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uits waiting for us in the middle of the entrance porch the pride of the buffet was freshly opened durians we feasted on durian and mangosteen just after shrimps and crabs what a combination that evening was my second time to regret in sri lanka durian and mangosteen are considered as heaty fruits but i learned that thais consider durian as heaty and mangosteen as cool therefore they should be eaten together in order to get a perfect balance source internet in sri lanka durian trees are very tall and you have to wait until ripe fruits fall down i guess they belong to an indigenous variety in thailand they grow hybrid durian varieties they are just about 4 5m tall and branches are full of fruits in sri lanka people usually buy durian fruits that are just split open in thailand no one buy durian fruits like that therefore such fruits are sent for producing sweets like candy bars cream etc durian experts tap fruits using a wooden stuck and listen for the hollow sound to determine its degree of ripeness opening of such a durian fruit is a great skill this summer i learnt that there are 4 popular hybrid durian varieties grown in thailand they are chanee oblong shape with a round end green color mongthong oblong shape with a pointed end rusty green color kanyao round shape light green color kradumthong oblate shape green color chanee mongthong kanyao kradumthong read this article if you are interested in details http www dit go th agriculture durian varietie htm the mongthong variety is the most popular because the seeds are smaller and the flesh is thicker i was told that a mongthong fruit from nonthaburi province near bangkok can fetch about 150 usd durian fruits from nonthaburi are believed to be the most delicious among all one has to order in advance due to limited production if anybody dares to drink durian in liquid form here is a recipe for a delicious durian smoothie ingredients 1 cup durian flesh 1 banana 1 cup crushed ice ½ cup milk 1 tbsp condensed milk method put all ingredients into a blender and churn to the desired degree of smoothness posted by ranjith perera at 11 59 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday 30 june 2014 tea persons and coffee persons last week i was waiting for my daughter near her friend s house around 6 pm the second test match between sri lanka and england was on tv the friend s grandmother saw me listening to the commentary and invited me inside the house to watch the match i very gladly accepted her invitation then she asked are you sri lankan i answered certainly then she asked in sinhala ලංකාවෙන් ගෙනාපු කෝපි තියෙනව බොමුද ටිකක් there is some coffee brought from sri lanka would you like to have some it was within few seconds into our conversation that i accepted another invitation from her very gleefully she went inside the house and brought me a steaming cup of black coffee its aroma and taste reminded me my beloved mother my mother used to make her own coffee powder she had planted few coffee bushes in our back garden she picked coffee berries when they were ripe and then sun dried for few days before taking the shells off then she stored the dried and split berries in a jar and took batch by batch for roasting she roasted the coffee in an old frying pan heated on a firewood stove and then powdered it using a stone mortar and pestle the coarse powder was kept in an air tight glass jar it was sufficient for about a month around the time of sunset she prepared black coffee and served with pieces of juggary the taste was very unique and divine even if they come as a team gloria jeans and costa could have never beaten the taste of her coffee we sri lankans are generally tea drinkers not coffee drinkers we are famous for producing the best tea in the world and selling under the famous national brand ceylon tea we fondly say that any time is tea time in sri lanka that means coffee is a drink for only special times my mother s special time was around sunset weddings and homecoming receptions are some others special times for serving coffee in sri lanka the sri lankan version of iced coffee is usually the choice of welcome drink in such occasions when i moved to middle east i found that arabs also use coffee as a welcome drink arabic coffee is bitter and spicy tasting for me i have not got used to arabic coffee yet coffee drinking is deeply rooted as part of the culture in some other asian countries laotians are very proud of lao coffee they use coffee as a gift as we sri lankans use tea as a gift the vietnamese use coffee as an interface to socialize with friends and guests drinking coffee is part of the everyday life in vietnam probably there is no other culture in asia that use coffee for leisure gossip romance business entertainment and just simple conversation as the vietnamese do there are a large variety of coffee shops to suit different times moods and purposes the architecture and ambience of coffee