Newsletter aus Sri Lanka von Royston Ellis

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON REPORTS Number 207

The Full Moon Chronicle, Number 208, Wednesday 14 May 2014

Welcome to the Vesak edition of this Full Moon Chronicle, my lunar monthly email newsletter from Sri Lanka.

Moss Jelly

My forage in the local supermarket last month brought me face to face with what I thought was a wiry pot scourer, yet the label declared it to be “Moss Jelly.” The recipe stuffed in the packet was in Sinhala so I hesitated to buy it until I saw that it was a local product (from Payagala, a coastal village close to my cottage) and cost Rs66 [£ .52p; US$ .50c] for 50gm.

Like a pot scourer
​

From my time in the Caribbean 40 years ago I remember drinking “Sea Moss” – a thick milky beverage produced from seaweed. Sure enough, dear Google confirmed that what I had bought is known in Asia asagar agar, a common gelling agent of gelatine extracted from seaweed.

Soaking the seaweed fibres
​

What to do with it was solved by a visiting Sri Lankan who adores jelly. He followed the instructions by soaking the wiry bundle in water for two hours, draining off the liquid and washing the fibres, then putting them in water with some lime juice to boil, stirring until the stuff dissolved. Then he strained the liquid and put it aside.

Final stir with milk, seasoning & the liquid.
​

Next he boiled 500ml of milk to which he added 15g of sugar and some mango colouring and vanilla essence, together with the melted moss. This was poured into a dish and set to cool with some cashew nuts and raisins added before it was put into the fridge to firm up.



The result was an opaque jelly-like confection, surely much healthier than crème brûlée, and rather refreshing. Next time I’ll see if we can produce a savoury version, perhaps flavoured with anchovy…

Delicious actually
​

Vesak
Home made lanterns swinging in the breeze characterise the commemoration of Vesak in May each year. Vesak is a thrice-blessed day for Buddhists as it commemorates the birth of Prince Siddhartha, his attainment of enlightenment and his passing into Nirvana as Gauthama Buddha.

Vesak lantern
​

Log furniture

I was startled on the morning of May Day when I glanced out of my attic studio window to see wooden furniture growing by the wayside. Three vans were pulled up by the beach and men were unloading some curious objects which, on closer inspection, turned out to be contrived plant-stands and uncomfortable-looking tables and chairs made from logs and branches.

Wayside furniture
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Naturally I rushed out to see what bargains were available, especially as I wouldn’t have to hire a vehicle to transport anything I purchased to my home, and I did need some garden furniture. Alas, I wasn’t tempted to buy as the workmanship seemed dodgy.

Crazy chair
​

However, there was a magnificent chair with its own attached table that would have been a talking-point if I had a larger veranda where I could house it. It sold during the first day for Rs27,000 [£ 125; $ 207].
Hillside Cabanas
Getting to Cabana St Heliers is not for the fainthearted. The day I went it was pouring with rain and we bounced from pothole to pothole along the 7km track up from the Aviassawella to Hatton highway (after the 68km marker). We had to ford a river and toil up to 4,000 feet above sea level to reach the Cabanas on a hillside with views of tea bushes and forest.

Cabanas St Heliers
​

Although there are only five cabanas, as many as forty guests can stay there because the Cabanas are designed for families who want fun together, groups of friends bonding during a few nights away from routine, and for young people taking part in motivational programmes in a secluded, natural location without distractions.

Cabanas St Heliers bult of local timber and twigs
​

Each cabana, built of timber walls, tree trunk columns and boards for floor and roof, has several double beds, or bunks, made from local timber. The mattresses are comfortable, the pillows soft, blankets thick and fluffy, and each cabana has a small attached bathroom with towels, soap and toilet paper provided.

Cabana bedroom
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Although it is a genuine, back-to-nature resort, the cabanas have on-site hydro-powered electricity (with mobile phone connectivity) flushable toilets, and are comfortable and cosy, nestled close together surrounded by orange, pink and blue wildflowers and golden hibiscus bushes. The pathways have guiding rails of branches, and miniature bridges of sticks.
There is a central cabana with a long, wooden table where guests eat together. I loved the cool, fresh air and the camaraderie as we swapped yarns in the evening. The next morning, as the sun shone brightly, I plunged in the swirling waters of the stream and emerged invigorated for a hearty breakfast of red rice, dosai, seeni sambol and beef curry.

Cabana breakfast
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For the young, and young at heart, Cabanas St Heliers is a haven of solitude with absolutely nothing to do but relish nature in the raw. It costs from Rs3,000 [£13.95; $ 23] for a bed and full board.
Cabanas St Heliers is at Agaraoya, Hatton; tel: 0719 343004 (Mr Peter); [url]www.cabanasaintheliers.com[/URL].

Free Book
A “boutique hotel” is defined by the OED as “a stylish small hotel, typically one situated in a fashionable urban location.”

Free book!
​

Druvi Gunasekera is using the word “boutique” by itself to signify luxury accommodation in her just published book, Boutiques in Sri Lanka: Luxury Accommodation Guide 2014. Druvi is an innovative travel agent specialising only in the absolute best boutique hotel properties in Sri Lanka. The guide includes text on the various areas and attractions of Sri Lanka, written by me.It’s the only one of my books available FREE. Go to:
http://www.boutiquesinsrilanka.com and click on Gallery to download a copy.
The guide contains details of some great places for a holiday. It also contains Druvi’s creed on what constitutes a “boutique” in Sri Lanka.
“Niche properties that deliver a high quality ‘luxury experience’ with fine attention to detail from start to finish.”
She bases her choice of properties on the following criteria:
High level of intelligent service
Concierge services assistance
High staff ratio
Fine cuisine
Local life experience with luxury service
Immaculately clean and well maintained
Elegant settings
To that list of impeccabilities I would agree with the OED and add “small” – meaning a property with less than 10 rooms.

Now what does this mean?
I am puzzled by what this recent news item in the Daily Mirror of Sri Lanka about wilful burning of forests, actually means:
“Environmentalists pointed out that the villagers often set fire to the forests during the drought to turn them grass land to graze their cattle or to track down wild animals and unscrupulous young men for pleasure.”

A Novel A Month
Last month saw the publication of my first novel-a-month for Kicks Books, Sweet Ebony available as a paperback (or ebook) from amazon (see below).

A rollicking read
​

The publisher writes: “Sweet Ebony by Royston Ellis (KBB1). Britain’s original beat author, the inspiration for the Beatles’ Paperback Writer, resurfaced last year with Kicks Books’ Gone Man Squared, after going MIA for five decades. Now, he’s back in action, taking the publishing world by storm withSweet Ebony, the first of TWELVE titles for Kicks Books – with a new book due each month for the next twelve months! Sweet Ebony charts new genre-warping terrain as four free-thinking women from California travel to Kenya on a safari in search of the “F” word – fulfillment of their wildest desires. Ellis writes with shrewd insight into four disparate personalities coping with the clash of cultures at the end of the 1970′s. Come along for a wild ride with the man the Beatles called “Paperback Writer”, who Jimmy Page backed as a young stringbuster, and who Time Out declared one of London’s all-time Top Teenage Rebels! Kicks Books Blue– for those who wish turn up the heat! KBB series is a thick, larger format book.”
All my paperback books are available worldwide by mail from:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/278-6322253-5388030?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Royston+Ellis
and (with a special Sweet Ebony perfume) from
http://nortonrecords.gostorego.com/kicks-books/kicks-books/kicks-perfumes/sweet-ebony-perfume-by-royston-ellis.html

Read on!

Royston

I wish all Users a very happy Vesak day

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON REPORTS, NUMBER 208


The Full Moon Chronicle, Thursday 12 June 2014.


Greetings to readers around the world, especially to writers in Australia.

Templeberg writer’s cottage
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Free Writing Fellowship
If you’re Australian and employed in some manner (even blogging) as a writer, and act quickly, you can win a stay of up to four weeks with full board at the Templeberg Villa near Galle in Sri Lanka, plus return economy class air ticket from Melbourne to Sri Lanka, and a spending allowance of A$1,000.
The Templeberg Residential Writing Fellowship is in its second year and I have again been invited to be one of the judges. Writers are required to s_ubmit a sample of their writing of no more than 3,000 words by Friday 27 June 2014, so there’s not much time. Full details on:http://vwc.questionform.com/public/Templeberg-2014

Ella Mount Heaven
I was thrilled to be invited to cut the ribbon to declare open the seafood and gourmet restaurant atop the sensational Ella Mount Heaven Hotel on 1 June 2014. I have already written about the hotel, having enjoyed staying there in December (see: http://roystonellis.com/blog/royston-reports-189/).

