goes back to 1985 or so when I was in the Marines. Had to wake up very early and turn on some HF radios and do radio checks. Someone showed me how to make coffee and I had a cup, and haven't turned back ever since.

Since then I have enjoyed cafe' au lait in Paris, cappuccinos in Brussels, Cafe su da (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_iced_coffee) in Saigon (Okay, I'm old fashioned, it is Ho Chi Minh City), very good Brazilian coffee while in Montevideo and all the coffee that I brought back on my trips. Ah, but how can I forget the many many small cups of strong Turkish coffee along with good conversation I had with my Bosnian friends in Sarajevo Believe me, Turkish coffee will get you talking! Good memories indeed.

And then there is Cafe du Monde with it's hint of chicory and for a real good cheap pot of strong coffee there is Cafe Bustelo, probably still only around $2.

So, with all of the coffee's I have drank and enjoyed, here is a funny story.

I was having coffee at the company cafeteria in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and just ranting and raving about the coffee that they served. I told my colleagues I must find out what coffee this is as it is so good, they all looked at me and said in one voice "It's Folgers". I was shocked. I thought it was some expensive coffee, but sure enough it was Folgers Breakfast Blend.

Reason I bring this up is I needed some coffee for work and I am looking at the 1 pound Starbucks bag for $10 and the 2 pound Folgers or $11, my choice was pretty easy. And you know what? Brewed my first pot of Folgers today and I have to admit it was a pretty darn good pot of coffee!

Mickey D's Sri Lankan Style

So after the movie we decided to go for a walk along Galle Road. I wanted a roti which was easy enough as there are many stands open late at night, it was just a matter of finding the one I wanted to buy from.

Chris knew of a specific stand that she thought I might like. We found it and was hoping to get a certain type of roti, vegetable and cheese, but they wouldn't make it for me and tried to sell me other food items. I then tried to get them to make a me a cheese roti which they had displayed on the menu, but for whatever reason they said they couldn't make that (No cheese maybe?).

We left that stand and headed for the arches, the golden arches that is.

The McDonald's was open and not crowded, another thing was that it was nice and cool and very clean. As with pretty much every restaurant you go to it was an all guy staff. They spoke good English, all wore ties and they were very friendly and attentive. The nice thing is that they brought the meal to our table. I ordered a Big Mac meal.

I know the question you're asking, did it taste the same? Absolutely, right down to the two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun and the french fries too!

They don't have a drive through window, instead in the road next to McDonald's they have the menu painted on a wall and you drive up and park your car and someone comes out with a radio to call in your order.

Somewhere buried deep in my blog is my posting about the McDonald's in Montevideo. Again, very clean, nice friendly staff, but they did have girls and guys working behind the counter. I think there was something like thirteen McDonald's in Montevideo. I think there are only two, maybe three in all of Colombo.

You put the lime in the coconut

One of the many local food treats we get to enjoy is coconuts. Now where you are probably picturing the classic round brown coconut with thick white meat we get the coconuts before they reach this point, called a king coconut here. They are for sale everywhere, around $.18 each, sold in bunches. They are heavy. Our faithful trishaw driver brought us some yesterday and the bunch of around 9 coconuts must have weighed almost 100 pounds! They are also difficult to open, without the correct tool, that being a machete'. Chris makes good use of her sharper kitchen knives to slice them open, then usually banging them against the patio to split them and get to the meat.

The coconut water is very refreshing, you can Google the many medicinal uses for it. We enjoy drinking one after a workout. A nice treat is to pour the water into a container then put it in the refrigerator to cool.

After drinking the water we split the coconut and spoon out the meat, very delicious.

We also buy virgin coconut oil and Chris makes good use of this in pretty much all of her cooking, the flavor infuses itself into whatever you are cooking, wonderful. Great with salads as well. You can also take it for health reasons.

I'll take a picture of the oil we purchase and post it soon.

Korean Food in Colombo

Just returned from Han Gook Gawan, and we are stuffed! I had seen this Korean restaurant on of my trips and it had been recommended by a Korean gentleman I had met.
We were trying to decide where to eat when I remembered it.

