sri lanka

shortly after setting foot on unawatuna beach on sri lanka’s south coast, we heard that happy spice restaurant was one of the best kept secrets on the beach. complete with four small tables under a thatched roof, the unassuming restaurant was always full at mealtimes. It could easily take an hour for your freshly prepared food to come out of the kitchen but any frustration with waiting was quickly appeased with the first taste of chintha’s rice and curry. It was our kind of place.

chintha is a local woman, about my age, mother of two brilliant and beautiful kids, and the possessor of an unforgettable smile and a contagious spirit. she runs the kitchen with her mother and cousin at her side, dishing out sri lankan home cooking to satisfy the soul. with the kids running through the kitchen and a full house of hungry people, chintha remains admirably cool, taking her time to carefully prepare her food with love and patience.

eating at happy spice at least once a day, we became quite close with the family so we trusted their recommendation for an ayurvedic doctor to help mayo when he was struggling with a persistent case of heat rash. the medicine man came to the restaurant every other morning to give mayo a rub down with healing plants and herbal oils. i made good use of this time hanging around the kitchen with chintha, chatting about food and learning the secrets behind her grandmother’s recipes that make up the menu at happy spice. the food is surprisingly simple, a perfect balance of flavors and served in proportions that could rival anything ‘supersized’. but no matter how much we ate, we left happy spice feeling nourished, loved and… HAPPY :)

india

in a place where hundreds of yogis make their home each year, one would imagine fresh healthful hippie food would be in abundance. in mysore, india where my husband and i spent the last month transforming our bodies and calming our minds through the rigorous practice of ashtanga yoga, i found myself hungry (starving!) for the foods that would feed my aching body as satisfyingly as the experience was feeding my spirit.

with a community so focused on finding strength and balance, it was surprising that the options for feeding that strong, balanced body were limited. indian food, delicious though it is, is just too heavy for a post-yoga meal and too spicy and acidic for dinner when your wakeup call is before sunrise. the yogi-run brunch cafes understand the kind of simple fare that our bodies crave after such an intense workout; replenishing us after every ounce of energy was depleted while still keeping us feeling light and healthy. but it just felt wrong to be eating tofu scrambles and millet pancakes when in INDIA, a country with one of the most deliciously fascinating cuisines in the world!

karmically, we found sandhya, a local woman who cooks a typical mysore-style lunch fit for yogis, served fresh and in demand daily. i found out about sandhya before my trip from the lovely sarah b., a friend and fellow blogger over at mynewroots.blogspot.com. ironically, sarah has been cooking up some healing sattvic (pure) food from sandhya’s cookbook, Mysore Style Cooking, and has been dreaming (from her kitchen in copenhagen) of visiting mysore for a first-hand taste. when I arrived in mysore, i quickly found out how to get to sandhya’s and reserved our seats for lunch the next day. the food was perfect, just as I expected. the spread changes daily but always includes a variety of freshly prepared and perfectly spiced vegetables, salads laced with shredded coconut, fragrant rice, tangy yogurt, and chapatti (whole wheat flat breads) - served family style around a long table in sandhya’s humble dining room. after two months of traveling and being lost without a kitchen, i was thrilled to find out that sandhya was short on help and was in need of an extra set of hands.

after cooking for her family and for others for so many years, sandhya is very particular about how her food is prepared and about who prepares it. her current helper is a beautiful young woman and mother of two who has been working in sandhya’s kitchen since she was 8 years old. i was truly grateful to be given the opportunity to cook with these two women and was inspired by them in innumerable ways. after winning the hearts and bellies of many yogis passing through mysore year after year, sandhya was able to publish her gorgeous cookbook and is currently working on her second, a collection of festival foods. Mysore Style Cooking has long been sold out in mysore and I am excitedly awaiting my copy to arrive in the mail so I can share some of the recipes with you! in the meantime, if you are interested in indian or ayurvedic cooking, pick up a copy for yourself and bring the smells of mysore to your own  kitchen.

in the mountains

visiting my aunt and uncle in the colorado rockies last month made me realize how much i miss life in the country. while there, we got back to our american roots and did all the redneck things we could fit into six days… like sleeping in a trailer in the mountains, running a river, being unsure if we should cheer or wince watching cowboys rope cattle at the rodeo, and roasting a pig.

