recipes – 2 J's World of Adventure

After a wonderful nights sleep, listening to the large waves rolling in we had a slow start to the day and meandered down to breakfast just after 9.00am. We selected a table at the edge of the deck closest to the sea.

I must say that although breakfast was very pleasant it was slightly under par compared to Sea World Botique. We were offered either a plate of fruit or a fruit juice, we’ve been having both since we arrived in Sri Lanka. The plate of fruit was nice and today it included half a passion fruit along with a small banana, pineapple, papaya and a rather dry quarter of a tangerine type fruit. This was followed by toast and the usual jelly type jam and a small pancake wrapped around another banana with coconut honey and coloured sprinkles…..all wash down by an undrinkable cup of coffee.

Breakfast ended and my what’s app pinged………Sue and Steve Turner who used to teach PE in Bedford, have been working in an International School in Sri Lanka for the past 12 years. They were staying just down the road over the holiday weekend……they walked along the beach to us and we spent an hour or so catching up and having a drink…not having seen them for about 14 years it was nice to exchange news. After they left we had a swim, sunbathe, and watched the people strolling along the magnificent beach….its such a shame we couldn’t go in the water but the waves are pretty massive, it’s quite a steep drop and we were told that there are some strong undercurrents……hence the reason we hadn’t seen anyone swim on this fantastic stretch of golden sand.

Soon a siesta was needed back in the room…..it’s so tiring doing absolutely nothing !!!!!

We succumbed to a late lunch, I had seafood Tom yum soup and John had a cheese and tomato sandwich…which actually arrived as one cheese sandwich and one tomato sandwich!!!! We repeated the morning activities again – swim, sunbathing, people and seascape watching…

It didn’t seem long before we were returning to our room to shower and ready for supper…looking in the mirror I find that my usual Rudolf impersonation ( with a sunburnt nose) has progressed to one of a lobster impersonation ( sun kissed whole body !!!!), whilst John is just turning an enviable shade of bronze.

Once at supper, the chef showed us a fresh red snapper he had…but knowing how bony they are I declined. He also had barracuda which I’d never had so I went for it. John had battered calamari. Both were excellent, thoroughly enjoyed my barracuda a tasty fish not as firm as tuna or sword fish, but meatier than sea bass or white mullet. John also enjoyed his.

After such a busy old day!!!! …time for bed.

A much better nights sleep was had by us both and we readied for the excitement of new experiences with another lovely breakfast sat on the verandah overlooking the nicely manicured garden and pool.
Suminda picked us up promptly at 10 am and we headed off to view the sites of Colombo. We saw lots of former colonial buildings, the floating market and street markets.

We also stopped and had a walk around one of the largest Hindu temples in Colombo.

We continued to see several other temples both Buddhist and Hindu and an array of churches and other religious places of worship.

After much sightseeing Suminda headed for his home in the small town Kesbewa. We picked up a small bunch of flowers and I had selected a gift from the presents I had brought from home which on arrival I gifted to Disna, Suminda’s wife. It was so wonderful to meet his family- Methika whose birthday it was today is 19 years old, Minuka is 16, and Senithi is 10 years old. We were also joined by Stanley and Grace, Disna’s parents, who are on either end of the middle group picture. Suminda also introduced us to his mother.

We tried hard to get the formalities of greeting each other correct, hopefully we succeeded without causing any offence. We were given a drink, then asked to touch a plate with a drink on it which Disna held out to us. This is a traditional invitation to eat some food. Wow, wow, wow …Disna and her mother Grace had prepared a feast for us. We sat down with Suminda to a real feast of plain and pilau rice, jackfruit curry, jackfruit seed curry, chicken curry, Dahl, potato curry, bean curry and a grated coconut and onion sambal it was absolutely delicious. We had never tasted some of the dishes before and they were fantastic, spicy and flavoursome without being chilli hot. We have to admit to being totally overwhelmed by this magnificent spread and the effort which had been put into its preparation. This was followed by us tasting buffalo curds for the first time…very similar to thick yogurt …delicious, and Sri Lankan cherries, pomegranate seeds and an array of fruit…

After lunch we stood around Methika and sung happy birthday whilst he cut his cake. He then took a piece to each member of his family to take a bit from and we were included in this wonderful celebratory tradition. As we were leaving Disna gifted us a very useful notebook and a wonderful carving of an elephant which we will treasure for a very long time.

What a wonderful experience we have had meeting Suminda’s family and enjoying the feast they prepared for us and celebrating Methika’s 19th birthday…what a privilege and an honour thank you so much Suminda.
For those of you reading this and thinking of visiting Sri Lanka, we can thoroughly recommend Suminda as a driver and guide..a true gentleman.. Suminda Dissanayake can be contacted at Suminda711@gmail.com. or what’s app/ phone number is + 94772279050

Our drive back to the Ayubowan Guest House was about a 1.5 hours drive Suminda told us it was the first time his family had met foreigners in their home, we felt doubly privileged.

Arriving back we decided a dip in the pool was required to cool off before what has become an habitual and necessary siesta/ rest.
What a truly wonderful day.

Tag: recipes

Day 21 – 25th February 2024- Sun, sea watching, pool and not a lot else.

Day 3 – 7th February 2024- A once in a lifetime experience.