Kandy and Nuwara Eliya

We travelled recently to these two places. Daughter had a cough and H was dithering about whether to go, but I insisted. Anyway, we had a relaxed visit, well as much as possible with a coughing child and husband who worries at every cough. Nuwara Eliya was gorgeous. Made me think of Switzerland. And Kandy was interesting too with nice views of the misty hills. Made me think of Budapest.

Semolina (Suji) Halwa

I had been searching high and low for semolina here. After arriving at the conclusion that Sri Lankans don't have it, recently someone told me it is in fact available. So I asked someone in Keels Super (at Staples) whether they had it and sure enough they found it for me in the baking section (who would have thought?) Anyway, so finally I made this halwa, which is good to have with Paratha / luchi or just toasted bread if you don't have either of those two, on the odd weekend when you want to be reminded of home. The way I make this halwa, it is semi solid in consistency. Some people prefer the harder, springy variety which they shape into barfi (diamond) shapes, but this is how me and H prefer it.

SUJI HALWA (SEMOLINA PUDDING)

INGREDIENTS
1 cup suji (semolina)
¾ cup sugar
1.5 cup whole milk
1.5 cup water
3 tablespoon ghee, butter or margarine or substitute some of the ghee for oil if you prefer a healthier option
1/ teaspoon cardamom
2 tablespoon raisin
Garnish
2 tablespoon raisin
2 tablespoon almonds

METHOD
Heat ghee, butter or margarine in a pan.
Add Cardamom and heat few seconds in medium heat.
Add Semolina and heat for few minutes with constant stirring in medium heat.
Add sugar and half of both raisin, and Almond. Heat few more minutes.
Add water and milk. Mix well and heat until you get desired consistency. (Usually like watery dough or thick pudding)
Garnish with remaining raisin and almonds.
Serve either hot or cold.

Destressing with Nigella, Kylie and Jamie

My favourite way of destressing is to watch cookery shows. I just find them immensely soothing. Don't get me wrong, I don't run off and make every single dish. I just lie back, relax and enjoy the show.

I think I get this from my mother who also loves them. In the old days when we had a VCR, my mother would video tape them. And before that when cookery shows were not really around she'd cut out recipes from magazines and make a scrap book. I don't have a scrap book. Initially I used to save my recipes in a word file which, much to my chagrin, has got corrrupted. So now, I will eventually upload all my favourite recipes to this very blog.

Back to the cookery shows. Well, my very favourite was Jamie Oliver. And in particular the Naked Chef series. Jamie was young, happy and so different from the run of the mill TV chef. His later shows where he's more serious or the ones where he has a live audience I'm not so fond of.

Then there's Nigella. Again I liked the original shows much better, but this time I prefer the more serious Nigella who doesn't keep smiling coquettishly at the camera every 5 minutes. Still, recipe wise I think I find Nigella uses easier to find ingredients.

Kylie Kwong I like mainly because of her accent and the novelty of her travelling around all the Chinese province. I don't find a lot of the recipes very appetising though, as she features recipes with ingredients I'd never in my life ever want to eat. Chicken feet anyone?

There's another Australian cook I like: Bill. Really calm collected, and I like his recipes. Not heard of him? Find out more at http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/shows/bills-food/

From the Americans I like only Giada I think. I find Americans don't do great cookery shows.

And then there are food blogs ofcourse and food podcasts.

I listen to one podcast called "Cooking with the Moms" which is done by 2 nutritionists which I find very informative. You can find the podcasts here http://mealmakeovermoms.com/podcast/

They also do a food blog.

And out of food blogs I like http://www.bongcookbook.com/ which is written by a Bengali lady living in the US.

Unfortunately, over here with the channels I receive I only get to watch Nigella and Kylie. But it's better than nothing.

So that's my secret to destressing. What's yours?

Invictus

I am happy with the fact that I left the scope of this blog so wide. I can write about anything I fancy. The fact that I don't have a wide readership does not bother me. Maybe one day my daughter will read it and just learn a bit more about her mom's likes and dislikes.

So anyway, the new thing I will write about today: movies. I realise taste in movies is very subjective. I do not in any way guarantee that you will share my thoughts on these movies. Anyway, a movie I enjoyed recently: Invictus. It basically depicts the first few months of Nelson Mandela's taking office after winning the elections. How he united a divided country through Rugby. I am not a sports fan, generally hate sports based movies and don't understand the first thing about rugby. Here lies the genius of Clint Eastwood. It's not just about the game. It's more about how great a man Mandela is. I was awed by how he brought to light Mandela's humility and kindness to all he met. And it made all the petty jealousies, slights and silliness that one comes across in every day life seem just that, petty. Here was a man who could be nice to people who imprisoned him for decades.

Aside from that , the rugby part is interestingly shot too. The sound effects are great. Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon have done a good job. Watch this movie and tell me what you thought.

Furniture Finds

Colombo is a place for beautiful objets d'art, much to my surprise. The things you can find here are, in my opinion, equal to or surpass in beauty that found in Zara Home or other lifestyle and home decor shops.

Apart from Paradise Road and Barefoot which are the most written about I think everyone should visit the Roux Brothers and Gandhara and just prepare to swept off their feet. The finds here are simply breathtaking. I can't wait to buy something pretty from these places. The Roux Brothers have the antique touch to their furniture pieces and Gandhara has lots of things from all over the world, including lots of Chinese treasure chests, and wardrobes.