In procession to open the restaurant. Photo by B Kumarasiri
​

The restaurant can cater for couples, groups and even full wedding banquets since it can seat 350. There is an open kitchen where a team of cooks under the watchful eye of Mr Upali, the grandly bearded owner, produce amazing seafood dishes, as well as chicken, duck and turkey specialities, but no beef or pork.

Opening day, Ella Mount Heaven restaurant (B. Kumarasiri)
​

The restaurant has a staggering view of unspoiled hillsides, and a roving staircase to an open air terrace below. It seems destined to upgrade the facilities for dining, and staying, in Ella, providing affordable quality for both locals and tourists alike. (www.ellamountheaven.com)


Poson Full Moon


The June Full Moon Poya Day in Sri Lanka is known as Poson and commemorates the advent of Buddhism in the country with religious observances, illuminations, home-made lanterns, processions and almsgiving. People tour towns and villages in the evening to gaze in awe at the elaborate static or revolving pandals – a temporary structure decorated with Buddhist scenes and flashing lights.

Madu, Kumara & Dilanka with their lanterns
​

At home, Madu, Kumara and Dilanka each designed and made a lantern to decorate their houses at Vesak, the May Poya Day, and these are pictured here.


Lanka butter’s better


You don’t see many diary cows in Sri Lanka but some fine herds do exist, many of them hidden in hill country farms away from main roads. Occasionally churns of milk can be seen outside hill country homesteads awaiting collection.
Cheese is not a big part of the Sri Lankan diet but, nevertheless, some cheeses of a yellow Edam type are made here and are available in the local super markets. Then, last month, I saw a new locally made butter on sale on the shelves alongside the cheese.

Creamy golden butter
​

I bought some immediately and am so glad I did because it really is “Pure Creamy Sri Lankan Butter” as it says on the label. It is super on (gluten free) crackers giving a delicious kick to what is usually a bland taste. I used the butter (instead of cream) in a chicken liver and bacon pâté I ventured to make, and it was sensational.
This butter, made by Pelwatte Dairies near Buttala, north of Yala National Park in the interior of Uva Province some 80km from Arugam Bay on the east coast, was conveniently packed in a plastic tub. It cost Rs240 [£ 1.10; $ 1.85] for 200g.


Beat Poet Pâté
I didn’t plan to include a recipe here but since I mentioned pâté above and it is so easy that even a septuagenarian beat poet

Coarse chicken liver & bacon pâté
​

can do it, here’s what I used the butter for. Into a hot pan containing a 100gm of foaming creamy butter, I tossed a chopped onion, four chopped garlic cloves and then added bacon pieces (equivalent to a couple of cut up back rashers) and let it bubble away until everything looked moist.
To this I added 250gm of chicken livers I had previously cleaned and soaked in milk for a couple of hours (then strained them and chucked the bloody milk away). I cooked these in the hot bubbly mixture for a couple of minutes, careful to turn them frequently so they didn’t burn or harden. Then I poured 75ml of port into a glass, tipped 50ml into the pan and drank the rest.
When the mixture had reduced sufficiently I let it cool before putting it in a blender, with just a little more butter, and letting it pulp; pouring the unpleasant looking goo out into a mould, covered it with cling film and left it in the fridge overnight to set. An amazing dish for breakfast (or with sundowners), sprinkled, as in this photo, with torn coriander leaves.


Free download


In the last issue I gave a link for a free download of Boutiques in Sri Lanka; Luxury Accommodation Guide 2014.

Free book
​

Unfortunately, in my enthusiasm for the guide (for which I wrote the narrative, not the advertisements or boutique hotel entries) I described Druvi Gunasekera, the genius behind this essential publication for the discerning visitor to Sri Lanka, as a Travel Agent. She is not, as you will see from this swift sms that Druvi fired off to me on 14 May.
“Thank you for featuring the Luxury Guide in your direct mail. But I am NOT a travel agent and it is something I’ve taken a lot of effort to ensure people didn’t see me as a travel agent! The role of Boutiques in Sri Lanka is indicated in the first (opening) inner page – a sales and marketing company that markets selected luxury boutiques. Small boutique hotels can “outsource” the marketing or management of their luxury boutiques to me. Having worked as Head of Sales for Aman Sri Lanka, I have the global experience and contacts. I don’t handle bookings or tours which is what a travel agent does…”
The book is still available free. Go to:
http://www.boutiquesinsrilanka.com and click on GALLERY heading to download a copy.

Novel a Month

A rollicking read

The Sixties swings
​

My two new novels Sweet Ebony (April 2014) and Rush At The End (May 2014)published by Kicks Books of the USA are now available as e-books or paperbacks from: www.amazon.co.uk (enter: Royston Ellis in search box.)

Beat regards
Royston

Wünsche allen Usern einen glücklichen Freitag den 13ten mit Vollmond

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON REPORTS Number 209, Sunday 22 June Greetings to readers worldwide with this update on Sri Lanka. Tranquillity Alutgama open for business Thank you to all readers who expressed concern about the news of religious rioting in Alutgama, a town just eight kilometres from my home, and equidistant between the seaside resorts and hotels of Beruwela and Bentota. As I write, soldiers and police patrol the streets, but the town is open for business and all is tranquil on the beaches. Actually, this is now the off-season on the west coast of Sri Lanka as the sea is rough and the rain annoying; it’s the season when tourists head for the east coast to stay in those new intriguing hotels at Passikudah (like Maalu Maalu). This is probably a good place to remind you that my guide to Sri Lanka, giving an insight to the country only a resident knows, is available direct from http://www.bradtguides.com/sri-lanka-pb-1829.html Apologies It seems I was wrong in switching to a monthly (Full Moon) newsletter. So many readers have requested me to return to a weekly newsletter, and the hits on my website have dropped dramatically (from 250,000 a week). Even my webmonster, Andrew, who has all the problems of circulating the newsletter, wants to see it sent out more frequently. Thus, here is a special edition of Royston Reports/Tropical Topics while I see if I can maintain the momentum of a newsletter every other Sunday instead of every Full Moon Day. Devil’s Fig It’s always a thrill to discover something new to eat that turns out to be so enjoyable one wants to try it again. That happened to me when I was entertained for lunch by the family of Madu, my youngest member of staff. In their house by a river some 40km inland from Kalutara on the west coast, I tried what is known in Sinhala as thibbatu. They told me it is related to eggplant, which I like, although in taste these berries were more like a curried fruit, but delicious. Research reveals the scientific name is solanum torvum and is known in English as Turkey Berry, Devil’s Fig, Pea Eggplant and even Prickly Nightshade. It is used as an ingredient in Thai Green Curry, in Jamaican and African dishes, and in Haitian voodoo rituals. (Prickly nightshade too, photo by B Kumarasiri) I was even more surprised to find it actually growing in my garden, bunches of berries on a plant about 6ft in height with eggplant-like leaves, in the wilderness of the hedgerow that shields the garden from the main road and the beach. To cook it, I washed and boiled the berries, crushed them with a spoon to release the seeds, and then tossed them in oil for ten minutes with the usual ingredients for a curry. The berries are supposed to be good for the digestion and for respiratory diseases. For me they were great as a vegetable accompanying a grilled pork chop and mashed breadfruit. Wild Life Probably because I have two cats, the bird life at Horizon Cottage is modest. The noisiest - and which perches out of reach of the cats – is the Ceylon White Breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis fusca). G.M.Henry in his fascinating book A Guide to the Birds of Ceylon says it is found all over the island and “is even a common – and very attractive – feature of Colombo gardens and parks.” Kingfisher at home He states amusingly that, “while it can catch fish, and occasionally keeps its beak in practice at the piscatorial art, it prefers to capture grasshoppers, frogs, small lizards, centipedes and earthworms…While waiting for something to turn up, it frequently utters a short chik; but its call-note, always uttered when it takes to flight, is a loud rattling scream.” Hackery Regular readers will remember reading of the fun I had bidding at auction for this antique racing hackery. It was used in colonial days in races as a chariot pulled by a bullock with a jockey bouncing awkwardly on its narrow seat. Antique hackery racing I had it restored and it’s stabled on the veranda of Neel’s home at Induruwa. However, I’ve been persuaded I’m too old to take up bullock cart racing, so I’m reluctantly offering this superb colonial relic for sale to any resident of Sri Lanka (it can’t be shipped overseas without a permit as it’s an antique). Please send enquiries to royston@roystonellis.com. Genuine antique bullock racing cart Beat regards Royston For all my paperback books in print (and Kindles) check http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=Royston+Ellis Habe mich sehr gefreut heute einen Newsletter von Royston zu bekommen...habe ihn am Sonntag immer vermisst.. LG Premasiri

 

[Biggi]

Vielen Dank Premasiri.

