Nano Tales:

Came across these on a FB thread could not resist posting them here so that I can access them conveniently when I need them.

Flow: Nice from far..., Nicer at close quarters... but far from nice

Wow what a great idea I thought when I heard of the concept. One restaurant 5 different kinds of food with live cooking.
I was even more delighted when I stepped into the restaurant. The service was efficient. The ambience elegant. And the spread of food breathtaking. There was Japanese. Chinese, Italian, Indian and Sri Lankan. It looked absolutely gorgeous and my mouth was watering and hands shaking with anticipation. I served a plateful of food and sat down with a beatific smile on my face and a lustful gaze in my eyes. It was a food wet dream come to life.
Sadly I was woken up rudely the moment I stuffed the first forkful of food into my mouth.
The food was tasteless. Absolutely flavourless. It is amazing how something which looked so good can be so bland? It might as well have been colour printouts of pictures. Even that I believe would have tasted better.
It was the same tasteless gunk one get to experience at some of the so called star class hotels that cater to tourists.
Ironically the food at the coffee shop and bar right next door is a thousand times better. In fact I have had some amazing sandwiches (their lamb sandwich is outstanding) and bites at this place. Coming to think of it this was one of the reasons why I was so looking forward to what I would experience at flow. Sadly "Floored" would be the most appropriate way to describe my experience.of flow.

My plate: Looks great doesn't it? 

Buth packet without the buth!

No this is definitely not a post about being let down at a restaurant. Though one could be excused for thinking so when reading the title.
But this is one absolutely simple and clever way of getting your hands on a great value for money low carb meal conveniently.
"Why did not I think of this?" was my first reaction when I saw the picture featured in this post on my friend DCs Facebook wall.
The simplicity of the thought made me want to cry. After all I had been hunting around for cost effective low carb meals for years without success. As well as spending a lot of money I might add because most of my meals had to be ordered from restaurants. Yes they were expensive. However that is not the main reason why you can't eat this kind of restaurant food every day. It just does not have the rich variety of flavours and textures which the humble buth packet has.
Of course getting your local food joint to give you a buth packet without the buth has its own challenges. My usual server looked at me as if I was mad. What I have realised is that instead of trying to explain to them the nitty gritties of a low carb diet, it is far more easier to ask them to put the curries separately and the rice separately saying you will mix them your own.
But thank goodness to this simple yet unique idea I can enjoy the benefits of a low carb diet without having it burn a hole in my pocket. Yeah!

A simple solution for a complex problem….

Ouch! Sh*t! F*ck!
Definitely not the kind of language you generally hear in the presence of genius. But that's what spewed out of my mouth when I banged my head unceremoniously as I entered the Yala national park.
I had discovered the hard way that a new precautionary measure has been put into effect by the department of wild life to ensure that animals will not be run over by speeding vehicles.
Road humps!
Very big Road Bumps.
Very close to one another.
Throughout the entire road network of Yala.
Pure genius I thought to myself.
Far more intelligent than asking the telcos to block the signals covering the Yala area from their towers. Yes they actually did so. In fact I was told that there was a Dialog team attempting to do so sometime ago. Absolutely simple. Amazingly cost efficient. Damn effective. But one this is for sure I will not be the last person spewing out curses whilst rubbing their head in pain on the beautiful roads of Yala for some time soon.

My favourite vegetarian dish…

“Part time vegetarian” that would be the best way to described me.A majority of my meals are vegetarian. However it does not stop me from chomping down a good crab curry, roast pork or any other mouth watering morsel which comes to mind. One thing is for sure though I feel better when am on complete vegetarian mode. Both mentally and physically.
However there is one vegetarian meal which I love to have regularly. Where else but at the Paradise Road café down Dharmapala mawatha. I have sung its praises before and you could describe it as my favourite quiet spot in the whole of Colombo.
This particular dish I am talking about is called the focaccia Sandwich. It was designed by an Indian chef who was working for the Paradise Road chain a couple of years ago.
It is quite a simple dish. You have some bread which is lathered with an unusually thick humus paste to which they have added sun dried tomatoes and black olives. Somehow this combination amazes your tongue with a scintillating palette of flavours. The sandwich comes with a vegetable salad but here is a hint I order mine with Thai Salad which I feel compliments the unique flavours of this meal better. For some strange reason I find this combination quite addictive and end up visiting the café at least three or four times a week. Fortunately their prices are not as high as the Gallery café so my wallet has managed to survive the onslaught.