For anyone wanting to visit:

Gandhara :
28, Stratford Avenue, Colombo 6Shop no:8 Shopping Piazza, Galle Face hotel

Roux Brothers:
Outlet: 7 De Fonseka Rd, Colombo 5
Dutch period antique furniture and reproductions in solid timber, lamps and upholstery material

Park Street Mews

I'm sitting in Park Street Mews writing this review. This is my second visit here. Obviously they have wifi here, and it's free! That's one plus point. I like the decor a lot. It's a spacious joint, high ceilings. Family friendly environment. We came here for coffee. Had a Cafe Moccha. Pretty good. On my earlier visit which was for lunch, I had a South Indian fish curry with rice which was very good. Dessert however was a bit of a disappointment: Rhubarb Crumble. It was just too sour for words.
Anyway H is getting restless. He doesn't like the fact that there's no AC here. I find it perfectly alright however as the high ceilings keep the place cool. Daughter likes it because of the bean bags. Time to sign off!

Popular misconceptions about foods that are actually good for you

I recently ran into a person who I offered peanut butter to for a snack (on bread), who refused to eat it saying it was fattening.

I knew vaguely that peanuts are in fact now thought to be good for you (unless ofcourse you have an allergy to it).

So today I went to my favourite food information web site, world's healthiest foods, www.whfoods.org which basically listed all the benefits of different foods. I quote from the site:

"Your Heart Will Go Nuts for Peanuts

Peanuts are a very good source of monounsaturated fats, the type of fat that is emphasized in the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet. Studies of diets with a special emphasis on peanuts have shown that this little legume is a big ally for a healthy heart. In one such randomized, double-blind, cross-over study involving 22 subjects, a high monounsaturated diet that emphasized peanuts and peanut butter decreased cardiovascular disease risk by an estimated 21% compared to the average American diet.

In addition to their monounsaturated fat content, peanuts feature an array of other nutrients that, in numerous studies, have been shown to promote heart health. Peanuts are good sources of vitamin E, niacin, folate, protein and manganese. In addition, peanuts provide resveratrol, the phenolic antioxidant also found in red grapes and red wine that is thought to be responsible for the French paradox: the fact that in France, people consume a diet that is not low in fat, but have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to the U.S. With all of the important nutrients provided by nuts like peanuts, it is no wonder that numerous research studies, including the Nurses' Health Study that involved over 86,000 women, have found that frequent nut consumption is related to reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Peanuts Rival Fruit as a Source of Antioxidants

Not only do peanuts contain oleic acid, the healthful fat found in olive oil, but new research shows these tasty legumes are also as rich in antioxidants as many fruits.

While unable to boast an antioxidant content that can compare with the fruits highest in antioxidants, such as pomegranate, roasted peanuts do rival the antioxidant content of blackberries and strawberries, and are far richer in antioxidants than apples, carrots or beets. Research conducted by a team of University of Florida scientists, published in the journal Food Chemistry, shows that peanuts contain high concentrations of antioxidant polyphenols, primarily a compound called p-coumaric acid, and that roasting can increase peanuts' p-coumaric acid levels, boosting their overall antioxidant content by as much as 22%.

Peanuts' Antioxidants Key to their Heart-Health Benefits

Research published in the British Journal of Nutrition (Blomhoff R, Carlsen MH), which identified several nuts among plant foods with the highest total antioxidant content, suggests nut's high antioxidant content may be key to their cardio-protective benefits.

Nuts' high antioxidant content helps explain results seen in the Iowa Women's Health Study in which risk of death from cardiovascular and coronary heart diseases showed strong and consistent reductions with increasing nut/peanut butter consumption. Total death rates decreased 11% and 19% for nut/peanut butter intake once per week and 1-4 times per week, respectively.

Even more impressive were the results of a review study of the evidence linking nuts and lower risk of coronary heart disease, also published in the British Journal of Nutrition. (Kelly JH, Sabate J.) In this study, researchers looked at four large prospective epidemiological studies-the Adventist Health Study, Iowa Women's Study, Nurses' Health Study and the Physician's Health Study. When evidence from all four studies was combined, subjects consuming nuts at least 4 times a week showed a 37% reduced risk of coronary heart disease compared to those who never or seldom ate nuts. Each additional serving of nuts per week was associated with an average 8.3% reduced risk of coronary heart disease.

Practical Tip: To lower your risk of cardiovascular and coronary heart disease, enjoy a handful of peanuts or other nuts, or a tablespoon of nut butter, at least 4 times a week.

Potentially Reduced Risk of Stroke Based on Preliminary Animal Studies

Resveratrol is a flavonoid first studied in red grapes and red wine, but now also found to be present in peanuts. In animal studies on resveratrol itself (the purified nutrient given in intravenous form, not the food form), this phytonutrient has been determined to improve blood flow in the brain by as much as 30%, thus greatly reducing the risk of stroke, according to the results of a laboratory animal study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Lead researcher Kwok Tung Lu hypothesized that resveratrol exerted this very beneficial effect by stimulating the production and/or release of nitric oxide (NO), a molecule made in the lining of blood vessels (the endothelium) that signals the surrounding muscle to relax, dilating the blood vessel and increasing blood flow. In the animals that received resveratrol, the concentration of nitric oxide (NO) in the affected part of the brain was 25% higher than that seen not only in the ischemia-only group, but even in the control animals.

The jury is still out on peanuts however, since they contain far less resveratrol than the amounts used in the above study, and also less than the amount provided by red wine. An ounce of red wine can provide as much as 1,000 micrograms of resveratrol, and it almost always provides over 75 micrograms. The same ounce of peanut butter can only provide about 50 micrograms of resveratrol. Still, routine consumption of peanuts or peanut butter might turn out to be significant in terms of the resveratrol provided by this food. "

So now, I've decided peanuts are going to be my favourite movie time snack. I also found out another interesting fact from the same article that pickled foods increase risk of certain cancers. You learn something new everyday! You can find the whole article and loads of other helpful info at this site http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=101