Complaints

Of late, have been having a bad time and just feeling blue.

Yesterday I discovered strange insects in my jar of coriander! H's explanation of it is the humid weather. But my jar was sealed so Lord only knows how they got there.

Oh the frozen foods need a bit of getting used to. Almost all savoury foods are just too strongly flavoured with black pepper. Even well known brands like Knorr have tweaked the flavours to suit the local palette. Basically making all easily prepared foods not very tasty to me which is just as well. There are some things that just can't be found in the supermarkets : like lemons and coriander and ghee (clarified butter) and semolina.

People Passing

After coming to Colombo two of my uncles living in my home town have passed away. One of them this morning. Have been naturally feeling quite down. These people I have seen since I was a child. They were nice, happy, kind and jovial people. With this particular uncle I passed many a day discussing books, life, etc. I know his passing away will also mean one less person my mother can turn to, who is passing her days away, lonely and getting old, missing us. And ofcourse a slice of my youth gone with them, as memories of childhood are inextricably linked with these members of our family.

3am Blues

We've been unsuccessfully trying to make Daughter settle down in her new room. Every time she starts settling down she comes down with a bad cold/cough and we move her back to our bed, and she no longer wants to sleep in her own bedroom. After 2 tearful allnighters, have decided to call it quits and just move her bed back to our room in the morning.

And while we are on the topic of coughs/colds, let me just add that catching 4 bugs in the space of 2 short months is just too much to handle, and feeling quite fed up. When do I catch myself a break here?

We do not buy chocolate here, so here I am, unable to sleep, gnawing on a papaya at 3am. Papayas are nice here by the way. The fruits are very similar to Bangkok's. Weather is also similar possibly. It is constant weather here all year round.

H has been going crazy with his workload here. He continues working late into the night every day even after coming home. So that has lengthened our settling down time even further.

On another front have hired a part time maid, especially with the impending visits of relatives within weeks. Today, I caught her scrubbing down my precious rice cooker (yes the electric part at the bottom!) She can't speak any English. Daughter has a fine time harassing her with questions like "why don't you know English?!"

Today we got caught in a road block because of protesters. The entire Colpetty Junction to Temple Trees was blocked off. Had to take a long detour. As it is everyday we have to pass through a million roadblocks were the soldiers stare at you and try to figure out where you're from before asking for your passport. Road blocks are part and parcel of Colombo life.

Also, seeing a saffron clad monk every day. There are many buddhist and hindu temples around as well as mosques. We hear atleast 4 different azans every day, 5 times. Oh, and noise pollution is quite bad where we live: a train blasts away every now and then, as we live right beside the tracks. Oh, and the rain is constant. Everyone walks with an umbrella. Sri Lnnkan people are also very westernised in clothes and also their work ethics. They never go beyond their job descriptions. They will not work a minute extra or do anything that they are not officially required to do. This can be quite irritating. Oh and there's a Poya every 2 weeks. It falls on a full moon, and is a holiday (but not for H). So that's another day they refuse to work!

Ok, starting to feel a bit sleepy now.

More later.

Hurtling Along

We have moved to our apartment about 2 weeks ago. The days have been chock full of a billion things to do. And also in the meantime, Daughter fell ill (still not completely better) and we caught it off her too. Still not finished unpacking all the boxes that arrived a week ago. Before that it was like a long camping trip. We were sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

Yesterday was the first semi normal day we had. Had a nice evening. Went for a walk to the Galle Face Hotel. Had dinner at "The Verandah" which is a semi - open air restaurant just beside the sea. The food was alright, but the atmosphere was great! They had some harmony musicians. Really nice and relaxing.

Ok, that will have to be it for now. Chores and studies await!

Health Update: Fish

Ok, I've decided I am going to share all new health related information I come across on this blog. So here's what I found out today.

Not all fish are good for you. Some are better than others. Some like farmed Telapia and Catfish, can be down right unhealthy. Others have high levels of mercury which offsets the benefits one gets from the Omega 3 fatty acids they contain. But apparently as you get older the benefits of eating fish far outweigh not eating fish. According to the article by the AARP, the following rank as the top food source of omega-3 fatty acids, the fats believed to protect the heart, brain and other organs:

1. salmon,
2. herring,
3. anchovies
4. Atlantic mackerel—

Also, certain types of fish contain selenium, an antioxidant that may reduce the risk of some cancers and is believed to neutralize the damage caused by mercury. The following are high in selenium:

1. tuna,
2. halibut
3. salmon

Click here to read the detailed article.

Unfortunately, Seer fish, the fish that everyone seems to eat around here, is high in mercury, as it is most likely related to the King Mackerel, one of those with high mercury levels.

Now let's hope we are able to find the healthier options in Colombo!

