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Monthly Archives: October 2017

Vegan Coconut Ice Cream – Two Ways

Well-being Holidays: Heart, body and mind in Sri Lanka
Well-being holidays are becoming more and more popular as stress at home increases and people look for holidays that leave them with a healthy mind and a healthy body.

If you’re looking to cleanse your body, Sri Lanka is a great place to start.  With a multitude of relaxing and cleansing treatments within the Ayurvedic health system, only a 7-day programme can re-juvenate.

We’re interested in how to support all the natural benefits of a holiday in Sri Lanka, with healthy foods to support the immune system. What’s more, the added benefit of eating vegan can boost your body as you remove any transferred stress and fear from foods which involve animal slaughter or the high-volume dairy industry.  It’s easy to eat vegan in Sri Lanka if you’re happy to live on rice and curry for the duration of your holiday.  If you’re looking for more choice, eating vegan can feel restricting.  We fully appreciate the concept of “my heart says ‘Go Vegan’ and my stomach says ‘Oooh but ice-cream!'”  So, we continue to hunt down recipes and experiment to create foods which support the sentiments of your heart and still tickle your taste buds!

Yesterday, on our mission to create vegan food (which doesn’t feel like you’re eating vegan), we made two types of Coconut ice-cream.  Both made with natural ingredients from our garden and low-volume production local produce, you can feel good as you tuck into a cheeky dessert.

Here’s how we did it.
Oh So Simple Coconut Ice-cream
What you need:

The flesh of 2 whole coconuts (or 2 tins of coconut cream if you have no access to the real thing)
750ml filtered water
250ml fresh coconut water
[…]

By |October 28th, 2017|Blog|Comments Off on Vegan Coconut Ice Cream – Two Ways|
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    Cheapest Time To Fly To Sri Lanka From Europe Christmas/New Year 2017/8

Cheapest Time To Fly To Sri Lanka From Europe Christmas/New Year 2017/8

Escape To Sri Lanka At Christmas For Winter Sun
Airfares can be very hard to predict and seem to change all the time based on a number of factors only privy to those in the know.  Last year, if you were flying from Europe to Sri Lanka the cheapest day to fly out was Christmas Day.  This year it’s different.

If you’re thinking about escaping the winter weather and heading to Sri Lanka at Christmas or New Year 2017 you’ll be wondering how to book the cheapest flight and have more money to spend when you get here.
Which Airlines Fly To Sri Lanka?
Several airlines flying here from Europe have good special offers on right now.  Even if you’re planning to fly in the next 6 months, it’s worth signing up for airline newsletters so that you get these offers direct to your inbox.  Register with Sri Lankan Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Gulf Air and Oman Air to get these offers.  Have your credit card ready as most of these offers have very short booking windows from 12 -72 hours.  You might also want to consider flying from a different airport as this can also save you money.

There is a generic  rule that flying on Tuesdays and Wednesdays tends to save you money.  The next best days are Thursday and Saturday.

If you want to investigate the cheapest time to fly to Sri Lanka, thanks to the ‘search by month’ features on Skyscanner and Google Flights, you can see airfares each day for the entire month. Not only can it save you hundreds, it will also save you time.

We thought we’d save you even more time and let you know the cheapest days to fly if you’re […]

By |October 22nd, 2017|Blog|Comments Off on Cheapest Time To Fly To Sri Lanka From Europe Christmas/New Year 2017/8|
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Coconuts For Everything – Human, Canine and Feline!

Any of you who know us at Fire Dragon Hideaway will wear a wry smile when we start talking about coconuts.  We are a little bit coco-nutty! He he … get it?

We prescribe something of coconut origin for any situation.  Feeling tired?  High fever?  Feeling de-hydrated?  Dodgy stomach?  Allergic reaction? Too much sun?  Urinary Tract Infection? Hangover? Eaten something you shouldn’t? Food too spicy? Eat coconut and drink coconut water and all will be well.  You get the picture. It’s the most incredible all-fixing wonder nut … or is it a fruit?  We’re don’t care, we love it.

Low in calories, naturally sweet, fat and cholesterol free, anti-fungal, anti-viral, more potassium than a bunch of bananas (very useful in the tropics when you’re body craves more salt), and super hydrating – coconut water is nature’s miracle.  Apparently, you can even administer it intravenously.  You’ll be relieved to know we haven’t tried!

