towel-washing wisdom

So, I discovered that you cannot wash towels of different colours in the same washload.

This is not (as I presumed when I read this same advice on another website) because the towels may run colour. It's because they SPEW lint and bits of thread in the spin-dry phase. Which basically means that my beautiful solid-black towel is now coated with infinite bits and pieces of white and pink from the other towels. :( Hopefully, the next wash will fix it!

Here's the main advice I now have for washing towels in the washing machine, gleaned from the Internet, my mom and my own two towel washloads so far!

Top tips for washing towels in the washing machine

• Do NOT use fabric softener. Use normal liquid/powder detergent.
• Wash towels of similar colours together.
• Put the towels through multiple spin dry cycles to get rid of flecks of thread and lint.
• Dry the towels immediately after to prevent the smell of dampness and mildew (that indicates bacteria is breeding, by the way).

Happy towelling!

Picture source: Waterworks

getting creative on Christmas: handmade decorations!

After a frantic search for Christmas ornaments in my new hometown, I came to the realisation that there were none to be found - this being an Islamic country and all.

Now, the husband and I are not Christian but we've grown up celebrating Christmas and it's a festival very close to my heart. There's no way it could be just another day, without any holiday spirit and accessories! So it was off to the stationery store, where I bought paper supplies, scissors and glue. 

Google searches quickly yielded Christmas tree and star cutout patterns. Now, I have NEVER been a crafts person, but these were simple enough! Print out the pattern and cut it out. Then hold it over the paper and trace the outline. Cut out and you have a tree/star/whatever pattern catches your fancy!

Also found an issue of a "Holidays Special" shopping pamphlet from Sri Lanka. Proceeded to cut out decorations and use them shamelessly :)

Take a look at the Christmas table!

mix and match: stir-fry chicken and kang-kung greens with jasmine rice

Yesterday, I attempted to cook a real meal after about a year and a half – quite the daunting prospect! Since the husband and I have been staying in a hotel for a long time now, we’ve had to live with room service. (While this was AWESOMELY convenient at one level, I did miss the freedom of having my own kitchen and cooking anything I felt like.)

The ingredients were a mish-mash from all over.

I had brought back a pack of Pakistani jasmine rice and chicken stock cubes from our recent Sri Lanka trip. The supermarket down the road from our new place stocks great frozen chicken breast. And the local market on the island had lovely, locally-grown kang-kung – an Asian variety of greens, halfway between spinach and lettuce.

So I decided to make stir-fried chicken and kang-kung greens, with fragrant jasmine rice. Nothing too fancy, but it turned out to be pretty tasty!

I did a regular chicken stir-fry, adding some gravy towards the end (chicken stock and cornflour) – this softened the chicken pieces and the gravy was nicely infused with all the stir-fry flavours. Then I separated the sauce and added in the kang-kung stalks along with the chicken and stir fried for another minute or two.

Finally, I added in the kang-kung leaves. As soon as they wilted, I threw in the sauce, stirred everything for a minute and served on steamed jasmine rice! The rice was cooked on the stove (2 parts water to 1 part rice) in a covered pot, with a dash of olive oil and salt. 

washload worries

I faced and conquered a Herculean task today -- I ran my very first washload ever!

To be honest, I felt like a total idiot pretty much the entire time. I have never used a washing machine befor. I knew NOTHING, and was desperately wishing I had observed my mum more carefully during washing-machine operations at my parents' home. (But of course, I must have been reading/surfing the internet/talking on the phone or going out with friends. Present Me is shaking her head at Past Me!)

Anyhow, right from how many clothes it was okay to put in and whether I could put all kinds of stuff in together, to what kind of detergent to buy and where to put it...the process was a deep mystery. 

The machine? A top-loading Toshiba. The product booklet was NO HELP AT ALL. The English section had obviously been translated from Japanese by someone with a very rudimentary knowledge of the English language -- it made no sense half the time and contradicted itself in a million places.

Anyway, by perusing each line of booklet text closely, calling up hazy memories of washloads at home, applying some common sense, and staring at the machine long enough, I finally managed to get it right :) 

I used a liquid detergent (Dynamo, the pink one), figuring out that I had to put it in the little bleach container on the side. I put in the clothes firmly but loosely -- although I think my load had one pair of jeans too many. I left out 2-3 delicates and 1 shirt that looked like it would probably run a bit of colour. I set the water level accordingly and chose the regular wash-rinse-dry cycle.

And, voila! In half an hour, I was the proud take-outer of a ton of freshly washed, gorgeously clean, damp, fragrant clothes!

(Has anyone in the history of the universe ever been this excited about washing clothes? I THINK NOT.)

Ko-Lanka: a find in Sri Lanka!

I am still in the midst of shopping in Colombo in Sri Lanka, mostly for boring household items like serving spoons, dal (lentils), towels, etc. However, I made a trip to Barefoot earlier today - a popular shop-cafe-and-art-gallery, mostly frequented by well-heeled locals, expats and tourists. 

While we were staying in Sri Lanka, the husband and I used to pop over to Barefoot every now and then (especially for the Sunday wine brunches with live music). I would "ooh" and "aah" over all the beautiful, colourful, tasteful items in the store and wish I had an apartment to put them in. (However, many of the items are MOST certainly overpriced although this does not matter that much if you're spending in dollars or euros.)

This time when I went, I entered the Barefoot store from the front door (I usually come in through the cafe), and discovered an adjoining shop called Ko-Lanka. I spotted some beautiful dinner napkins in the shop window and walked in to find a veritable treasure trove of gorgeous handicraft items - cushion covers, mats, dinner napkins, toys, clothes.... Lovely, elegant things - most of them very similar to Barefoot merchandise and quite a bit cheaper!  I went back and forth between the two shops a bit and here's what I found:

• A single dinner napkin in Barefoot is LKR 450. A set of 6 dinner napkins in Ko-Lanka is LKR 550. (Yes, the Barefoot napkin has slight scalloping on the edges but NOT enough to warrant this price difference.)
• The SAME toy in Barefoot and Ko-Lanka has a price difference of LKR 200!
• The kurtas (long shirts/tops for men and women) are far more beautiful in Ko-Lanka. Much better fabrics and fits, especially if you're not a fan of the new-age, shapeless shifts favoured by the Barefoot designers. And Ko-Lanka has (surprise, surprise) better pricing.

In the end, I bought almost everything I wanted from Ko-Lanka -- 3 lovely kurtas, a bunch of handloom toys for my nephews and nieces, dinner napkins, a floor mat, and a few other items.

The only things I picked up from Barefoot were a pair of adorable baby booties for a newborn niece and the lovely candle-stand (see in picture above) that simply called out to me and would not be denied (LKR 600).

All in all, Ko-Lanka is going to be my first go-to shop next time I want items of this sort. Will head to Barefoot only for items I don't find next-door, and maybe for a quick bite in the lovely, breezy, green cafe. (I recommend the beef sandwiches and tuna salad, especially.)