Wie immer ein sehr interessanter Brief von R. Ellis.
Das "Bullock racing cart" ist ja schon ein Hingucker. Mich würde die Preisvorstellung interessieren, aber das wird Royston wohl nicht öffentlich schreiben.

Liebe Grüsse und noch einen schönen und erholsamen Restsonntag, Biggi

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON REPORTS


Tropical Topics Number 210 (Sunday 29 June 2014)


Welcome back to my restored weekly newsletter on topics tropical!

Hotel puzzle.


I realise that the world is changing fast and it’s difficult for me, a septuagenarian beat poet, to keep up with, or understand, it. During the past couple of years when I have stayed in hotels (in Thailand, the Maldives as well as in Sri Lanka), I have noticed the beds are no longer covered in a simple counterpane, itself an old word for bedspread.
Now hotel beds come with an additional strip of material draped across the midriff. In addition, there are no longer just a couple of pillows but cushions as well, the more expensive the room rate, the more cushions are piled up on the bed.


1.Hotel bedroom design statement?

These are removed and stored out of sight by the staff who perform the “turn down service” while one is at dinner. Or you chuck them on the floor yourself if you happen to want an uncluttered bed for a siesta (as I do) after lunch.
This photo is of a bedroom built of granite blocks with roof and floor of local timber at the 98 Acres Resort & Spa near Ella. The bright red cushions look attractive but I wonder whether this is just a fashionable design statement adopted by ambitious hotels. I haven’t been able to work out a use for those cushions and the bed strip.

Bungalow Mystery


From John Lyons came a request a few weeks ago to see if any reader could identify this bungalow, photographed by John’s father in Ceylon in 1943.
2. Which bungalow?

Last week I received the following from John. “I had this photo reproduced at a higher resolution and, guess what! Over the door you can just 2ake out the name KILLARNEY which seems to be a plantation near Bogawantalawa…I wonder if you know anyone who may be able to tell me if this building still exists?”
I sent the photograph to the expert on plantation bungalows, Michael Cooke who lives in Kandy and with whom I used to go bungle-hunting a couple of decades ago. Michael replied promptly: “The bungalow is NOT Killarney. Killarney Bungalow appears on the website www.historyofceylontea.com under photographs. I cannot comprehend how the name came to be engraved on the bungalow. To all intents and purposes the bungalow in the photograph looks like a low country bungalow like Sirinapathi Chilaw.”
Can any reader enlighten us bungalow nuts?


Wine Tasting


If you are in the Mount Lavinia area next Friday 4 July (and not at a USA Independence Day dinner), and fancy Chilean wine and Italian fare, there’s a fabulous wine tasting planned for that evening.
How do I know it’s fabulous? Because the importer of Valdivieso wines (which I like) tells me I couldn’t buy a single bottle of good Chilean wine for the cost of admission – and there’s food too! The charismatic Brett Jackson, the chief winemaker for Valdivieso, will be leading the tasting (of seven wines paired with seven dishes from a degustation menu).


A Paperback Novel a Month


When I stayed with some raunchy lads in a gungy flat in Liverpool in June 1960 while I was on a poetry reading tour, we discussed one night after chewing benzedrine strips from the inside of a Boots The Chemist nose-inhaler, what we wanted to be. John said he wanted to be a musician so I told him to quit art school and get on with it. Stuart wanted to be an artist; George didn’t know, and Paul just smiled sweetly.
“I want to be a paperback writer,” I said, as it was the height of success then for an aspiring writer to be published popularly in paperback. That phrase inspired one of the Beatles’ hits, and it has also inspired Miriam Linna of Kicks Books, a division of Norton Records of the USA (www.kicksbooks.com) to publish a paperback a month by me from April 2014.


3. My latest novels

Last year, Miriam published my collection of 1960s beat poetry, Gone Man Squared in paperback and she reports it has been a huge success, hence her new venture of a paperback a month. Some have been previously published but are now being issued a Kicks Books and Kindles ebooks in unexpurgated (and re-edited) versions while others, like Sweet Ebony has never been published before.
Sweet Ebony is set in Kenya, while Rush At The End flows from London to Las Palmas. These and all my other books in print are available from www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk.


Beat regards
Royston

Wünsche allen Usern eine wunderschöne Woche....LG Premasiri

 

[Pak Bahasa]

Wünsche allen Usern eine wunderschöne Woche....LG Premasiri

die wünsche ich dir auch liebe Premasiri und Danke!!! für das Einstellen der immer wieder interessanten Newsletter

LG Joerg

 

[Premasiri]

Danke Dir Joerg für Dein Feedback....das mache ich doch gerne...

LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON REPORTS


Tropical Topics, Number 211 (Sunday 6 July 2014)


Welcome to this Sunday’s look at tropical topics (and my books).


Self Catering
When I first arrived Sri Lanka, there were NO facilities for self-catering holidays – no dedicated villas, apartments, cottages, chalets or cabanas with kitchenettes so guests on holiday could fend for themselves.
At my suggestion, a friend who owned a guesthouse in Bentota, built a small unit in his garden with a kitchenette as well as shower, bedroom and parlour. That’s where I stayed until settling permanently in Sri Lanka.
The unit still exists but now it’s a changing room for the swimming pool that my friend built as he developed his garden into a small estate of self-catering apartments.
He was a pioneer. Although self-catering accommodation does exist now in Sri Lanka, it is still rare because package-holiday and boutique hotels and guesthouses have been developed instead. However, those places are no longer a bargain, nor are they affordable for a family or friends staying together.


Self-catering offers great value)

For guests on a limited budget who want to discover the real (and inexpensive) Sri Lanka, an independent self-catering unit where all share the cost, is the answer.
I have just started a website with tips and hints on self-catering, that will feature links to self-catering establishments I have inspected and can happily recommend. Visit: www.selfcateringsrilanka.com


Guest of Horror
I walked out of state school in England on my 16[SUP]th[/SUP] birthday, keen to get on with life, so I was surprised to be asked as Guest of Honour for the Annual Prize Giving and Graduation Day of The British School in Colombo.
This was begun by Mrs Elizabeth Moir, a British educationalist awarded the MBE in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to education in Sri Lanka. When she left, the school eventually ran into financial difficulties until it was rescued in 2005 by a group of parents, led by Mr M U Maniku, chairman of the major hotel group in the Maldives, whose daughter was a student.




It has now become the foremost private international school in Sri Lanka with some 1,200 students in newly built premises, run by a dynamic international team of teachers under Principal Dr John Scarth. Mr M U Maniku is the Chairman and Mr W P Hettiaratchi the Managing Director.
Surely they took a risk in inviting me, a school drop out and septuagenarian beat poet, to address the students and graduates? But I have form. When I was 18 I was invited to lead the opposition to the motion debated by the Cambridge University Union “That this house refuses to be sent.” My side won.
I prepared a speech and plucked up courage, only to find to my horror when I got to the British School on 27 June 2014, that it wasn’t just a matter of giving a speech, but I was expected to leap on and off the stage several times and shake the hands of scores of prize-winning students.


I began my speech by suggesting I’d been asked as the Principal wanted someone young and fit for the job. That unexpected comment and subsequent laughter helped us all relax. The high point turned out to be when I spouted a few lines from one of my rocketry beat poems, Gone Man Squared. There was more applause than I ever got as teenage rock and roll poet. Those students are bright!