shops also vary accordingly they range from chaotic street cafes to very romantic venues with cozy and intimate ambiences the vietnamese coffee belongs to the robusta family of coffees drinking the traditional vietnamese drip coffee is an experience itself it is a perfect aide for conversation while the hot brewing coffee drips drop by to the cups or glasses partly filled with condensed milk the conversation can go on and on it takes quite some time for the dripping to stop then you have to thoroughly mix the coffee with sweetened condensed milk to produce that uniquely vietnamese taste you can either enjoy it as a hot drink or pour over ice to turn it into a cold drink the blended and stylized coffees like cappuccino americano latte and mocha in upmarket coffee shops are no way comparable with that heavenly taste every time i visit vietnam i make sure that i drink at least one cup of drip coffee per day i was first introduced to its wonderful aroma and flavor by my good old friend nguyen nam son later some architect friends like hai and thong accompanied me to several coffee shops in saigon and hanoi cities those places gave me a complete sensory experience of sights sounds aromas flavors and feelings in a variety of architectural ambiances i brought with me the necessary equipment and coffee powder to emulate vietnamese drip coffee but never succeeded in doing so you have to taste a cup made by a vietnamese girl and enjoy it in a vietnamese coffee shop to experience that wonderful sensory experience when i visit ho chi minh city i really like to sit in the highland coffee shop located in the top floor of a shopping center and observe people in the little garden in front of the saigon opera house how wonderfully well the sight of classical architecture and taste of traditional coffee flavor blend together coffee drinking is becoming a lifestyle trend in some asian countries thailand got into that trend several years ago very cozy little coffee shops have sprung up in many cities and towns the amazon coffee chain is one of my favorites on the go i guess amazon coffee is a franchise now no two amazon shops are similar in architecture but all of them have a common architectural language they are mostly located in the travel service stations the transparency of the shop core and the openness of the sitting area and the landscape design of the surrounding encourage travellers to come in and relax while sipping coffee i dream of owning a place like that one day if that dream comes true i will serve the sri lankan versions of black hot coffee and iced coffee sri lankan style iced coffee ingredients 1 small can sweetened condensed milk 3 tbsp freshly roasted sri lankan coffee powder 1 5 tbsp white sugar 1 5 liter boiled water 1 tsp vanilla essence 1 tbsp brandy method pour condensed milk into a jug and pour half the quantity of boiled water into it stir it to form the milk solution put coffee powder in another jug and pour the remaining quantity of boiled water stir well and keep it covered for 2 3 minutes mix the above two solutions and add sugar vanilla and brandy and stir well strain the mixture twice using a fine cloth or a coffee filter and then refrigerate it serve without ice in cold glasses all the pictures in this post were obtained from internet i thank the unknown owners of those pictures posted by ranjith perera at 09 47 5 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday 24 may 2014 visakha bucha the v esak week of 2014 is coming to an end in sri lanka i wonder whether any other buddhist society celebrates gauthama buddha s birth enlightenment and parinirvana as we sri lankans do v esak festival http en wikipedia org wiki vesak is one of the most beautiful times in sri lanka many villages towns and cities look so beautiful in the evenings when thousands of pandols lanterns and other decorations shimmer with colorful light buddhist style carols and chants reverberate in the air the aroma of lighted coconut lamps and incense sticks fill the nostrils the scrumptious meals and herbal beverages offered by numerous dansal charity food stalls tickle the taste buds these sensations please both body and mind alike hence it is a complete sensory experience vesak pandol in colombo pic from internet vesak lantern pic from internet when i was a very small kid i remember that our eldest brother ananda used to make small pandols in front of our house for the vesak festival they were about 4 m high and imitated the much larger versions seen in colombo and other towns lighting design was done by his best friend karunarathne our cousin sister rupakka did water color paintings for the pandol to show the incidents of buddha s life once our second brother sarath even wrote few verses of viridu a uniquely sri lankan form of poetry emulating what he has heard near big pandols in colombo one of the verses i still remember goes as follows උයන තුලදි මහමායා දේවිට බඩරුජා හැදී සල් අත්තක් අල්ල ගැනීමට අත දිගු කරන ලදී vesak is