Teething troubles

Today started off rather gloomily. And to add to the gloomy mood of the day, I have the most annoying toothache! Now who wants to deal with the annoyance of having teeth pulled out within days of moving into a new city? From past experience this is the only thing dentists seem to suggest these days. I applied some Pyralvex to the painful tooth, in hopes it will disappear for a while.

We are yet to move into our new apartment, though luckily we have finally got delivery of the front door keys. The problem is we have not yet got our resident visa paper work completed (a common thing for their to be delays on this front I take it from reading other Colombo blogs). So our shipment of belongings are stuck at port, and we are not being able to clear it! We have paid for this service apartment only till the end of this month, so that means there is every chance we will have to move into an empty apartment with no furniture!

I will have to get busy soon. With studies of all things. Will be doing it from home, but still, been getting goosebumps on how I will manage time to study. I hope I will still have time for this blog.

What else. Oh Daughter says the funniest of things. The other day I told her I will keep an eye out for something and she says "No keep BOTH eyes out". And yesterday I was trying to convince her not to waste her food as God does not like it, and how there are so many poor people in the world with no food to eat. And she has the most interesting set of questions.

1. How does God manage to live in the sky? Can he fly? How does he sit there?
2. How does he know what I'm doing right now? Does he watch me with a camera?
3. Why doesn't he give food to the poor people with his Godly powers?

Ofcourse I had no way to answer any of these questions. Have got quite good at avoiding such tough questions with politician like prowess! But how about you, what would you have said?

Chutneys

We ate at a South Indian restaurant called Chutneys. I'm a total Indian food buff, and Chutneys did not let us down. The portions were very generous, to say the least ( starting with never ending "papars" which were placed on the table over and over again. I ordered a vegetable biryani and Daughter had a Cheese Dosa (which I was also gorging over). The Cheese Dosa was delectable. It came with 3 chutneys or relishes, one the traditional coconut one, one based on tomato, and one the traditional sambar. H ordered a vegetarian thali which came with around 3 dosas (one shaped like a wizard's hat! )and seven or eight relishes and chutneys, and even had a gajar ka halwa for dessert! After we finished, the waiter offered himself to pack up the vegetarian biryani which we couldn't finish off because the portions of everything was more than adequate. Overall, I was in seventh heaven during the meal, and can't wait to go back for a second visit!

Grilled Salmon Steak With Mushrooms

A friend of mine asked for a recipe to do with Salmon, so here's my favourite easy salmon recipe:

Grilled Salmon Steak with Mushrooms

Ingredients:

Salmon Steak: 1 or 2
Olive Oil: 3tbsp
Onion : 1 medium sized one
Garlic: 2 cloves
Stock (any): 1 cup
Mushrooms : 1 cup
Lemon/Lime : 1 large
Milk: 1/2 cup
Flour: 2 tbsp
Oil: 2tbsp

Method:
Defrost the salmon steak, wash it, and marinate with some of the lemon/lime juice, olive oil and salt. For the sauce, slice the onions, garlic and mushrooms. Fry the onions till translucent, then add the garlic, and then after half a minute the mushrooms. Add the flour to this and then add the stock, a good squeeze of lime/lemon and after the sauce starts thickening, you can add the milk.

Arrange the salmon steaks on a tray in the oven on some foil and bake for about 9 min on each side at about 220. Salmon should turn a lovely shade of coral pink and be tender when done. Serve the salmon steaks with the mushroom sauce spooned on on the top. Other grilled vegetables are a nice accompaniment along with rice.

An alternative to actually making the salmon in the oven, is to put the salmon into the sauce after the adding the milk, and just cooking the salmon on the stove with the sauce. If you do more than one salmon steak make sure you have a large pan, or do one steak at a time.

Bon Appetit!

Lazy Weekend

I hope this is going to be one lazy Sunday for me. H (hence forth Hubby will be called H, as he doesn't like "hubby") is making lunch, and he has promised we will go out for dinner! I'm so excited at my mini-break. Next week daughter will be home the whole week as her school is closed for half-term.

We have been eating out at the same restaurant at Cinammon Grand since coming here, whenever we have been eating out. There are lots of anomalies in Colombo which no one can figure out. Like it costs more or the same to eat at Mc Donald's than to eat at a 5 star hotel! Prices of groceries is extremely high. I am so missing my last home, where food was plentiful, available in the greatest variety, clean and untaxed!

Over here, I am no longer enjoying cooking so much. One reason being the kitchen here is not properly stocked. For example there is no draining board. I don't have a strainer. The other day I made macaroni, and while draining it without a strainer, half the macaroni spilt out on to the sink!

Apparently there is nothing much of interest to see in Colombo. Everything interesting is outside of Colombo. The sea is there ofcourse, but there doesn't seem to be a beach, plus it is cordoned off here, as the military does some of their formal functions there.