Obligatory cat
I read somewhere that the best e-mail newsletters (the polite word for “blog”) should include an occasional photograph of the writer’s cute cat. It’s almost oblogatory. So here we go: Lena playing in a shopping basket bought in Jaffna.




Instant Kottu
Kottu Roti is a popular Sri Lankan snack, produced in wayside cafés by a cook first roasting a flattened ball of rice flour on a pan and then chopping it up with added ingredients like vegetables, meat or chicken, and sometimes an egg. The noise of the chopping on metal is enough to set the saliva flowing at the promise of a tasty, and filling, snack.




So I was amazed to find a packet of instant “Rice Kottu” on the local supermarkets shelves, manufactured in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa. One hundred per cent rice flour (bran partially removed), vegan, dairy free, soy free, egg free, nut free, wheat free, yeast free and gluten free and rich in fibres, no artificial colouring, flavouring or preservatives and an easily digestible food, it is the perfect “pasta” for those with food allergies.




It needs to be soaked in boiling water and can then be mixed and served with anything savoury; some dashes of sesame oil add extra intrigue to the taste. Although there is no chopping chorus, it replicates the substantial texture of authentic kottu, without the thin flavour of rice-flour noodles. The 400g packet (enough for a week of wholesome meals) costs Rs145 [£ 0.65p; US $1.11]. (www.risofood.com)




Books Now Available


I have just received from my US publisher, a few copies of Sweet Ebony and Rush at the End so if any reader in Sri Lanka would like a copy, please email me at royston@roystonellis.com for details. All my books, including Gone Man Squared mentioned above can be ordered through www.amazon.com andhttp://www.amazon.co.uk


Beat regards
Royston

Wünsche allen noch einen Schönen Restsonntag

Premasiri

 

[Claudia]

Das ist ja lustig

"Instant Rice Kottu"

Sri Lankans Schnellküche ?

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON REPORTS


Tropical Topics, Number 212, Sunday 13 July 2014.


This week’s newsletter looks at topics traditional as well as tropical.


The Whight Enterprise


James & Gabrielle Whight are catering pioneers from Australia who settled in Sri Lanka and created Colombo’s most reliable and popular pub, the Cricket Club Café. They also turned the Hellbodde estate mansion off the road between Kandy and Nuwara Eliya into the superb retro tea plantation bungalow, Lavender House. Now they have set another trend by opening Whight & Co Luxury Merchants Café on Marine Drive, Colombo’s newest fashionable place to wine and dine.


Coffee roasting room

Actually, there’s no wine at Whight & Co since it is a gloriously “period” coffee saloon created in a renovated house with original art deco windows. In a glass cage by the entrance is a coffee roaster with the company’s brand name: RUBY HARVEST. If the décor seems a bit stark (white columns, brown floors & furniture), the walls feature prints of coffee planting days and, behind the counter, a mural of the traditional stages of making coffee.


Coffee beans from reclaimed plants.

There are two floors; we sat upstairs at a long table with a view of the ocean and drooled over a real breakfast menu with Nett prices (ie: taxes & service charge included) including Eggs Benedict at Rs550 [£ 2.50; US$ 4.29]; Croque Monsieur (Rs500) but opted for Pavlova with chocolate cream, banana and passion fruit (Rs450). Other intriguing dishes include Chicken Pita Wrap, Rocket, Peanut Sauce, Sesame, Carrot, Spring Onion, Cucumber, Coriander, Mint & Fries at Rs700 [£ 3.18; $5.46] or Chickpea Masala & Spinach Puree with Onion Raita (Rs650)


Pavlova & cappuccino for breakfast

Our cappuccino (Rs300) and double espresso (Rs380)] were so good, I bought a bag of the company’s Harvest Blend 100% Arabica Coffee, High Grown Estate Blend from Sri Lanka’s Maturata Valley (250g for Rs1,280 [£ 5.81; $ 10]) to try at home. Coffee was Ceylon’s main crop until it succumbed to blight and was overtaken by swathes of tea plantations. The Whight brand comes from abandoned coffee plantations reclaimed from the jungle under the direction of James Whight (his signature appears on the package) and offers “a well balanced medium bodied cup with rich, smooth flavours.” It certainly brightens up the mornings!


Morning coffee with sea view

Kurakkan Roti


Ever a sucker for something different from the local supermarket shelf, I bought a packet of kurakkan flour the other day. Of course, Sri Lankan cooks know all about this highly nutritious flour made from Eleusine coracana, otherwise known as African finger millet or red millet. It’s a Sri Lankan culinary tradition.


Mixing kurakkan flour & water

The label on the 400g packet said: “Pure high quality 100% Kurakkan flour processed using modern machinery to retain natural nutrition colour and taste packed hygienically for longer shelf life.” It is recommended for “String hoppers, Pittu, Rotti [sic], Helepa & Thakapa.” It cost Rs135 [£0.61p; $ 1.05] and has a shelf life of eight months.


Roasting the kurakkan roti

For breakfast the next day, we made roti, like the damper made by camping boy scouts. To half the packet of kurakkan flour we added enough lightly salted hot water, chopped onions, green chilli and grated coconut to mix and bind the flour into a stiffish dough. We rolled this into balls and then flattened and patted it into round pancakes about four inches in diameter. We put the pancakes onto a hot grilling pan without oil and cooked them for about two minutes each side.


Kurakkan roti & cuttle fish curry

I tried some dipped in cuttlefish curry but they are probably better with a less delicately flavoured curry, like beef. Next I had one spread with butter. It was a crunchily exciting (and gluten free!) alternative to toast.



Jesting




Due to bad copywriting or proof reading this advertisement sounds more intriguing than intended. 10 minuets or “stately ballroom dances in triple time” drive from Biyagama conjures up a delightful image, and the idea of a swimming “fool” (jester?) adds to the medieval tone inadvertently conveyed by the text.

Hole in the Wall


Regular readers will know my penchant for traditional taverns used by ordinary Sri Lankans. I love them, not because the prices are designed for the low budget drinker, but because they have the roistering ambience surely reminiscent of the fun days of yore. While high flyers and the fashionable sip their cocktails in hotels’ rooftop lounges, I dive down to the cellars.
Old Colombo hands will remember Spotted Deer in the basement of the Ceylinco Building that disappeared after a bombing. Alas, the Castle Hotel bar in its iconic Edwardian building in Slave Island has also gone, having succumbed to the wrecking ball, heralding the sprouting of modern blocks of apartments and offices in its place. Incredibly, there is still one “hole in the wall” tavern remaining in the gentrified street opposite the gleaming World Trade Centre Twin Towers.


Ratnagiri Restaurant & Bar

I probably first went in there over 30 years ago and felt no desire to return. Now I drop in whenever I am in Colombo as an antidote to the soulless extravagance of contemporary watering holes. The Ratnagiri Restaurant & Bar is even more gloomy and dilapidated than ever (careful of manhole covers sunk in the floor like booby traps for drunkards) but retains the reality of low-cost local booze (usually served by the bottle) and richly spiced, affordable local food such as pork rice & curry at Rs170 [0.77p; $ 1.32].


10. Lunch counter at Ratnagiri

On Canal Road (which leads to the ancient Dutch Hospital modern restaurant mall) and opposite the Hilton, the bar was opened 80 years ago. To go inside is like peering back in time, and to feel thoroughly disreputable drinking with all those office workers at high noon. The original owner’s photo hangs forlornly above an arch. I wonder how long the bar will resist the rampant progress of Colombo’s rejuvenation?


Ratnagiri staff beneath founder’s photo
In Depth


Essential reading

There’s a lot more about little known Sri Lanka in depth in my Bradt Guide to Sri Lanka, while fiction lovers can discover my take on the past in my novels, Sweet Ebony (Kenya)and Rush At The End (Swinging London) available by mail or kindle through www.amazon.co.uk.
Beat regards
Royston

wünsche allen eine super Woche

Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON REPORTS


Tropical Topics, Number 213, Sunday 20 July 2014.


River cruising and beautiful railway stations are some of this week’s topics.


Houseboat in Sri Lanka


The waterways of Kerala and Kashmir have houseboats so, thought Hiran Cooray at the innovative Jetwing group of hotels, why not have houseboats in Sri Lanka too, where there are hundreds of rivers, including 16 that are more than 100km long?


