Curry Rice - my favorite dish at Pedlar's Inn Cafe

Pasta’ salad and sandwiches are fine but sometimes a man has to have something hot fiery and ricey which will sit in his stomach like a ball of lead. I am that kind of man who loves his food hot and spicy. Wait that is an understatement. Hot and Fiery is more like it.

 Now I know I have been joining in the chorus of praises which have been sung about the Pedlar’s Inn café. I think they deserve each and every one of them because they really do an excellent job. However I have found one tiny weenie thing lacking in their offering. That is a dish which would fit the need which I have outlined in the earlier paragraph. Till I found this thing called Curry Rice tucked away in a corner virtually hiding away from my hungry eyes in their menu. I ordered a “Prawn Curry Rice” and I can say it is a chilli aficionados’ dream come true. As the name so aptly puts it across the dish consists of a (slightly) wet fried rice mixed with a delicious and tasty prawn curry. They were extremely generous with the prawns as well. To me every mouthful was heavenly bursting with flavor and spice. If there was one improvement I would suggest it would be to serve it along with a salad and some fries as well. The cost was about 900/- but it was great value for money. I just thought I should share it on here just in case there are some people out there who share similar yearnings. But I must confess I can’t wait to drive down to Galle and try it once more. Just to make sure that what I wrote was correct. J

The Illegal Gardner – Another beautiful Read

Sometimes reading books on Kindle has its benefits. Especially now that there are books which are published exclusively for the Kindle app. Not only do you have thousands of options to choose from but they are also only a couple of dollars each. In this case I found this gem of a book by the author Sara Alexi for just 5 dollars which I thought was absolutely great value.

The story is absolutely beautiful. It is about a middle aged English Lady who has moved to Greece to rediscover (and revive) her life and a Pakistani illegal immigrant who she employs as her gardener. I found this book to be a collision of emotions and metaphors. Rich versus poor. West versus East. Male versus female. There was anger there was sadness there was joy. And of course there was also a love which could never be consummated as well as kindness and caring.

But in the end it was a beautiful story which was even more beautifully written.

The good news is you don’t have to own a kindle reader to read these publications. Any person with a laptop, tab or smart phone can read them using the Kindle reading app which is quite easy to install. 

If you don't you are missing out on some great words. Just see for yourself a page capture which I am posting below. 

The real show begins after the CHOGM

Sadly the show I am talking about is not the kind where models strut up and down on the cat walk. Rather a kind where religious persecution and harassment will raise its ugly head. If you noticed the past few weeks the incidents of harassment by the Militanat Budhist groups against other religions have reduced. I actually thought the fire had died a natural death.

But it seems I was wrong.

Apparently it is because of the impending CHOGM. The powers that be do not want any negative publicity which would make some of the world leaders refrain from attending this event. It is believed by most in the religious circles that once the final head of state leaves the island then all hell will break loose and the maniacs will have free reign again to do as they wish whilst everyone turns a blind eye.

Guess the show must go on. No it has to go on. 

The Continuously present Absence

Your absence

Is a continuous presence in my life 

Like a deep cut which never heals

Lying by my side silently in the night 

And accompanying me as I go through my day

My silent companion alongside emptiness 

Like dark clouds across the sun 

But beautiful memories break through... 

Shining rays of brightness 

Of times and smiles we shared

I wish fate had not been so cruel 

As to grab and throw away 

the last few minutes we shared

Because there was so much to be said 

Of how much I cared.

The most Amazing Prawn Curry!

I never thought that I would ever sit down and actually write an ENTIRE post about a prawn curry. But I have to. This post has been a couple of years in the making. Better late than never I say. So here goes.

I have been a great fan of traditional rest house meals. Especially the traditional rest house breakfast. The fresh bread and string hoppers; the sambol and fish curry and kirihodi makes me salivate just by writing about it. However very rarely does one order extra items when consuming the traditional breakfast.  Because there is no need for it as the food is plentiful. Unless you are travelling with a bunch of hungry mates, no let me rephrase my word extremely hungry mates to Wilpattu and you need to break journey.

Which is how I came across the Puttlam Rest House sprawled across a huge compound in all its dilapidated glory. It is as good or as bad as rest houses come. You get the same old fashioned sixties style furniture which seems to be too big for the space and the terribly kitsch curtains which haven’t been washed in ages and loud music blaring away from a television or radio. Sometimes if you are unlucky from both.