Now take a trip through memory lane if you will and join me on a like visit to the Korean restaurant in Uruguay, a very disappointing adventure and we both ended up sick.

What I like to see at a Korean restaurant are lots and lots of bowls! Bowls of different kim chi's!

As we browsed the menu t Han Gook Gawan we knew already we were off to a good start, that and they had the small gas barbeque grill on the table for cookinh bulgogi (Korean for firey beef).

The last page of the menu was a picture of lots of bowls of kim chi, we both exclaimed that this is what we wanted so when we ordered I showed the waiter the picture and asked how could we get this, to our delight he said it came with the meal.

We placed our orders and our waiter later returned with the bowls, lots of bowls and a cold hand and face towel, nice touch!

My bulgogi was brought out and the waiter got it started on the table grill. Chris had ordered a cold soup and it was delicious.

The kim chi's were great, the bulgogi was great, soup was great and they had he hot sauce that I have been craving since who knows when.

Korean news was playing on the television, of course the Olympics and Kim Yu-Na was the only thing on the news almost the entire time we were there! It is cool she won!

The bill came to under $30 with tip. Not bad. We are thinking about ordering the same but getting it all to go and cooking the bulgogi at the apartment.

Pretend Milk

Yum, powder milk, double yum, powdered skim milk!

Our milk choices are limited here. You don't exactly think of fields of grazing dairy cows when you think of Sri Lanka.

The supermarket sells long life milk that doesn't need to be refrigerated in one liter sizes, about 150 Rupees per box. It comes in all different varieties. It seems strange at first buying unrefrigerated milk, but it tastes the same.

They do sell what I guess is pasteurized milk, but it's a bit more expensive.

What is more popular here is powdered milk, big selection of it. I can make the same amount of milk for about 1/3 the price of the long life milk.

I didn't think I would like it, but I use it for cereal and drink it occasionally and overall it's not bad. There is a vanilla flavored powdered skim milk that we buy sometimes and mix in with the other powdered milk to add a hint of flavor.

The Food Court Experience

Just across the street from our apartment is a shopping mall. In the basement level is a small food court. Probably all in all including the hot dog stand no more than 10 vendors. There is sushi, Sri Lankan, Indian, Chinese, ice cream/smoothies stand and a Pizza Hut Express.

It's not like visiting a food court in the U.S.A. They have common cutlery stands to get forks and spoons and you can leave your trays or dishes on the table as they have people to pick them up. In fact the men who pick up the trays and dishes are usually nice enough to take it from your table when they see you're finished.

For us a typical meal would be at Shanmuga's which is an Indian vegetarian place. We can get a belly filling meal for around 250 Rupees (Around $2.20USD). The different spices in the curry's taste so good. Finish it off with a trip to the ice cream stand or the deserts place and get an ice cream sundae or a personal sized apple pie for around $1.25. The goodies at the desert place are incredible. For me to call this just an apple pie is not doing it justice. It must weigh a solid 1 pound.

One interesting thing I noticed about the customers of the food court is that they are a different class of Sri Lankan's. To us going to the food court and spending under $10, well probably closer to $5 for two meals and deserts is a good thing, for most Sri Lankan's that is just out of the question. A Sri Lankan lunch packet sold on the street will cost about 100 Rupees and it is filled with rice and a good serving of curry.

I noticed that the kids that go there are definitely more Western, speak better English etc. You can tell the that the family's that visit the food court have money. Lunchtime the crowd is cal young professionals bunch.

Mongolian BBQ Night

Just returned from a Mongolian BBQ night at the Cinnamon Gran Hotel. This was by far the best Mongolian BBQ layout I have ever been to. Not only did they have an excellent selection of meats and vegetables but they had different spices to select from to add to your mix. There was 4 cooking stations that had a selection of rice or different noodles for your BBQ. The 4th station was a Halal (No pork) and vegetarian station.

The bowls they provided were rather small so I shamelessly doubled up on the bowls and showed my colleagues the same technique (Meat and such in one bowl and veggies in the other) which quickly caught on.

