ROYSTON’S REPORT Number 109

May 12th, 2012

TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 13 May 2012

 

Greetings once again from amazing Sri Lanka.

 

Made in Sri Lanka

One of the (American) gourmet e-Newsletters I receive had a recipe for a cocktail made with Lapsong Souchong tea and rye whiskey. This gave me the idea for a less esoteric cocktail made with tea, whisky, and ginger cordial all from Sri Lanka. I used single estate, unblended, BOP (that’s broken orange pekoe) tea from the Glenanore Estate  (500g cost Rs450; £ 2.19; US$ 3.60). However, any supermarket loose leaf tea would do as long as the packet claims it is Pure Ceylon Tea.

The ginger cordial comes from the Adisham Monastery shop. I used one of the several whiskies produced in Sri Lanka although it seemed to be more neutral spirit with caramel colouring and whisky flavouring than actual Scotch. However, any cheap whisky is great as the mix mellows the taste.

Here goes.  To a generous spoonful of BOP tea in a cup (or tea pot) add boiling mineral water (has to be pure). Cover and let the tea leaves steep for at least five minutes. Strain the liquid into a glass, cool, and then put it in the fridge to chill.

Put lots of ice into a cocktail shaker, pour in a measure of whisky, and then add an equal measure of neat ginger cordial and an equal measure of the chilled tea. Squeeze in the juice from a lime wedge. Shake vigorously. Serve in a martini glass… and slowly sip a tea-lightful taste of Sri Lanka.

 

Vesak

From Emil Van Der Poorten, the proprietor of the ancestral bungalow Halgolla which he has turned into a plantation guest house (www.halgollaplantationhome.com) I received a copy of his May eNewsletter with its reference to Vesak, celebrated in Sri Lanka on 5 & 6 May.

 

“May is the month of greatest religious significance to a country which contains the reputedly most pristine form of Theravada Buddhism. The Vesak Full Moon Poya festival commemorates the birth, enlightenment and demise of Gautama Buddha. It is a veritable festival of light with huge “pandals” constructed in most of the population centres and temples. Homes are festooned with multi-hued lanterns and oil lamps. Needless to say, this is a time of religious observances in every little town and hamlet, as well as the larger population centres. If you want to see Sri Lanka in its finest after-sunset garb, this is the time to visit!”

 

 

Paying guests are welcome at Halgolla for an introduction to genuine Sri Lanka hospitality (and cooking!) in natural surroundings, and with a sense of history. This intriguing portrait, which hangs in the parlour, is of A J Van Der Poorten, the original owner of the bungalow.

 

 

Symbols of Sri Lanka

On my trip to Haputale last week, I was lucky enough to encounter two symbols typical of Sri Lanka: elephants and a tea factory. We had just stopped the van at the no longer used (“silent” in planter’s parlance) tea factory of Glenanore. I was getting ready to photograph the GOLDEN HILL tea kiosk that has recently opened on the ground floor of the factory when, to my amazement, two elephants and their mahouts passed happily on a truck on their way further up the hills.

 

Cottage Extravaganza

When so many of Sri Lanka’s guest houses are raising prices while doing nothing to train staff and raise their salaries to ensure service commiserate with their ambitious room rates, Mount Field Cottages on the road to Haputale is concentrating on providing a pleasant holiday experience without problems.

Mews-like cottages have huge bathrooms, granite walls and splendid panoramic views of the hills stretching into the southern distance. There are more guest rooms on lower levels, including a suite of smaller rooms beside the swimming pool. This is shaded with blue and has a faux trompe l’oeil painting of a beach scene at one end. It’s hard to believe one is in the hills of Halpe and not in a beach resort.

The open-sided restaurant is at the opposite end of the swimming pool, with an open kitchen and a help yourself lunch counter where a superb spread of chicken and fish curries, two kinds of rice, and five vegetable curries, plus dessert, costs SLRs600 (£ 2.85; US$ 4.80). Vegetables are organic and home grown.

The stewards, in black and white polo shirts, seem to be everywhere, serving with a smile and happy to chat about the menu, the sights in the area, and proud to discuss the resort’s attractions.

The A la carte menu includes the Mount Field Cottage speciality of seafood dishes and a platter of batter-fried mushrooms, onions and garlic, as well as succulent devilled dishes including mutton, served here by hotel school trainee, Dulanjaya.  Mixed fried rice starts at Rs300 and a Club Sandwich is Rs460. A service charge of 10 percent is added to all prices and, for once, the obliging service seems worth it.

Mount Field Cottages, www.mountfieldcottage.com 166km post, Haputale Road, Halpe; tel: 057 3575336. Rooms from Rs4,500 (£ 21.42; US$ 36) plus 10% service charge.

 

Attic Archives

“I guess you’d call the boy in the picture a weirdie. And you’d be right. He’s strictly, as they say in Beatnik language, from Weirdsville.”

So begins the article by Sally Vincent in the Daily Mirror of 26 November 1959 that I found in my attic archives.