for my high school graduation party, my dad insisted we have a pig roast in the forest preserve instead of a conventional backyard party like all my friends were having. appalled, i strongly objected and he did it anyway. shortly after, i became a vegetarian (coincidentally or not) and didn’t have any further run-ins with animal carcasses until i moved to korea where there is a butcher on every corner. somewhere between seeing whole animals hanging from the rafters and walking beside calf heads in wheel barrows at the market, i became a bit desensitized. so when my uncle pulled together a neighborhood pig roast the equivalent of a county fair, i surprised myself with my excitement… i even volunteered to pick up the pig :)  

on the morning of the event, cast iron skillets filled with rising bread and country baked beans sat over the wood fire while the pig roasted to the twang of fiddles and bluegrass. all the neighbors came… with their kids, their dogs, and their dish to share and when all of our bellies were full, we were treated to a sunset tour of the neighborhood mountains on a tractor-pulled hay ride.

summer and a mango chili paleta

sweet home chicago

i’m sifting through my photos after a blissful two month vacation back home with all the family, friends and food my heart (and stomach!) could hold. what a great trip it was. so many moments that i’ve been needing for a long time… and so much food that i need to do a detox!

living on the other side of the world always has its adventures so upon returning to the place i call home, it is a beautiful thing to just BE. although we had a busy schedule and did lots of things, the best times were the simplest. like lounging in the backyard with the grill fired up and a cool st. germain mojito (uncle arvid’s new favorite!) in hand… or making buttery arepas with my husband’s mom and her sisters and then devouring half a dozen of them.

too many beautiful moments to recount but the most important ingredient in all of them was… LOVE.

a culinary tour of southeast asia

nyonya laksa. malaysia's curried noodle soup in a spicy coconut broth... 

the most delicious thing i've ever eaten!

nasi tempe. indonesian javanese style. rice with seasoned tempeh in a banana leaf. 

beautifully minimalist and eco-friendly packaging!

 

frothy malaysian teh tarik. black tea and condensed milk.

devout hindus break a 48 day fast (or strict adherence to a single meal of pure vegetarian food per day) on the festival day of thaipusam in singapore. an enormous spread of free food for the community is served in honor of the gods. 

coconut cassava greens with pumpkin

aunt rose's cassava greens with pumpkin in coconut milk...

el nido, palawan, philippines

we stumbled upon this really unassuming guesthouse off the beaten path in el nido. Makulay Lodge is such an incredible secret. the guesthouse has only two rooms tucked into the jungle with views overlooking the sea. the place was quiet and very charming on its own but the owner, rose, was the reason we stayed much longer than intended. her way of always giving just a little something extra made us feel like we were guests in her own home.

there was no restaurant at the guesthouse... just a small but functional kitchen and a few cozy tables under a thatch roof in the courtyard decorated with lush tropical plants. the menu was whatever was fresh or harvested that day.

one of my favorites was this bowl of cassava greens with pumpkin in coconut milk which i made myself (the coconut milk that is)! making coconut milk is a very simple but slightly labor intensive process - but the result is so freshly delicious that, had korea any coconuts, i'd be putting fresh coconut milk on just about everything!

garlic rice

garlic rice...

a simple and delicious filipino twist on the asian staple

calamansi

calamansi...

my new favorite citrus fruit

in yun

fate would have it that i felt drawn into a traditional tea shop at the park and the three of us sat down for a free cup of nokcha (green tea) served in the traditional way. the tea master made small talk with us as she explained korea's tea customs. she asked where we had been while in seoraksan and i mentioned the situation at the sauna the night before. without hesitation, she invited us to stay with her and her husband in their home. these are the experiences that we dream of as travelers! we gladly accepted and came back to the tea shop a few hours later to pile in her wagon (mayo in the trunk) and head down the mountain road to her home.

her husband was waiting for us when we arrived and, thankfully, spoke more english than his wife. we learned that their daughter is living in vancouver and marrying a canadian next year. they love their son-in-law to be and they were happy to share the same kind of hospitality with us in their country as they know their daughter is receiving in canada. amazing! we had dinner with them and their friend and talked for hours about cultural differences, tea, country life, korean food.

they even showed us their daughter's wedding dress which i noticed had my name on the label. i pointed it out and the tea lady brought up the topic of In Yun. In Yun means destiny and it is an important part of korea's ideas about relationships. they believe that all relationships (even fleeting encounters) are a part of our destiny and she felt this when she met us at the tea shop.

the concept of In Yun is much deeper than english translation can explain but, in essence, every encounter has great significance. no meeting is by chance. no interaction is without greater universal meaning...

happy birthday buddha

for buddha's birthday, a korean national holiday equivilant to memorial day, we spontaneously decided to take advantage of the long weekend and make our way up to seoraksan (korea's most regarded mountain and national park). situated in the far northeast corner of south korea (and with the help of holiday weekend traffic), it took us nine hours to get to seoraksan by bus. luckily, we had the company of our lovely friend amy and chatted the time away with ease...