Good Grief!

I always thought grief should be something private.
Something which should not be shared with others.
Something which should be put behind you in the shortest possible time.
This was one reason why I used to be very cynical when people had funerals spread over 07 days with the entire neighborhood inside their house. In fact I was always for the short dead today and buried today or at least by tomorrow kind of funeral.
However having a chat with two psychologists changed my perception completely.
There I learnt that the entire village coming to you over a long period of time was the ultimate group love exercise. It was the ultimate support group. A giant shoulder to lean on during a time when someone needed it most. And the extended period of time helps the person to grieve properly and get it out of their system. Amazingly people who have this kind of support find it extremely therapeutic and thereby avoid falling into depression or committing suicide.
In fact during the Tsunami they say Sri Lanka’s figures of people who were able to cope without falling into deep depression was the best in the regions which were affected.
Isn’t tradition amazing? 

The Terribly Beautiful road less taken…..

One road ends and another begins

 First I thought of it as just a rumor - this was many decades ago – as people were talking about a track which connects Puttlam to Mannar going through the jungles. Where one could run into elephants or bear and sometimes the roads were impassable. To me it was enticing as listening to a tale from the Arabian Nights. As time went by there were more whispers and then information began to trickle in about this track which has transformed into a road. Of course I could only listen as there was no way I could go down this road due to the LTTE problem. My fascination with this road grew even more when I read about it in Nihal Silva’s famous book “The Road to Elephant Pass”.
It has been many years since the war was over. I had traversed through sections of this road on many excursions to the Wilpattu park – you cross this road to go to Kudiramalai point - it is only recently that I got an opportunity to drive through the entire length of the Mannar Potuvil road.
It was a dream that was about to come true.
We arrived in Puttlam and drove straight through via Eluvankulama. It is a picturesque drive. There is not much traffic and with each mile you see civilization disappear and nature take over. At one point the well carpeted road ends abruptly and from there on it’s a dirt road. You drive a couple of kilometers more and you come to a navy camp near a beautiful stream which is actually the boundary of the Wilpattu Park.

 As the road goes through the park there is also a barrier manned by staff from the department of wild life.
It was here that my dream nearly got shattered to smithereens.
Because they closed the road at 5 o’ clock!!!
We did not know that! Damn it! And no one told us that!
We looked at our watches. It was 5.45
Our hearts sank with the setting sun.
Firstly we looked forward to experiencing this drive. Secondly if we were to turn back to Puttlam and go on the Anruadhapura road it would delay us by at least three four hours.
What were we to do?
I could understand the reasoning behind the road being closed at 5 by the Department of Wild Life. After all this was the best way to ensure that the lives of animals were not endangered.
But darn…. We sure were going to be screwed.
Fortunately for us the two rangers on duty took pity on us and allowed us to go through with strict instructions to not speed.
It was forty odd kilometers of sheer bliss. You drove through thick jungle. Fortunately for us the roads were not too muddy but the drive was bumpy. 

The jungle from my window

Tough roads

Nevertheless it was a wonderful experience even though we did not come across any elephants.
It was a slow drive with an average speed of less than 20 kilometers per hour. It took us a good two hours and a bit more to emerge from the Mannar end. We heaved a huge sigh of relief when we did. Because if the vehicle broke down or got stuck then we would have been stranded. And with no cell phone coverage that’s a scary eventuality to even think of.
Fortunately my trusty wheels did not let me down and I am alive to tell the tale.