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| Halapa (Sri Lankan Sweet Treat) |
Some time ago, a friend of mine had given me some homemade Sri Lankan sweet treats called halapa and I had stashed one in the freezer to eat later. I decided that today was that day. Halapa is made with grated coconut, mixed with palm treacle (or sugar) and kurakkan or finger millet (Eleusine coracana) flour, salt, and cardamom powder, mixed into a dough with water and traditionally spread inside a kenda (Macaranga peltata) leaf - a ball of the dough is placed inside the leaf which is then folded over and the dough is flattened out inside the leaf (banana leaves can also be used and that is what my friend had used) and steamed. As always, these things are best when freshly made, but, the frozen halapa, reheated in the microwave wasn't too bad.
It has been a relatively relaxed day, today. I brought in the trash cans after they had been emptied by the trash collection trucks, fussed over and cleaned up after Dancer who had thrown up both last night and this morning (I'm glad I'm taking him for his follow up visit with the vet on Wednesday), cleaned his litter box, etc., and hand washed two pairs of my wool knitted socks.
Last week, I pulled up a potato plant that was growing in the back yard, near the garden shed, and I harvested four small potatoes from it. Today, I diced the potatoes and made hash browns with them, along with a scrambled egg, for my brunch.
For dinner, I reheated one baked chicken thigh I had taken out of the freezer, added sauteed onions, the leftover green beans, and some carrots to it and had it with leftover rice.
After dinner, I baked some zucchini muffins:
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| Zucchini Muffins (with raisins and cashews) |
I had thawed one cup of grated zucchini that I had in the freezer (from the 2021 Summer of Zucchini!) to make the muffins. I used up the very last bit of yogurt I had left in the container for part of the milk my muffin recipe calls for, added a handful of raisins and cashew pieces to the batter, sprinkled the tops with some extra sugar, and baked them at 400F for 20 minutes. I will have them for breakfasts and snacks, this week.
On Tuesday, I am grateful for:
- Treats from the freezer and the oven
- Weekly trash pick up services
- A sunny and warmer day, though no where near our normal temperatures for this time of the year
- Potatoes from the garden
- Weekly trash pick up services
- A sunny and warmer day, though no where near our normal temperatures for this time of the year
- Potatoes from the garden
- Dancer didn't throw up after doing so in the morning
Tuesday's joyful activity was video chatting with my daughter.
Plans for Wednesday include taking Dancer to the vet's appointment in the late morning. M will be here to tend to the garden, too (although I might still be at the vet's clinic at the time).
How was your Tuesday? What are your plans for Wednesday? What are some of your favorite treats from your childhood?
I hope the wet's appointment for Dancer goes well and he is getting better. Your muffins look nice and thank you for explaining about how the halapa is made. I was only reminiscing the other day that my dad used to give me a thruppenny bit coin as pocket money each week and I would go to the sweet shop for a slab of toffee and he would smash it into pieces for me with the end of the poker! Oh the things we remember fondly :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; Dancer has gained a bit over a pound in weight, so that's a good thing! They gave him his arthritis medication (injection) and did some bloodwork; the vet will call me with the results when she receives them and we'll take it from there. :)
DeleteOoh, that slab of toffee sounds lovely! My father used to give me a bar of chocolate after dinner, sometimes, and my mother would make me go around the dining table offering a piece to each of my five half-siblings. Most took one piece, but, there was one brother who liked to tease me and he'd take the whole bar of chocolate from me! I'd stand there, not knowing what to do (I never knew if he was serious or not), and then the others would fuss at him and he'd give it back to me! :D
Those muffins look delicious. I'm sure you will enjoy them this week. I hope Dancer's appointment goes well today.
ReplyDeleteThank you, June. I'll share some of them with M when he gets here, today. Dancer's appointment went well - he has gained a little over a pound and received his injection (for arthritis). They did bloodwork on him and the vet will call me when she gets the results back.
DeleteI'm sorry that Dancer still isn't feeling well. I do hope it is nothing too serious.
ReplyDeleteThe muffins look delicious!
Thank you, Sharon. Today's vet's visit was to check how he's doing on the thyroid medication and to give him his monthly arthritis injection.
DeleteI shared some of the muffins with my gardener M, today. :)
Those muffins look delicious! I remember the summer of zucchini very well :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jules; the muffins turned out well. Ha, ha, I think we will all remember that summer of zucchini! :D
DeletePoor Dancer seems to be suffering lately and I hope he is on the mend now.
ReplyDeleteThe zucchini muffins look very moreish. I don't think they'd last long in this house! xx
Dancer is still on the mend; the vet said she wanted to increase the dosage on his medication.
DeleteThe zucchini muffins didn't last long in this house, either, although I still have one!
I don't think I've heard of halapa. It sounds good.
ReplyDeleteYou had a resourceful day cooking food from your freezer and using what your garden provided. That's a satisfying thing to do.
Reading your replies I see Dancer gained a pound. Good news.
I hope there is more good news as I read on and catch up a bit.
I really like halapa; I should get some of the finger millet flour from the Sri Lankan store and make some.
DeleteCooking from the freezer and garden produce is a very satisfying thing to do, isn't it? :)
Dancer is doing well, but, he needs a higher dosage for his thyroid medication. The pharmacy just called to let me know that it is available for pick up, today.