View from the afterdeck

The Bentota River, however, which is where Sri Lanka’s first houseboat is moored at Dedduwa, 4km inland from Bentota’s beach, is not one of them. In fact the houseboat barely cruises anywhere and, anyway, always moors at its Dedduwa base at night.


Yathra by Jetwing moored at Dedduwa

Called Yathra, at first sight it looks, at 23m long and 7m wide, like a squat intrusion on the river. But its fibre glass body (built in Sri Lanka) is clad in teak timber, its railings are varnished bamboo, its wooden roof is thatched with palm fronds, its decks are of worn teak and its wall panels processed screwpine.

All's shipshape in the cabin

The interior belies the exterior; it is exquisite, a landlubber’s fantasy of what a modern houseboat should be. Yathra has two identical compact but not cramped cabins with AC, a narrow balcony and a bathroom with both rain shower and mini bath tub. Furniture is of wood bound in canvas.


A tub in the "head"
A mariner's chest of drawers

There is a sundeck above the cabins; a dining deck & galley aft; crew quarters are below deck. Captain Koralage, retired after 22 years in the Sri Lanka Navy, stands proudly at the helm, and is a charmer. Yathra by Jetwing seems fun for an exclusive waterborne sojourn, even if it doesn’t go far. (www.jetwinghotels.com)


Captain Koragale at the helm

Beautiful Station Award


When I travelled a lot by train in Sri Lanka in the early 1990s (researching for my book Sri Lanka By Rail as well as exploring the country) I noted how pretty were some of the stations. Not only clean and well cared for, but also with aquariums full of fish and gardens bright with flowers.
In the book I drew attention to the Kudawewa station on the Puttalam Line which was wreathed in colourful bougainvillaea, and to Senarathgama station festooned with “temple trees” (frangipani) on the Northern Line. At Mirigama on the Main Line, the station master kept rabbits in a cage at the foot of a venerable shade tree.


Stationary blooms

To my delight I have discovered another beautiful station: Kamburugamuwa, the last stop (at 153km from Colombo) on the coastal line before Matara. Not only are there lots of flowers in pots, there is also a well-tended hedge, an orchard of papaya trees and an allotment of cassava (manioc) plants.


Fruit, flowers, veggies & hedges

Any nominations from recent rail travellers in Sri Lanka for a Beautiful Station Award?

Organic Oil


There are about 50 coconut trees in my garden and every few weeks along comes a nimble man who shins up the tall trunks with incredible dexterity and chucks down the ripe coconuts. These are then collected by a middle man and sold up the market chain to consumers. Grated coconut is an essential ingredient in Sri Lankan cooking and the village family that provides our local meals, uses a lot of nuts.


Letting the sun make copra

After the last coconut plucking, we retained some of the coconuts for our own use. Kumara deftly peeled them by jabbing the fibre husks on an upturned spike. The hard-shelled coconut that was thus revealed was cracked open, broken into half and set out in the sun to dry. As the flesh dried it was prized from the shells and laboriously chopped into slices. The slices were then dried for a few more days in the sun.


Slicing the sun dried flesh

The next I knew about the process was when Kumara came from the village grinding mill with three bottles of cloudy oil that our coconuts had yielded. Since we never fertilise the trees, this is true organic coconut oil. It smells delicious, like a hot cake fresh from the oven. We’re planning to use it for cooking, and even as a hair oil.


Pure home made organic coconut oil

Pavlova palaver


In the last newsletter, I enthused about a Pavlova I enjoyed with a rousing espresso at the Whight & Co coffee establishment in Colombo. Last week I encountered an even better Pavlova in the deep south, at Lantern, a boutique hotel on the beach between Mirissa and Matara.


Prima-donna Pavlova

This Pavolva took me by surprise. Home made in the hotel’s open-sided kitchen, the meringue was the size of four crumpets, deliciously crisp and perfectly formed. It was stuffed with cream and presented in a sea of fresh fruit (papaya, mangoes, apple) smothered in butterscotch sauce and topped with vanilla ice cream. I confess I liked it so much I had it again for lunch the next day. (It was priced at US $ 4.00 [Rs512; £ 2.32])
More on Lantern in a subsequent issue.



Books by post
Latest books

I have a few copies of my Kicks Books paperbacks including the Kenya epic Sweet Ebony and the Swinging London novel Rush At The End available for readers in Sri Lanka at Rs1,750 each, registered postage free. Send an email to royston@roystonellis.com. If you’re in Europe or the USA, all my books can be found by searching for Royston Ellis on amazon.co.uk or amazon.com.


Beat regards
Royston



Bei Premasiri hat sich irgendein Käfer eingenistet...wünsche allen einen schönen Sonntag

 

[Biggi]

Erstmal gute Besserung liebe Premasiri und alles Gute aus der Ferne!

Prima-donna Pavlova

Haben will. Jetzt und sofort

Das Hausboot ist ja echt mal eine tolle Idee. Preise sind leider keine zu finden oder ich hab sie übersehen, aber einen Tag auf dem River rumschippern, Übernachtung in so einer tollen Kabine..., das könnt ich mir schon vorstellen.

 

[Premasiri]

Vielen Dank Biggi....es kommt langsam wieder...einfach noch kein Hunger...

das hätte ich auch sehr gerne....nur zur Zeit gar nicht....

Das mit dem Hausboot würde mir auch gefallen...

LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

ree wildlife treat


ROYSTON REPORTS


Tropical Topics, Number 214, Sunday 27 July 2014.


A free download for readers this week about Sri Lanka’s wildlife.


Wild about wild life.


“Sri Lanka is the best all round wildlife destination in the world for wildlife tourism,” states Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne, a fellow Bradt guidebook author. Gehan has a vast range of experience and knowledge of Sri Lanka’s wildlife and the country’s eco-tourism industry. His dedication to making Sri Lanka better appreciated for its wildlife has resulted in him producing a fascinating booklet packed with thrilling photographs and enthusiastic text, called Why Sri Lanka Is Super Rich for Wild Life.


Purple-faced Leaf Monkeys, an endemic species, frolic in my garden

He writes: “Sri Lanka has an unexpectedly high number of species per unit area. Furthermore, it has large land mammals which is unusual for a moderately sized island. It also best in the world for viewing Blue Whales and super-pods of Sperm Whales. No other country has this all-round super-richness.
“I have to add that although it is arguably the best all-round country for multi-faceted wildlife viewing with ease, it comes with a caveat. Sri Lanka does need improvement in terms of better interpretation and better facilities for visitors at parks and reserves and more responsible guiding.”
Just click on this link, when you’re connected to the internet, to download his booklet. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz4XlKj1H3eVdm42Y1JiS3k4ZmM/edit?usp=sharing

Persian Cuisine


Colombo is becoming a remarkable place to dine. Not long ago, there were very few international restaurants. Those purporting to serve Chinese food dished up Sri Lankan ingredients soaked in Oyster Sauce and the best places to eat were the five-star hotels and their fine dining restaurants or the Oberoi’s steakhouse, The London Grill (which is still going strong although the hotel’s renamed Cinnamon Grand).
Now all kinds of cuisine from fast food to slow cooking, from fusion to Persian, are giving hotel “fine dining” restaurants serious competition. If you want to find out the full story of each restaurant, there is a wonderful website that’s not just a load of hype, at www.yamu.lk. The site has spawned a free restaurant review magazine, available from www.yamu.lk/subscribe.


For a fixed price Persian dinner

I was lucky enough to be invited to dinner recently at one of the new, different restaurants, Shiraz (48 Stafford Avenue,Colombo; tel: 011 2055483; open Tuesday-Sunday 1930-23.30; reservation essential). It’s above a coffee shop (and that’s where you go if you want to smoke) and the knickknack décor store Gandhara: a large wooden-floored loft decorated with Persian art. It has a fixed price menu (Rs1,500 [£ 6.81; US $11.54]) which Zohre, the hostess, briefs guests about before the performance begins.


Darkly succulent meat

It is a performance because just when you think it’s enough, the main course is announced. Soup (it was zesty, citrusy Persian barley) titillated the appetite and was followed by pita bread and a trio of yoghurt-based dips. Then Pouyan, the host/chef, appeared brandishing swords on which were spiked darkly succulent BBQd chicken thighs, and melting-in-the-mouth lamb kebabs.
A trip to the salad bar was encouraged before a raid on the buffet counter with its two types of rice and three kinds of fragrant Persian stew (veggies, chicken & spinach, beef & okra when I was there.)Guests can bring their own wine; no corkage.