Yesterday we went to a curtain shop to choose curtains for our new home. Daughter went crazy running around the shop. We went crazy trying to stop her running around, and getting hot as the sweat will probably make her cough worse.

H was wanting to rush her to the hospital first sign of cough, but I told him not to as they are just likely to be full of sicker people than her, and with swine flu going around, that's not such a good idea.

We had tea yesterday with a new friend and her hubby who live in this building. Unfortunately they will be leaving Colombo in 6 months' time. I will have to get used to the concept of friendships which are for a short time thanks to our new nomadic lifestyle.

Oh have added a picture of what H made for lunch, along with Rice. It's cauliflower and potato "bhaji" or Alu gobi as the Punjabis call it. It was good! We had it with mango pickle and some Keema curry I had made earlier. As I always suspected H seems to have a natural flair for cooking. This is the second time in his life that he made a proper dish on the stove from scratch!

Can't have your salmon and eat it too!

We went on our first shopping trip to a major supermarket, Arpico. It's kind of like the Carrefour of Sri Lanka. It's much better stocked than John Keells and that made me ridiculously happy. Found Masoor Dal and Peanut butter which I couldn't find at Keell's. We also bought most of the items from my daughter's huge school stationery list. The fish section looked largely unknown. I asked around what the other expats I met here eat, and have been told of Seer Fish, so will be trying that in the future. Am missing the salmon we ate frequently earlier! Oh, well, that's life. Can't have your salmon and eat it too!

Putting daughter in to school this early after arriving here, has meant we have been quite stressed out this week. The first week was incredibly stressful with the apartment, bank and school admission. This week, we've been trying to deal with our new early waking up time of 6.am!

Tomorrow I'll have to skip a formal dinner we've been invited to. We have no-one to leave daughter with, so... Hubby will have to go though. I really do not like not going to the few formal dinners I get invited to!

Will sign off now.. bedtime!

Beautiful Sunsets

We are lucky to be able to finally see over the horizon here. Took some gorgeous sunset shots yesterday. Here's one.

I've been trying to be healthier here after being lazy about it all of last 2 months, and not doing any exercise. So been making an effort to start the day at the gym whenever I can. I don't go overboard with it, just 30 mins. Yesterday I realised I have been ignoring my problem skin however. Have had a breakout as a result. And our hair needs to be shampooed more often here, probably due to the excess humidity.

We met some people from our home country a few days ago. A lot of kids in the group which is good. However, our friends who had invited us had also invited one catty woman, and I'll be thinking about avoiding her whenever I can. Found her competitive about every small thing, and a know it all. She even proceeded to do a ranking of schools for children, (even though no one had asked for her opinion on the topic), putting her son's school at the top, and our daughter's one was not even mentioned (not that I care about what she thinks). She would sprinkle in the odd barbed comment into the conversation for good measure. Lovely!

Saw an episode of Oprah which I found really eye opening. I always felt the first year or 2 of a child's life is really key to their future, and it turns out I am right, except it goes as far as 3 years! This episode showed that if a child is neglected in early childhood (i.e the first 3 years of life), their brain does not develop as well as a child who gets plenty of care and physical attention. Apparently touch is key for neural pathways in the brain to developing to their full potential. Severely neglected children develop serious symptoms like rocking back and forth (remember the Romanian orphans in the state run orphanages?), inability to speak or even walk properly, and avoiding eye contact with others. It made me feel so justified about my decision not to go back to work after my daughter was born for the first few years. I'd always instinctivley felt that the sacrifice to my career was needed by my child, but here was proof that any child really stands much to gain from love and attention being showered on it the first years of its life (and who would this job better or more energetically than the parent?). If one leaves a child with a servant/maid for 8 to 10 hours a day, (which incidentally is what Cat woman does), how do you know they are not ignoring /neglecting your child/or showing any real love to him/her? Just feeding the child is really not enough to make sure they develop their full potential and are happy. It's not entirely fair to blame the woman of today for going back to work, as laws are so lenient towards inadequate maternity leaves in most countries except in the Nordic Countries and in some East European Countries, where up to one year is given off to the new mother. Even Canada has long maternity leaves and UK is following suit. The rest of the world is quite far behind. I think, if one has to, it is far better to leave a little 3 month old baby with a good day care service rather than in the care of a single untrained-for-emergencies individual.