To be clear, we recommend it directly from the coconut – as fresh as possible.  There are an increasing number of coconut drinks out there and they might have added sugar and preservatives that may take away from this gorgeous super-food.

Coconut water has supported a number of our canine and feline family members through some dark times.  When Gigi our dog had Filaria, couldn’t walk, and the vet used to look at him with eyes that said “that dog is not going to make it”; a bottle of fresh coconut water every day and every night for 3 months got him through.  Coconut water has supported numerous tiny kittens that we’ve rescued from the street and who were too small or weak to receive any drugs.  In fact, if any one of our animals shows […]

By |October 21st, 2017|Blog|Comments Off on Coconuts For Everything – Human, Canine and Feline!|
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    How We Make Our Papaya And Passion Fruit Jam – Fresh From The Garden

How We Make Our Papaya And Passion Fruit Jam – Fresh From The Garden

Sri Lanka’s Natural Fruity Gifts – Homemade Papaya & Passion Fruit Jam
We’re lucky enough to have some wonderful fruit trees in our garden including two types of passion fruit tree, five types of mango tree, three coconut trees and a whole host of passion fruit trees.

An 11-month drought from September 2016 to August 2017 was a disaster for our fruit trees and we didn’t get good crops last year.  After 1 month of solid rain our garden has come back to life and we’re enjoying beautifully juicy papayas and two types of passion fruit.  Bombarded by fruit from the sky every morning you start to wonder how to make the best of the universal gift before it goes to waste.  So, it’s homemade jam preparation time at Fire Dragon Hideaway!
Recipe for Papaya & Passion Fruit Jam
Our first batch is an equal mix of passion fruit and papaya and we’re sharing our recipe with you.  Make your own at home – it’s so easy!

We make our Papaya and Passion Fruit Jam in 3 stages:

 Make a passion fruit juice syrup.
Make papaya and passion fruit pulpy jam.
Mix together and pop into jars.

Stage One – Passion Fruit Juice Syrup
What you need:

24 Passion fruit
300g Sugar
Water
3 Sri-lankan sized limes

How you make it:

Cut the passion fruits in half and scoop out the pulp and seeds into a saucepan.
Add equal volume of fresh filtered water to the saucepan.
Add the lime juice.
Add 300g sugar and bring to the boil on a low heat stirring regularly.
Leave to simmer for about 30 minutes.
We then strain this mixture through a sieve to remove the seeds and any lumpy pulp.  If I was making […]

By |October 20th, 2017|Blog|Comments Off on How We Make Our Papaya And Passion Fruit Jam – Fresh From The Garden|
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Useful Things To Know For Your Holiday In Sri Lanka

Below we’ve put together the answers to many of the questions we’re asked by guests visiting Fire Dragon Hideaway.  From buying your Sri Lankan Tourist Visa online to changing travel money and airport pick ups.  We hope you find it useful.  If you don’t find the answer you’re looking for here, please do email us at info@firedragonhideawaynegombo.com.

Getting Your Visa Before You Arrive

Sri Lanka now requests that you purchase your Tourist Visa online, at least 24 hours in advance of your flight landing in Colombo Airport.

Can you arrange an airport pick up or an airport drop?

Yes we can!  We’ll ask you to send your flight details to us so that the driver can track your flight to check if it is early or late.  The prices for airport pick up are 2000 LKR (about $14 USD) for a car and 2500 LKR (about $17.50 USD) for a van.  Airport drop prices are 1500 LKR for a car and 2000 LKR for a van.  Please pay the driver directly for your trip.

How far is Fire Dragon Hideaway from the airport?

Fire Dragon Hideaway is 12km from the airport.  We travel the back routes and the journey takes 15-25 minutes depending upon traffic.

Is Fire Dragon Hideaway family friendly and child friendly?

Yes it is.  We have family rooms and a family friendly menu.  Please see here for more details.

How far is Fire Dragon Hideaway from Negombo Town?

Negombo town is 10 mins by car and 13-15 mins by tuk tuk from Fire Dragon Hideaway.  Negombo town has a large supermarket (Arpico) where you can buy western products, various clothes shops, fruit/veg and fish markets, clothes markets, Nawaloka hospital for health check ups and vaccinations, lots of local restaurants (and a […]

By |October 20th, 2017|Blog|Comments Off on Useful Things To Know For Your Holiday In Sri Lanka|
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