One Day In Sri Lanka

These pots were found on the buffet table at Mount Lavinia Hotel – Very practical design but elegant as well.

The lids were really heavy so I can just imagine about the pots…won’t be taking anything like this home!

BOMBAY SWEETS on COLOMBO STREETS
I heard the bell ringing first – it seemed far away but close enough to peak my interest. The streets of Colombo have many different mobile street vendors, some sell their wares from baskets atop their heads, others push two-wheel carts, while some have tuk-tuks or bicycles. Every morning I hear the pineapple sales men going buy the hotel – he yells, “Anansi” or something like that – I’m not sure how he’s carrying the pineapple, I’ve only heard him – and friends have told me what he does.

So who was ringing the bell…and what was he or she selling? Luckily, the sound got louder as I entered the cross street I wanted to use to get up to Galle Road from our hotel. I caught a glimpse of a man with a square container wearing a hat and swinging his hand back and forth before he turned into an alley half way down the street. The ringing continued and a man’s voice called out..I could not make out what he was saying. I waited for him to come out of the alleyway, he seemed to circling a large apartment building – he must have something people from the building would want…I mused to myself.

As he approached, I asked him, “What is it? What are you selling?” – “Bombay Sweets!” He replied with a toothless smile. “Can you show me?” I queried motioning towards the can. He opened it up and grabbed a small handful of stringy stuff using a piece of recycled paper as a barrier between his dirty hands and the food. Just as he handed me the mound of string, a group of Sri Lankans passed, looking wantingly at the yellow stringy stuff – “Mmmm, bombay sweets, GOOD!” There was a little boy with the group so I asked if he could have the man’s sample. “Sure!” they replied. I just couldn’t see myself taking a chance on this street food. The little boy smiled as he took the mound from me.

I asked the vendor how much I owed… He stopped pensively, looked at me and then said, 100 rupees. “What?!!” That’s too much! I exclaimed – that little bit of sweet did not equate to the price of a chocolate bar in my mind… I gave the man 20 rupees – thanked him and continued on my way.

As I walked I thought that maybe he had misunderstood me – Perhaps he thought I didn’t want to just pay for the sample he gave me but rather a regular amount…

Sometimes the language barrier really gets in the way.

Continuing on with the “Designs I like” series, Mark and I came across these built-in shelves in the Inside-Out Cafe out by the Parliament. The cafe was quaint with a nice court yard and gift shop. The food was delicious but seemed a little high priced for our liking.

Mark figures it wouldn’t be much to create shelves like this in the wall, at the same depth as a stud… I guess I better start planning what we will put on them!

This is an outdoor table from Lavinia Cafe.

Connected to Mount Lavinia Hotel, it’s a great cafe that has internet access through a WOW connection and is only a two block walk from Majestic City Mall on Duplication Road. Both the food and service is very good… try the cinnamon-chocolate Gelato, if you have chance.

Here is the table in action (yes, that’s water splurting out of the middle of the table!):

It’s also the only place I’ve found so far that sells bagels – although, the servers look at you a little strange when you ask for a toasted bagel with cream cheese… They don’t have plain cream cheese just the mixed one they use for their bagel and salmon sandwich but that’s a great alternative….mmmmmmm

Here is another “design I like” from this cafe…

When we went to Kandy for the Perahera Festival, we had dinner at the Queen’s Hotel (this is also the location where we viewed the parade). The buffet was great and so were the sculptures of the food:

Okay, I’m a little late with these pics – and now I’m in a bit of “pickle”.

I have all these veggie photos from the Pettah trip but I don’t have their names!! I need to get these out of the way, so that I can share another really neat shopping place I visited this week…So can you help? Just click on the word “Comments” below if you know any of these!

Photo#1 What is this woman chopping?		Photo#2 – I’ve seen these at home – They kind of look like cucumbers with warts.
Photo#3 – Notice the size…see the cabbage and peppers?		Photo#4 – If these were more purpley, you might think it was turnip…wrong!!
Photo#5 – Okay, this is for double points – What’s that brown bumpy thing on the left and the white items in the middle, which I think I had in a soup in China.		Photo#6 – Let’s go for two here, also – the middle bag and the purple vegetable (I had this one in China, for breakfast one day).
Photo#7 – The left veggie looks cucumber with very high ridges and right…well?		Photo#8 – Thilaka said this is somewhat like a potato but it makes a very delicious drink.
Photo#9 – I’ve heard you shouldn’t let anyone take this one, cut open on a crowded bus – apparently, it stinks – but it is very tastey!		Photo#10 – Easy points here – each vegetable is only worth half a point!

Three wheelers are used to transport a variety of items here in Colombo – This one in particular caught my eye because I haven’t seen any donut shops around so I wondered where the Dunkin’ Donuts were going…then I realized that they are not dunkin’ donuts!

At the risk of it seeming like we are eating our way around Colombo… I present another series of pics from a dinner out. This time we went to Mount Lavinia’s Seafood Cove and ate dinner with “our feet in the sand”. The dinner was FANTASTIC… vegetables exactly how I like them (al dente), cuddle fish like I’ve never tasted before and great prawns! The meal ended up costing us $15 Canadian which included tip and two large beers (hey, that’s the only way they come !)

The table of fresh pickings that we had choose from…..

Checkout the menu of all the offerings behind our industrous sous chef:

Today, another treat … We have a photo from a co-worker in Mark’s office – Jamie Rossiter. He hails from Ottawa and just arrived in Colombo three weeks ago to work on the Distance Education Modernization Project.

Guest Photographer: Jamie