a time for sri lankan people to engage in more pious activities visit many temples and revere the life of buddha we used to visit famous temples like warana attanagalle kelaniya during the day time and visit colombo and suburban towns in the evenings to admire wesak decorations visiting few dansal on the way was a sure itinerary on these excursions we miss that amazing experience after leaving sri lanka for higher studies and work we have seen vesak festivals with decorations and lights in japan south korea and thailand but they were no way comparable with sri lankan way of vesak celebration particularly in thailand where we lived over a decade we never witnessed vesak celebration in such grand scale as in sri lanka vesak festival is called visakha bucha in thailand it is celebrated on the full moon day of may as we sri lankans do but it is basically a one day festival in thailand the most important event of the day takes place after the sunset it is called vian tian ceremony vian means to circle and tian means candle vian tian is performed by walking around an image house or a chedi stupa for three times while holding a lighted candle and a white lotus flower this is done in clockwise pattern with the right side of the body turned towards the image house vihara or stupa chedi we sri lankans call this pradakshina but never do it in such an organized way as thai people do vi an tian ceremony is the grand finale of visakha bucha festival it is a sight to behold and an experience to cherish vian tian ceremony at wat yai chai mongkol in ayuthaya pics from internet when we were living in thailand we used to visit ayuthaya historical park on visakha bucha days ayuthya is the last royal capital of thailand 1351 1767 before bangkok became the national capital the ancient city of ayuthaya has been conserved by the royal thai government with the help of unesco presently it is a unesco world heritage site http whc unesco org en list 576 wat yai chai mongkol ජය මංගල මහා විහාරය was our favorite destination in the historical park any sri lankan visiting this temple will be very happy to read the information board at the entrance and learn that the central stupa has been constructed following lanka style thai people have learnt this style during the sukhothai period 1238 1438 before that stupas in thailand had influence from khmer and lanna styles perhaps the predecessors of sukhothai kingdom had religious and cultural ties with anuradhapura kingdom 377 bc 1017 and polonnaruwa kingdom 1017 1215 in sri lanka the lanka style stupas in sukhothai and ayuthya are bell shaped there are no bell shaped stupas in polonnaruwa as far as i know does that mean the inspiration for lanka style has come from none other than thuparama stupa in anuradhapura the very first stupa constructed in ancient sri lanka thuparamaya stupa 210 bc in anuradhapura sri lanka pic shows the 1862 reconstruction pic from internet wat sa si in sukhothai late 14th century pic from internet wat yai chai mongkol 1357 pic from internet according to chronicles the siamese monks from ayuthaya kingdom have helped sri lankan monks to re establish sangha order when there was a crisis during the colonial period in sri lanka that has given birth to the siam nikaya siam sect of buddhist monks based in kandy later the sri lankan monks have returned the favor when siamese monks were experiencing a crisis the new sangha order established in thailand is called lanka wong we were thrilled to learn such intrinsic details during our numerous visits to ayuthaya we also learnt that a venerable monk called upali thero was the leader of the siamese delegation that visited sri lanka to re establish sangha order he has stayed back in sri lanka and passed away in kandy his former avasa ge monk s residence in ayuthaya was conserved by the sri lankan government around 2002 we were fortunate to participate in the inauguration ceremony to my very pleasant surprise i could meet the most venerable ambanwalle pnnnasekara thero who came from sri lanka to represent the malwatta chapter of siam nikaya he was the anu nayaka of malwatta chapter at that time he was my buddhism teacher in grades 9 and 10 at ananda college in colombo he said that wherever i go in the world i always meet anandian sons needless to say that i was very proud and happy to hear such words from a former teacher this post is incomplete without some remarks about ayuthaya s cuisine in thailand almost every province has a signature dish or a product ayuthya has three signature dishes 1 ayuthaya boat noodle 2 roti sai mai a thai muslim sweet similar to cotton candy wrapped in a very thin roti 3 wing bean salad yum tua ploo the third one is my all time favorite i have tried to make this dish several times but i never could achieve the authentic taste offered by many river side restaurants in ayuthaya here is the recipe you can try wing bean salad yum tua ploo pic from internet ingredients 250 gm tender wing beans 3 twigs of...