My mates wanted something special in addition to our breakfast and taking the advice from a waiter we ordered the prawn curry as extra.

Cue Drum Roll  followed by fanfare.

The prawn curry  looked absolutely sensational. Quite a generous portion of medium size prawns lying in a thick red fragrant gravy which looked absolutely delicious. And when the first mouthful entered my lips I wanted to stand up and wave my hands in ecstasy like a spaced out hippie at a rock concert.

The taste was so wonderful. Out of this world! The curry had a tinge of Thai red curry in it maybe because they had used lemon grass as a spice. The prawns were so fresh and tasty they melted in your mouth. A trick to learn oh your prawn aficionados is that the bigger the prawn the lesser the taste.

And since then we were hooked. Every time we go to Wilpattu we make sure we stop here for breakfast and we and enjoy extra portions of prawn curry.

In fact one of these days I am going to drive all the way to Puttlam just so that I can enjoy the prawn curry once more. It is so worth it!

The Golden voice and the Golden Hoot

They say every dark cloud has a silver lining. But can a silver cloud have a silver lining? Or as the case maybe in this particular instance a golden cloud have a golden lining?

It all started when I decided that I wanted to go and see Isla Grant and Al Grant in concert. The amazing fact is that this thought came to me whilst I was on a treadmill listening to a live set by Swedish House Mafia. Maybe all the Electronics and monotonous beats of Electronic Dance Music made me yearn for some good old fashioned tunes.

I can see a nod of disapproval of some of you reading this post. Surely isn’t this kind of music too old fashioned? I agree; but I do listen to a wide variety of music. If you go through my iPod you will be surprised to see Golden Oldies to hip hop to rap to Rock to EDM to heavy metal comfortably coexisting next one another. I listen to them all as long as I like how it sounds. Now I must confess the name Isla and Al Grant was not familiar to me – though some of her songs were - till I heard that Gold FM was bringing them down. It was only then I realized the power of her music. Firstly I loved her voice which can only be described as smooth and rich as honey. I also admired the simple and easy going manner of her lyrics.

One of the advantages of being in the communications business is you are privy to free tickets. I was informed that I was on the list to get free tickets for the show. Great! I was informed that the tickets for the show were selling like hot caked. It did not bother me. After all I was getting my free tickets right in front. So I waited. Then I got to know that all the tickets for the show were sold out and I still waited. Who cared? After all I would be comfortably ensconced in a front row seat which even money could not buy. When it was five days to the show I began to worry. There were no signs of my tickets. Neither was there any sign of tickets two days before the show. Just one day before the show I discovered that I was NOT getting tickets after all. It seems that there had been such a demand for the tickets the powers that be had thought of selling them instead of giving them away. It is completely understandable. I just wish they had told me so. To add insult to injury none of the contacts over there at the station even bothered to reply messages I sent. Just to stress a point I did not badger them for complimentary tickets but instead I wanted to know if there were any extra tickets available to purchase. My enquiries were met by a wall of solid silence.

It was the day of the show. The radio was blaring out an Al Grant or Isla Grant song every five minutes it seemed. Pictures of this beautiful couple - who had flown down the day before - appeared on the fb page of The Kingsbury. There was excitement in the air. At least amongst those who had the tickets for the show. It certainly did not include me.

Even though my search for tickets had come up with zilch I had this feeling that I will not miss out on the show and I would get the tickets somehow or the other.

And my gut instinct proved it was right once again. Because at around 3.30 they managed to put some extra tickets out and I managed to purchase mine.

I was lucky even though the tickets were right at the back it was adjoining the sound console which meant the sound was really great. The hall was full of people whose average age would have been 60. One would be have been excused for wondering if they had been dropped into some kind over 60 convention.

Isla Grant came on stage and sang her heart out. Her voice was a treat to listen to. So was her accent and listening to her say “we are going to play you another wee song” ever so often was an absolute treat. It was worth all the trouble and anxiety I had gone through.

But this was just the cake. You know what the icing on the cake was? With a cherry on top?

Hearing this mature audience hoot Duminda Silva vociferously when the compeers announced his presence. As they say in the Master Card commercial it was Priceless!

Worse verse

Loneliness creeps in

Where once happiness reigned

Sadness sets in

As the seconds of the count down begins

Tears replace smiles

Anxiety... where joy abound

As...

New beginnings entice

Precious memories remain...

Forever engraved.