If this wasn't enough there was an ice cream station with 6 different types of ice cream to include mango, toffee and cookies. There was a nice selection of toppings for your ice cream and someone to mix it all up a la Coldstone Creamery style.

In true Marine Corps fashion I had 2 bowls of spicy Mongolian BBQ with plenty of garlic and 2 bowls of ice cream.

I'm stuffed.

Best Indian Meal Ever

Just returned from Chutneys at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. They have a veggie buffet on Tuesday nights that we have kept saying we wanted to try, but for whatever reason always missed it.
Tonight we didn't.

http://www.cinnamonhotels.com/GrandChutneys.htm

First the ambiance of the restaurant is excellent, door man, host, server, the whole enchilada. They had three guys in traditional garb playing a guitar, flute (Recorder) and drums playing Indian music. Very cool background music.

The buffet was great. We started off with a salad plate then returned for a few spoons each of some of the different curry's. We both opted not to get any rice although I did get a few pieces of naan (Indian grilled bread).

Every bite of curry was delicious. It was difficult if not impossible to nail down any one curry as our favorite.

This was by far the best Indian meal I have ever had, bar none.

I love Indian food. Now don't get me wrong, do I miss a fat pulled pork North Carolina BBQ sandwich? Would I like some steamed and raw oysters? Would I like some back home diner food like meat loaf and fried chicken? Of course! But Indian food is in a category of its own. The spices, the flavors, it can't be ignored.

So drop by your local Indian place and give it a try!

Tuna Fish, What a Dish

Almost 3 pounds of fresh tuna fish for under $9! Need I say more?

Meat Sri Lankan (Expat) Style

Just finished eating a turkey burger, probably one of the few burgers I've had since I've been here.
We purchased it from the store at work, much like we purchase most of our meat. It comes from Australia, it's frozen and vacuum packed. There is a pretty decent selection, and the brats and other sausages are really great.

We had made an order for some meat and it was pretty expensive. The turkey burgers were individually sealed, nice, but they were also seasoned and had its fair share of filling. They looked small but surprisingly one burger each filled us up.

The grocery store does have a meat counter, but we have yet to purchase anything there. It's mostly chicken and mutton and ground mutton. The beef comes from Australia and again, it's expensive.

There are butchers at the local market, but judging by the smell we will never buy anything there, that and just walking through the place gives you the creeps.

Tourists and food news.

It didn't take me long to figure out who the tourists are and who the expats are. The expats seem to dress a little more business casual, the tourists are much more casual and have that doe in the headlights look.

I was watching a group of around 5 tourists roam the food court going to each vendor and looking everything over, only to stop and order at Pizza Hut Express! I almost got up and smacked them upside the head! You come to Sri Lanka to eat at Pizza Hut Express?

I on the other hand found a new fav' vendor. Got a delicious Sri Lanka meal and a bottle of water all for around $1.25.

I tried a new place for dinner. They claim to serve Thai food. Well I got this chicken and rice dinner with fried egg and vegetables on the side, with a bottle of water $2.60. It was delicious and a "little spicy", I couldn't finish it all. All the while there is a gentleman playing tunes on a electric piano and singing songs. I'm thinking, replace the paper napkin with a cloth one, put this setting back home and this was an easy $14 meal.

I managed to stay away from the ice cream place today although yesterday I fell prey to a banana split.

Pool Party - NOT!

My boss had a BBQ planned for today at the company pool/party house so being from the beach I think, pool, so pool party. I showed up a bit late wearing my swim trunks, floppy hat and sunglasses expecting everyone to be ready to eat and jump in the pool. To say the least you could hear the proverbial drop when I walked in. Almost all of the women were wearing traditional saree's and the men were business casual. I was stunned and a bit embarrassed to say the least.

I took off my hat, like that would help and grabbed some food.

So I learned a cultural lesson. Sri Lankan's are very conservative people. They are not going to go swimming, especially the women. That and they are not going to go swimming with the boss. Also if it's a lunch with the boss then it's a business affair, not a party. They came, ate, was cordial an left. Some kids played at the playground but didn't even look twice at the pool. Me on the other hand needed a dip in that big pool and thats what I did. My colleague and his wife did end up joining me so I didn't feel so alone.