Infinity pool


The Closenberg Hotel, just outside Galle, is one of those delightful anachronisms catering for tourists in Sri Lanka, a welcome contrast to new or remodelled charmless package hotels. Originally Closenberg was built in 1858 on the site of a Dutch Fort that guarded the bay as the home for Captain Bayley, the British agent for P & O Lines (the major passenger shipping line of the times).
It is located on a bluff with panoramic views of Galle harbour and the ocean that stretches to the Antarctic. With the original four ornate colonial style rooms as its centre, surrounded by verandas for wining and dining, its main rooms are in an annex built on the other side of the cliff, looking away from Galle. It has flourished in its own peculiar way and is now run by the dapper son of the scion of the distinguished Sri Lankan family who acquired it in the 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century. Guests, even today, are tended by what a British hotelier described to me as “legacy staff.”


Closenberg Hotel with suspended pool (left) and rooms

That means the service is by charming and wise retainers who work at their own pace with a dash of eccentricity, helping to create the character of the hotel. Recently a modern innovation, an infinity swimming pool flanked by the Luna Terrace with bar and snack outlet, has been added as a wonderful retreat for lazing the day away, or sipping sundowners and moon-glow cocktails.


Closenberg Hotel's infinity pool

Closenberg has become a hotel where guests can savour the essence of traditional hospitality, brought up to date with some jolly theme evenings and crazy moments. (http://www.closenburghotel.com/)


Brits Abroad


In my role as British Consular Warden for the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, I have received a link to British Behaviour Abroad report 2014.
This shows that the top three countries where Britons required assistance during 2013 were Philippines, Thailand and Jamaica. Sri Lanka doesn’t even appear in the Top Twenty. No figure is given for the number of British residents in Sri Lanka (there are reputed to be 50,000 in Thailand).


Brit abroad
The report ends with this oddly worded advice (from Nanny?): “We would encourage people to take the same precautions they would at home to avoid putting themselves at risk – for example keeping an eye on their friends (my italics); never accepting car rides from strangers, and asking their hotel to recommend a taxi firm; and never leaving food or drinks unattended, so they can’t be spiked.”


Beatles Tweet


Someone has sent me a recent tweet about the Beatles and me:
“Then the #Beatles broke up and hitchhiked to Hatch End to hang with beat poet @roystonellis. Tune in to bbc.in/TT1qwW @BBCRadMac”


John Lennon & Royston Ellis, 1963

For details of all my books, go to:


http://www.roystonellis.com/publishedworks.php


Take care!
Royston

wünsche allen dasselbe LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

Quail Egg Glut

ROYSTON’S REPORT

Tropical Topics Number 215, Sunday 3 August 2014.

How to peel a quail egg, and a fun boutique hotel, among this week’s topics. Quail Egg Curry

We recently acquired a dozen quails and, to my delight, they have settled in happily and begun to lay. Regular readers will recall my predilection for quail eggs, especially when I discovered that: “Quail eggs strengthen the immune system, promote memory health, increase brain activity and stabilise the nervous system. They help with anaemia by increasing the level of haemoglobin in the body while removing toxins and heavy metals. In men, quail eggs provide the prostate gland with phosphorus, proteins, and vitamins that can be a powerful stimulant for sexual potency.”

Contented quails
​

Quail eggs are usually eaten boiled and that’s when you discover a special technique is needed to peel them properly. Once hardboiled and cooled, the egg should be crushed delicately so its shell crumbles. Then pinch the broad end and pull at the shell so you catch the membrane as well. This enables you to peel off the shell deftly in one or two pieces.Faced with a plethora of quail eggs at home, since sometimes the birds deliver six eggs a day, I wondered how else to eat them other than boiled and halved with a little anchovy or caviar as a sundowner canapé. Geoffrey Dobbs, the doyen of boutique hotels in Sri Lanka, suggested curried quail eggs, so that’s what I had for breakfast recently (with string hoppers garnished with coriander leaf preceded by papaya and washed down with cucumber juice).

Curried quail eggs
​

Shining Lantern.

I promised more news on The Lantern, where I enjoyed a delectable Pavlova last month. I am always happy to discover a hotel that, even though it claims to be “boutique,” has none of the pretension (nor hyped up room rates) often associated with that category of property. So welcome to The Lantern, a hotel that has boutique in its DNA, without being extravagant in its ambience. On the beach at Kamburugamuwa beside the A2 highway between Mirissa and Matara, it combines boutique exclusivity (only four rooms and two suites) with the relaxed atmosphere of a beach hotel.Its architecture is post-tsunami, which means it is built on pillars with sides open to the beach and to the road so, were the waves to roar inland again, they would flow right through the hotel. The guest rooms are upstairs, entered from a landing on the road side, with broad balconies overlooking the beach.

Lantern bedroom is spacious
​

The design of the rooms is refreshingly spacious and high roofed but with a small cubicle with rain shower and toilet, accessed from a large bathroom with louvered shutters that can be opened up to the rest of the bedroom.Touches of boutique eccentricity are evident. For instance, there are no cupboards or drawers, only spaces for hanging clothes and broad shelves for piling everything up within sight. The safe is locked with a key not a code, and soap is liquid in a dispenser, not a nasty tiny bar wrapped in paper. Tea, coffee and milk are in airtight jars, not paper sachets, and there is a glass beaker with a plunger (a “French Press”) for making coffee.

Funky chairs & jolly kitchen
​

The dining room has chrome framed tables topped with imported teak slabs and one long table with a mixture of colourful kitchen chairs. Unusual is its completely open kitchen where guests can watch their meal being prepared. A treat is being able to pick vegetables or herbs growing in the hotel’s own organic garden and have them cooked on demand.With plans to expand, if the hotel retains its formula of bright accommodation, attentive service, uncluttered décor and superb food and wine, The Lantern will be a boutique hotel outshining more formidable properties. It’s open to non-residents to dine too. (Lantern, Kamburugamuwa Beach, Mirissa; [url]www.thelanterngroup.co[/URL]; rates from US$200, double, b& b.)

Tea Time Again

Many local brand name tea producers have set up shops in Colombo where you can enjoy their teas as well as purchase loose leaf tea in nifty packaging or 500g bags. The Mlesna tea kiosk in Liberty Plaza is where I usually source premium quality, high grown, single estate OP long leaf tea to brew my morning kick, without milk or sugar.

Ceylon Tea Moments interior
​

Now the Sri Lanka Tea Board has joined the tea set and opened a modern tea house in the old, and gloriously restored, Colombo Race Course grandstand in the city’s prestigious Cinnamon Gardens district. It’s called Ceylon Tea Moments and features an enticing selection of Sri Lanka’s tea brands, as well as tea cocktails.

Shaking a tea cocktail
​

The cocktails don’t have alcohol so the Long Island Iced Tea is an authentic all-tea drink composed of Dambulla Tea, Earl Grey Tea, Blackcurrent Tea plus ginger and fresh lime juice. The Tea Maestro shook it vigorously in a standard cocktail shaker, grinning all the time. I bet who ever dreamed up these tea cocktails (try the one with tea, bee honey and Tabasco & Worcester sauces) had a lot of fun creating them.Prices are to a T; my cocktail cost Rs300 plus the usual 27% service charge and taxes. Ceylon Tea Moments, which also serves locally-inspired snacks, is open daily from 7am until 11pm

Back numbers.

You can read all 214 back issues of this newsletter by clicking on www.roystonellis.com/blog. There’s a search box in which to enter the topic you’re interested in, such as Beatles, to see what I have written about that topic during the past four years. Books on line

You can also check http://www.roystonellis.com/publishedworks.php to see a list of over 60 books I have had published, many of which are available direct from http://www.amazon.com or http://www.amazon.co.uk, by typing Royston Ellis in the search box.

Latest books
​

Beat regardsRoyston

wünsche allen eine schöne erste Woche im August

Premasiri

 

[Biggi]

The cocktails don’t have alcohol so the Long Island Iced Tea is an authentic all-tea drink composed of Dambulla Tea, Earl Grey Tea, Blackcurrent Tea plus ginger and fresh lime juice.

