Fun on Saturday

Cousin V called me in the morning to let me know that she will be hosting this month's rosary prayer gathering on Tuesday night.  She apologized for the short notice, but, she's been out of town for the better part of the month; I said it was fine with me, as I didn't have anything planned for Tuesday evening, anyway.

Later in the morning, I called my half-sister to tell her about the almsgiving in December; she is unable to attend it, but, we made arrangements to meet for lunch on Monday.  Every time she calls me, she tells me we need to get together for lunch and to let her know when would be a good day.  She lives about one hour's drive from me and we don't see each other that often; maybe once or twice a year.  I think I need to be better about calling her and getting together with her! 

In the afternoon, daughter and I picked up friend R and we went to the Sri Lankan store to buy some items we both wanted.  I wanted more of my favorite tea, but they didn't have it in stock.  They said they are expecting another shipment of it in mid-December, so I am hoping I'll be able to get more tea, then.  In the meantime, I bought a different type of tea, called "Ceylon Gold" by the same company, to try.  Other than the tea, I bought items for the almsgiving (red rice, pappadum or lentil wafers, and sesame candy), items for the love cake we are planning to make (jars of pumpkin preserves and bottles of rose flavoring), some groceries (slices of frozen "seer" fish or king mackerel, frozen grated coconut, a jar of seeni sambol or spicy onion relish) and a whole bunch of snacks and treats!  I didn't take a picture of the food stuff I bought, though, because once I got home, I hurried to put the frozen items away.  I also bought a piece of kitchen equipment I had been wanting for awhile to replace the one I had to toss:

Coconut Scraper/Grater

New Coconut Scraper

This is a table model coconut scraper (or, grater, as they call it on the box; we used to always call it a scraper).  It clamps on to the side of a table, you hold the half of a coconut that has been split open against the serrated blades and you turn the handle, which causes the flesh of the coconut to grate.  I had one like this, which my mother and I had brought from Sri Lanka, but, we didn't use it all the time and, by storing it, it had rusted.  I tossed it, when cleaning out the kitchen, some time ago, and I had been debating whether to buy a new scraper or not.  After all, frozen grated coconut is readily available, here.  But, today, my daughter insisted that I bought it, threatening to buy it for me if I didn't!  LOL.  She has fond memories of when she was a little girl and she used to grate the coconuts for me.  The scraper cost $18.99.

When I was growing up, we had something that was less mechanized - it was a small, low wooden bench which had a flat disk with serrations along the edges mounted on one end; you sat on the bench, held the coconut half against the flat disk and moved the coconut to scrape the flesh.  In the Sri Lankan kitchen, where coconut milk was used in practically every single curry, the coconut scraper was an essential piece of equipment and the cooking of a meal started with scraping the coconut.

As many of you already know, I am usually a very careful shopper, looking for bargains and checking prices before I buy anything.  The one store where I simply buy what I want without even looking at the prices is the Sri Lankan store!  When I go there, I simply pick up what I want and don't think twice about it!  My total today came to $101.47.  I've said this before - it's cheaper than a trip to Sri Lanka! 

After our shopping was done, friend R took us out to lunch as a belated birthday celebration for me.  We went to another Sri Lankan restaurant that was located near the Sri Lankan store. 

Apey Kade ("Our Store") 

One of the letters on the store sign was peeling off, but, this is the name of the restaurant, written in Sinhalese.

Rice and Curries Buffet

Today's lunch special was a rice and curries buffet. 

"Short Eats"

Nearby, there was a display case with various types of pastries and other snacks that are called "short eats" in Sri Lanka.

Freshly Backed Fish Pastries

The person running the restaurant was very friendly and welcoming.  When I explained about the blog and asked him if I could take some pictures to post on the blog, he was more than happy, and posed with a tray of freshly baked pastries.  They do catering as well and I've had their food at various parties and they are good.

Although they had a rice and curries buffet, we opted for something else: lamprais/lampries (spelled both ways):

Banana Leaf Wrapped Lunch

It is a special kind of rice with curries, wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed:

Lamprais/Lampries

The banana leaves impart a special flavor and aroma to the food.  They also were our version of disposable plates, easily accessible and inexpensive as almost everyone used to have banana plants growing in their backyards and environmentally sustainable as well.

Authentic lamprais have very specific curries that accompany it and is a specialty of the Dutch Burgher community (descendants of the Dutch settlers) in Sri Lanka.  The version we had today had been adapted to the ingredients that are available here, but, it was a very acceptable version of it, and we all enjoyed it, very much.  None of us could finish our portions, so we asked for containers to bring our leftovers home. 

Although we couldn't finish our rice, we still found room for dessert!  They had a type of pudding called watalappan, which is made with jaggery, a type of palm sugar.  I didn't take a picture of that, but, it was very good!  My dessert was on the house, we were told, because we were celebrating my birthday!  Before we left, we bought some of the "short eats" that they had to eat at home.

There were only two other customers at the restaurant when we went (which was about 3:00 p.m., so, well after the usual lunch time, but, before their dinner buffet started).  We chatted with them for a bit before they left - they were a young couple from Idaho, visiting Los Angeles, and trying Sri Lankan food for the first time.  A short time later, a young man came in; he asked us a question as we were about to leave and we struck up a conversation with him, too.  His family is originally from Sri Lanka, but they moved to Alaska when he was a boy; he is currently living in San Francisco and came to Los Angeles for a music festival and wanted to try out the restaurant.  One never knows who one might meet in a Sri Lankan restaurant! 

After lunch, we came home and had tea.  Then, daughter and I drove friend R back to her home and dropped her off.  We've had a relaxed evening, after that, enjoying some of the snacks we bought and trying out the new tea (quite good, although not as strong as the extra strength tea that I like). 

Today's joyful activity was spending time with friend R and being treated to a belated birthday lunch!

Today, I am grateful for:
- Being able to celebrate my birthday all over again
- Spending time with my daughter and friend R
- R's friendship over the years
- A special meal
- Having a Sri Lankan store and restaurants in the area

I don't have any specific plans for Sunday.  Daughter needs to do a little bit of shopping and I want to buy the rest of the ingredients needed for the love cake.  Otherwise, the day is free.

How was your Saturday?  What are your plans for Sunday?