The expert on the show, Dr. Bruce Perry, a world renowned child psychiatrist, also spoke about how youngsters nowadays are growing up without the ability to empathise which is a direct result of not getting enough attention when they are infants/young children. He spoke of how parents nowadays just spend a few minutes communicating/holding their children (and the youngest of children are almost spending the whole day in front of the tv or at the care giver's, or asleep) and that results in these children growing up without ability to have real feelings of empathy, a generation that constantly turns to machines such as ipods, laptops and blackberries as a substitute for human contact, or worse still to drugs. I personally theorise that this is why so many children in the States, where it is common for single parenting to go on, join gangs, as they finally get to belong somewhere, as they lacked that in their own family. That spells pretty much disaster for the family unit of the future. How does a person with relationship skills like this make a marriage last for example? What kind of parent will they turn out to be to their child? Food for thought indeed. The pressure to keep up with the Jones', not losing out on the climb up the career ladder etc, and inadequate maternity leave, all to blame I feel.

Clicking here will show you details of what the program talked about.

And this is a theoretical article illustrating the concept, which clearly shows the difference in the brains of a child who does not receive loving care and stimulation and one who does.

Progress

We've been making some progress in our house hunt. Finalised a place yesterday, and daughter began school too. Luckily she liked it!

Some random observations about Colombo:

1. The young coconuts (what we call "dab") are orange here not green.
2. The sea is grey quite often, rarely the vibrant turquoise blue we were used to in the middle east. It also seems more violent, whereas the Arabian Sea was so much more serene. Ofcourse here it's the ocean whereas there it was the sea, maybe that makes a difference.
3. The strange thing is Colombo seems to start straight from the sea. There's practically no beach to speak of. One probably has to go to other areas to catch that.
4. Women here dress quite modern/western. Skirts, pants are common. They also wear saris, however the salwar kameez is rarely seen. Saris are worn either in the Indian style (however everyone wears it severely pinned up like airhostesses, and a few wear it the traditional sri lankan style). Most women, I may have mentioned here are quite lean, which means the Sri Lankan diet must be quite healthy over all. Women walk nice and straight.
5. Driving is quite erratic. No street signs anywhere. With my poor sense of direction I'm having a tougher time getting to know places.
6. I love the tv selection here. We get NDTV Good times, Discovery Travel and Living and Star World all of which I like a lot, especially the first 2. Have been happily watching Everybody Loves Raymond again.
7. The weather here is the same all year round! So it never gets cold.

That's all I can think of right now. And feeling sleepy.

Spanish Omelette and Cheese and Onion Sausages

This is what I made for lunch today. My first attempt at spanish omelette. It turned out pretty ok, so I'm pleased. We had John Keell's cheese and onion sausages with that which are surprisingly yummy. John Keells is a local company.

Spent the day pretty much in bed as wasn't feeling too well. And lots of tv. Love the tv here! Much better than our previous selection in our last home.

So I have been trying to find my blog CURIOUS ABOUT COLOMBO on google with no luck. Wonder why?

Coconuts are good for you!

So I noticed that Sri Lankans in general seem quite lean. And they seem to use a lot of coconut in their diet. And when you enter Colombo, the first thing you notice are the really long coconut trees which I loved the look of. I had heard rumours of coconut being good for you, which I looked up just now, and it's true! I love adding coconut milk to my food, but always used to be worried about doing it in the past. Now I won't, and I'll add the coconut to my grocery list! http://evenstaronline.com/articles/coconut.html

Amateur Detective/Lawyer

We are trying to find an apartment to move into, and it is turning out to be a headache. All the ones we liked have turned out to be in buildings where there are legal glitches. One of our potential landladies seems to be quite the dragon lady, who keeps sending us terse messages in the queen's English by email! Doesn't she realise how off-putting that is for potential tenants?

That's another thing. The language of the people is really soft and serene. I like it! They also speak English in this nice and serene way, and in a very sing song voice. Takes a bit of getting used to, but not harsh on the ears.

We don't use the ac much during the day. Leave the balcony doors open. It's lovely to have a view of the sea. I'll have to upload some of my pictures soon, but the housing search is keeping me so busy!

Went to the bank yesterday by hotel taxi. Kept him waiting for one hour while we finished off basic bank stuff! The bank manager even presented me with a rose and took a picture. They were apparently having a customer appreciation week or something like that. That was quite funny. My daughter who is 4 was quite envious and she kept complaining how they'd only given her a small chocolote bar and me a nice big rose!

First few days

Well this first post is going to be short as I have quite the backache from reading various other blogs almost the whole day!
Interesting things done/noted since we got here:
Went to the gym one day.
Had a lovely lunch at Cinammon Grand (restaurant food seems quite affordable compared to where we last lived in the middle east).
Got connected to the net (!) and also happy to see all the old tv stations I was used to like Travel and Living (which also shows Nigella) yay!
Still haven't figured out how to use the washing machine!
Groceries seem to be quite expensive and not used to the prices here, everything seems so expensive!
Have not got our permanent housing sorted out yet, which is a bummer.

Anyhoo, got to rest my back now.