Darauf hätt ich jetzt gerade richtig Lust. Wird Zeit, dass wir mal wieder fliegen.

Liebe Grüsse, Biggi

 

[Premasiri]

Rabbits on impulse


ROYSTON REPORTS


Tropical Topics, Number 216, Sunday 10 August 2014.


Welcome to readers to this week’s report on eggs, rabbits and a great new swimming pool.


Rabbit Pie?
Driving home through Dharga Town the other day after leaving the Southern Expressway from Colombo, I espied cages crammed with live, but scrawny, chickens and, behind them, a cage with a couple of rabbits. I suspect they were for sale for the cooking pot but, on an impulse, I stopped and bought the two little bunnies.
The original cost was Rs1,400 [£ 6.36; $ 10.76] for the pair. When I got home, however, I realised they couldn’t live long in the cardboard box in which they travelled so the next day, the boys built a cage. Then day they added a little room in the cage for the rabbits to have some privacy, and a ladder to the garden. Costs were mounting, and I hadn’t even bought them food.


Rabbits settling in

I consulted Google on what to feed the rabbits and pellets were advised but, of course, we don’t have a pet shop near here that sells rabbit pellets. The source provided a long list of green leaves which, alas, my rabbits can’t read so they don’t know they are supposed to like spinach. Luckily, their favourite food is something not on the list, known as kankun in Sri Lanka (Ipomoea aquatica) which is sometimes called water spinach. Since this grows wild in our garden and by the roadside, that’s ok. They have also developed a taste for coriander leaves, which might add to their flavour…


Egged On
I notice that my local supermarket is selling sexy eggs. A picture on the label of the box I bought declares: “I am not an Ordinary Egg! Free of hormones, of antibiotic growth promotion, of slaughterhouse by products.” Proclaiming it’s “1[SUP]st[/SUP] time in Sri Lanka, rich fresh eggs” this patented product is headlined “OMEGA 3 + DHA.” The box of 10 eggs cost Rs235 [£ 1.06; US $1.80].


Eggstacy

Moreover, I learn this from the label: “Nattrition [sic] information: Omega 3 fatty acids 200-300/100g per egg and DHA is 130/230mg/100 per egg.” The producing company (50,000 eggs a day) has an interesting website (www.arogyafarm.lk) where it claims all sorts of benefits are derived from Omega 3 + DHA, including “developing intelligence, reducing risk of heart attacks and maintaining youthfulness.”
Eggstraordinary!


Another swimming pool
Following on last week’s report about the new infinity pool at Closenberg Hotel, I was invited to the opening of the new swimming pool at Susantha Garden Hotel in Bentota. Susantha’s – as it is popularly known – began life as a guest house behind Bentota railway station over 30 years ago.


Cheers

During three decades it has been transformed by its dynamic owner, Athula, into a beautiful garden hotel catering for all budgets, with smart guest rooms and self-catering apartments as well as the best-value restaurant in Bentota. The large swimming pool, with swim up bar, has been set in the garden, with all the venerable trees, vegetation and lushness retained.


Susantha Garden Hotel new pool with swim up bar

It’s perfect for relaxation as guests can walk straight from their garden rooms to the pool and even have meals served poolside, as well as drinks while swimming. (The man behind the bar in this photo is not Tom Daley but an eager guest.)


Travelling Light
I have a luggage phobia. I detest cases on wheels because the drivers of those mobile bags exhibit scant consideration for others. I have learned to avoid, too, travellers stumbling along with huge rucksacks (as we boy scouts of the 1950s call them) which they blithely swing into one’s face when on trains.
I feel sorry for those travellers who have yet to learn how to travel light. The best piece of luggage is actually a credit card so you can buy what you want when you get where you want, instead of carrying it there (and give it all away before you return home).


Thief-proof backpack

However, I am intrigued by this new product (and this isn’t a sponsored recommendation), called the SMASHii backpack. It has been designed to deter theft as well as being practical. It cannot be cut open by potential thieves thanks to it being made of the same material used in anti-stab vests. There is also a zip protection system which means no one can gain access to belongings inside it. A retractable combination lock system allows travellers to attach the backpack securely to a fixed object such as a bed.
Who knows, with such comfort and safety in luggage, I may yet become a backpacker?


Newsletter Quick Link
My apologies to readers for the late circulation of last week’s newsletter – it’s beyond my control as it is in the hands of Andrew, my busy web wizard, who has to wave his magic wand to launch each week’s edition. However, if ever the newsletter doesn’t reach you, please go to http://www.roystonellis.com/blog every Sunday to view the latest edition.

Social Media
Although I’m told it is a wonderful way to promote one’s books, I have never cottoned on to “Social Media.” It seems tiresome and rather anti-social if one must forever be tweeting and facing and pining, or whatever, instead of greeting people by letter- (ok, email-) writing. Recently, though, I’ve been tweeted about again, hence this:

Wondered what links #SriLanka with The #Beatles?Ans is guy who put Beat into name+now lives on Island A:@roystonellis roystonellis.com

You can read about that in my book The Big Beat Scene available from http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html
A despatch from the Swinging Sixties. jpg

Beat regards
Royston Ellis

Trotz allem Leid das einige letzte Woche erlebten wünsche ich allen Zuversicht für die Zukunft

Premasiri

 

[Biggi]

I suspect they were for sale for the cooking pot but, on an impulse, I stopped and bought the two little bunnies.

Das ist einfach klasse von Royston und die kleinen landen so schnell und hoffentlich nie im Kochtopf.

L.G., Biggi

 

[Premasiri]

Restaurant strip


ROYSTON REPORTS


Tropical Topics, Number 217, Sunday 17 August 2014.


Greetings! This week’s newsletter touches on such diverse topics as turtles and a marathon.


Turtle conservation
Close to where I live on the west coast of Sri Lanka, the two old-established turtle hatcheries (at Kosgoda and South Bentota), have been joined by a third one that opened last year. I popped in there last week.



Turtle breeding beds

It consists of sand beds where turtle eggs (which the lads who run it buy from fishermen) are buried and eventually, between 47 to 70 days later according to nature’s timetable, emerge as baby turtles. These are then kept for a few days in tanks filled with water pumped from the sea until they are mature enough to be released into the sea.


Baby turtles ready for release

Since baby turtles float on the surface when they are first released they are easy prey for birds, so they are only released at dawn or dusk. It’s an event tourists like to watch. Visitors are also fascinated by the adult turtles (Olive Ridley, Loggerhead, Hawksbill & Green) kept in large tanks. Many of them were brought to the hatchery by fishermen or the Wild Life Department after they had been found injured. One such turtle lost a flipper and now survives because of the care at the Hatchery.



Turtle without right flipper lives happily at the hatchery

This enterprise, which has been approved by the government’s Wild Life Department, survives on admission fees (Rs500 [£ 2,27; US$ 3.84] per person) and donations. Okay, it’s a business (open from 07.00-19.00) but one that also helps turtle eggs to hatch (instead of them being bought by villagers and devoured for a potent breakfast, which does happen) as well as providing shelter for injured turtles.


Hatchery near Kaikawala:Gonagala junction between Galle Road and the beach

The Induruwa Sea Turtles Conservation project is at Kaikawala, Induruwa, between the 67 & 68km post, just south of the Induruwa Beach Hotel. http://www.srilankaseaturtles.com



Restaurant Strip
This same strip is suddenly becoming interesting for its restaurants. Actually the Galle Road between Aluthgama and Ambalangoda seems to be a graveyard for fast food pastry shops as so many of them have closed down, perhaps because through-traffic now takes the Southern Expressway.
Instead, real restaurants are opening up. The presumptuously named Escoffier was one of the first while next to it Silk Route was taken over for the Lion Brewery’s franchise as a branch of the Machang pub chain. When that failed, the Silk Route owner took back his re-modelled property and has just re-opened it with proper pub fare and jolly service. Everything is freshly prepared, not pre-cooked and hauled out of the deep freezer, so the speciality, black pork curry with cassava, is pungently fresh. Butter (actually batter) fried mushrooms help soak up the beer.