It goes on to say: “His name is Royston Ellis. He’s eighteen and he’s a great guy… Royston chummed up with Cliff Richard (the-most-popular-boy-in Britain) and the result was ‘ROCKETRY’ – Royston’s POETRY read aloud against a background of ROCK music.”

Ah, happy, innocent days! Read all about it in my book The Big Beat Scene, which has a new foreword and afterword added to the text originally published in 1961. It’s available through:  http://musicmentor0.tripod.com/book_big_beat_scene.html.

 

 

Beat regards

Royston Ellis

 

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ROYSTON’S REPORT Number 108

May 4th, 2012

TROPICAL TOPICS, Sunday 6 May 2012.

 

Greetings to readers around the world. I’m spending this weekend in one of my favourite haunts, Haputale, at 1,429m (4,689ft) above sea level in the hill country of Sri Lanka, instead of being at home by the sea.

 

Made In Sri Lanka

No, this is not doll’s house furniture but attractive tissue box covers made in Sri Lanka – at the Manacare Village of Hopes and Dreams, about which I wrote in last week’s newsletter. This is a charity designed to create income and livelihood for Sri Lankans who have suffered loss, whether through the 2004 tsunami or other tragedies. It is located inland from the 93km post on the A2 (Galle Road).

All sorts of fascinating products are handmade there, with the special delight being guest-room size bars of natural oils soap shown in last week’s newsletter. Of course, I couldn’t resist buying a cat bed for Ollie, whose unexpected birth will be remembered by original readers of this newsletter (see Nos 6 & 10).

 

Another Dip Tip

This doesn’t come from a tin like last week’s tipped dip. I made it myself. I have always liked chickpeas since I had them as garbanzos when I lived in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, 50 years ago.

I don’t know where the chickpeas (kadala) we buy in Sri Lanka come from, probably Pakistan. The local method of preparation is to serve them boiled so they are soft with a sprinkling of dried chilli pieces as a snack during a drinking session.

My recipe for Chickpea Dip (or spread if you want a healthy substitute for peanut butter) begins the night before you make it. Remember this is not Hummus from the Middle East, a smooth blending of chickpeas, olive oil, lemon and garlic, but my own crunchier version. It’s great with bell pepper fingers and a glass of Laphroaig.

Begin by putting a cupful of chickpeas to soak over night in a bowl of mineral water. (You need to have water that is free of chemicals and potable.) The amount of water should be at least an inch above the upper layer of the peas. In the morning, the peas would have swelled and possibly absorbed all the water. What’s not absorbed, discard.

Put the chickpeas in a saucepan full of mineral water and set to boil. To this add lots of peeled and squashed cloves of garlic and a large onion cut thinly. Sprinkle in a generous measure of freshly ground pepper (but no salt) and some turmeric powder for colour. Put in some mustard seed too.

Now cover the saucepan and let it boil fiercely. After 30 minutes, take off the cover. If the liquid is drying up, add more. Let it boil and boil and boil without the cover until the chickpeas are tender. If they are not tender add more mineral water and keep boiling until they are, and the liquid has evaporated.

When it’s done, leave it to cool. There is no need to remove the skins from the chickpeas as this adds valuable roughage to the paste. Put the chickpeas and all the mush of garlic and onion into a blender. Now here’s the secret: add a dessert spoonful of sesame oil and a cup of freshly-made vegetable stock for flavour, plus a hearty dash of white wine. Blend. If the paste is too thick, dribble in more wine.

Serve cold with crackers or veggies.

 

Attic Archives

This week’s rummage through my attic archives yielded not an article, but a photograph.

It shows a village street in southern France. I found it in an envelope that also contained a certificate saying that this photograph was successful in winning the BBC Children’s Hour Competition on 17 August 1954. If I had won four such certificates I would have been entitled to claim a “Presentation Pencil.” I suppose I could also have claimed to be “an award-winning child photographer”!

 

 

Books On Line

My review last week of Identity: The Sri Lanka Architect attracted this enquiry from Pete Brand in the USA: “Any suggestions as to how I might get a copy of this coffee table book for my son, the architect with the same name? Just a thought. I tried Amazon and Barnes & Noble but didn’t do too well on those attempts.”

I thought about this for a while, especially as the book contains neither website nor address informing where it can be bought, and it is a Sri Lankan production that international on-line booksellers probably don’t stock.

Then I remembered that we have an on-line bookshop in Sri Lanka at www.vijithayapa.com. I tried the website myself and, while it took me a fair amount of time to conquer the technicalities of registering, eventually I managed to order and pay for a book called A Survey of Social Change in an Imperial Regime to be posted to me. (I shall review it in a subsequent newsletter.)

I checked about the book Pete Brand requires and it is available and can be posted to addresses worldwide, payment by Paypal or credit card. Readers in Sri Lanka could also order my book, Sri Lanka – The Bradt Guide, on line and have it posted to them in Sri Lanka; for readers elsewhere it would be better to order direct from http://www.bradtguides.com/Book/552/Sri-Lanka.html

Beat regards.

Royston Ellis

 

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