Butter [sic] fried mushrooms

Also just opened is the architecturally splendid (local jak timber and traditional clay kabook brickwork), Whispering Palms with an eye-catching sign on its exterior wall advertising its bar & restaurant, open to non-residents.


Whispering Palms interior (bar on the left)

Its neighbour and scheduled to open next month is an upmarket restaurant with the gimmicky name Eatalian with Italian chef and Italian restaurant manager promised, together with restaurant-made pasta.
More in subsequent newsletters when I’ve actually eaten at both places.



Run a Marathon?
Its prizes may be small for the world’s leading long-distance runners, but the pleasure of taking part in Colombo’s amazing annual marathon attracts runners from around the world. The Colombo Marathon (now an annual affair) is scheduled to take place on Sunday 5 October 2014 and over 5,000 potential competitors including more than 200 foreign participants are expected to take part.




It’s the fun of the run in Sri Lanka that attracts many competitors, while for serious athletes, because the marathon is recognised by the world marathon authority, participation is valid for their marathon cvs.
The race will start from Colombo’s Independence Square and follows a route through the suburbs and then by the Hamilton Canal to finish at the Beach Park, Negombo.


Participants enjoying the Colombo Marathon

Details of the fees payable by competitors (and entry forms) are available on the dedicated website http://www.srilankamarathon.org. Closing date for entries is 20 September 2014.

Winning writer
The winner of the 2014 Templeberg Fellowship for an Australian writer to spend a sponsored month at the Templeberg Villa in Galle was announced last week. She is Lucy Nelson whose 3,000-word sample of her writing had an enticing hint of calamity as well as a plot centred around the Sri Lankan belief in horoscopes.
When I began my career as an author more than 50 years ago, it was possible to pitch an idea for a book to a publisher and receive an advance on royalties to go away and write it. That doesn’t happen to beginners now so I was thrilled that the annual Templeberg Fellowship has been established to give an aspiring writer time, space and support to develop an idea.


Inspiring writer's cottage, Templeberg Villa

Because of that I was delighted to be asked to be Chief Judge for the second time. While the entrants on the shortlist were all of high standard, I was looking for a writer who could benefit from time in Sri Lanka, and not just from a month’s freedom to write. I also looked for originality and passion, not formula writing.
I am confident that in the winner of this year’s Templeberg Fellowship, we judges have identified a writer capable of producing an enjoyable, publishable novel. I’m looking forward to reading it. (http://www.templebergvilla.com)



Latest e-book.
My own latest novel has just been released by my US publishers, Kicks Books, as a Kindle e-book available on http://www.amazon.com
http://www.amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.ca http://www.amazon.in and http://www.amazon.au. It’s a swashbuckling tale set in 16[SUP]th[/SUP] century Maldives called The Maldives Avenger. The paperback version is coming next month.


Now available on amazon

Newsletter Quick Link
If ever this newsletter doesn’t reach you on time, please go to http://www.roystonellis.com/blog every Sunday to view the latest edition.
Happy reading!
Royston Ellis

Wünsche allen usern eine gute Zeit
LG Premasiri

 

[Premasiri]

ROYSTON REPORTS


Tropical Topics, Number 218, Sunday 24 August 2014.


Welcome to this week’s newsletter with views on food, self-catering and Cliff Richard.


Pickled
My newest Made-In-Sri Lanka discovery at Nebula, the independent supermarket in Aluthgama, is Pickled Gherkins. Many years ago I saw gherkins being harvested in Sri Lanka (alas, I can’t remember where) and rued the fact that they were all going for export, none for local consumption.
Since then, local manufacturers have produced bottled gherkins but not always successfully since sometimes they are over-cooked and soft and salty. The new brand I found, called Krunchy King Sweet Pickle, addresses that problem by stating on its label that “Krunchy King whole Sweet Pickles are sweet and crunchy. Enjoy alongside your burgers and sandwiches for a savoury taste and a little extra crunch.”




I’m not convinced that “sweet” and “savoury” can be used to describe the same taste experience but these gherkins do complement a snack of local cheese. The label claims “Pickles have zero fat” and intimates that, by manufacturing them, the Hayleys Group company, Sunfrost, is “empowering Sri Lankan fruit farmers.”
The 550g jar of 10 plump gherkins cost Rs 450 [£ 2.04; US$ 3.51]


Rare Chicken
Instead of hen or quail eggs, this week I’m fazed by chicken. I have often been served chicken curry in hotels in Sri Lanka that seemed to me to be woefully undercooked, with the meat pink and bloody. I usually decline to eat it as I believe that chicken requires considerable cooking so one avoids the risk of salmonella and other diseases from ill-cooked flesh.
However, it seems I’m wrong, at least according to a Sri Lankan website (www.yamu.lk) for foodies where a restaurant reviewer states: “the Chicken itself was seasoned near perfectly with a mix of spices and cooked beautifully to the point where the meat was moist and falling off the bone. It’s a shame we Sri Lankans have become so used to eating overcooked chicken, because this is how it should be done.”

Rare bird. (Photo courtesy yamu.lk)
​

Really? Chicken this rare?


Self-catering
I hear that the hill country boutique guesthouse, near Ella, The Planter’s Bungalow, has added two self-catering garden apartments by its new swimming pool.

Self-catering lounge
​

The British owners of the Bungalow say the apartments are extremely well appointed and set up, allowing guests to look after themselves. One apartment is named Tamarind and the other is appropriately called Tree Tops. Both have boutique style kitchens and are smartly furnished. For more details go to my website: http://www.self-cateringsrilanka.com

Boutique self-catering kitchen at the Planters Bungalow, Ella.
​

Novel performance
A little bird tells me that the Friends of Sri Lanka Association in the UK have arranged ‘A Theatrical Performance Reading with Ashok Ferrey’
Ashok Ferrey is the Colombo based writer whose short stories and novels Colpetty People, The Good Little Ceylonese Girl, and Serendipity give a fascinating insight into the quirks of Sri Lankan life. He will give a performance reading from his latest published novel The Professional.

Ferry good books
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So if you’re in London on Thursday 18th September 2014, you’re in for a treat by going to Park Plaza Hotel Victoria, Wilton Road SW1 1EQ at 6.15pm. Admission, including Sri Lankan short eats & refreshments, is £18. (By cheque in advance payable to Friends of Sri Lanka Association and posted to Annette Van Maurik, 60 Bronsart Road, London SW6 6AA).
Ashok is an amusing raconteur as well as a provocative writer so I am sure it will be an amazing evening and a delightful way of discovering another side of Sri Lanka.



Wing span
An advertisement in Sri Lanka for cabin crew for Emirates Airlines states: “Applicants must be over 21 years old with a minimum arm reach of 212cm.” The airline seems to be looking for some tough, tall trolley dollies as that’s equivalent to 83.46 inches, almost as much as boxer Sonny Liston’s arm reach which was famously 84 inches. But I suppose they need long arms to reach passengers in the distant window or centre seats.



Best Station Award
In a recent newsletter I mentioned the enchanting railway station I used by chance when I took a train to the south: Kamburugamuwa Station, notable for its flowers, hedgerows, vegetables and general tidiness.
A reader has drawn my attention to this link
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1459867987598349.1073742174.1374514939466988&type=1
where it appears people are being invited to vote for their favourite railway station out of a short list of 32 nominated stations. Unfortunately, Kamburugamuwa isn’t one of them but many of the nominees sound worth visiting, if only to encourage station masters to keep up their efforts to beautify their stations.




Cliffhanger
I am proud to be a friend of Cliff Richard for 55 years and it’s pure coincidence that, with his name in the news recently, my book about him is being published later this year by Tomahawk Press (http://tomahawkpress.com/cliff-richard-and-the-shadows-a-rock-roll-memoir/). So watch for this cliffhanger coming to a bookshop near you.

Coming soon
​

In the meantime there’s a video with a contribution from me, called The Real Cliff Richard onhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcYd_pE7d4c and a lot more about the dawn of the Swinging Sixties and the inside story about such British pop heroes as Marty Wilde, Jess Conrad, Billy Fury, Lonnie Donegan, Wee Willie Harris, Adam Faith, Tommy Steele, as well as Cliff, in my book The Big Beat Scene(available from: http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html

Exposed
​

Beat regards
Royston Ellis.

auch rockige Grüsse an alle User

Premasiri