I already miss Sri Lanka

Fruit, breakfast buffets, and mattresses made from trees

Feb 10, 2025

Hi friends,

I’m back in New York after an incredible trip to Sri Lanka with Earthfoam. We learned a lot and saw many parts of the absolutely beautiful country. I was so impressed with their operations and their commitment to fair trade (plus, it’s really cool to see how a mattress is made from trees, from the forest to the factory). We traveled with a great group and everyone on the Earthfoam team could not have been lovelier. Everyone who visited is already plotting a return trip.

Today’s newsletter will cover the food and later this week, I’ll get into some travel tips since this was the longest flight I had ever taken. February 5th was over 35 hours for our NYC group, which is wild to think about and experience. Since returning, I’ve been very into cooking, sleeping, and cozy times at home. I can’t believe it’s already mid February.

Now, let’s dive in.

Something to cook:

I saw Kristiana’s granola on Instagram and decided to make it for upcoming breakfasts. It was somehow my first time making granola and I did burn some of it, which I’ll blame on my very uneven oven. The non burnt parts were delicious and it’s so much easier than I thought it would be. She shared the recipe in

acquired taste

—it’s based on the Eleven Madison Park one and I subbed the pistachios for almonds because we use what we have

Making granola is a great way to make your house smell incredible

On Friday night, comfort food was in order so I made Dan Pelosi’s vodka sauce, with coconut milk instead of heavy cream. It was delicious and whisking the sauce while sipping a glass of wine is pretty meditative, even if your body has no idea what time it is.

My parents came by for a trip recap and they brought coffee spiked banana bread, which also includes chocolate. It is really good. The recipe yields two loaves so you can halve it or share it. I’m glad they chose the latter.

We had people over to watch the Super Bowl, a last minute decision that I’m glad we made. Go Birds! I made nachos (a tradition, see here and here) with black beans and cilantro and pickled jalapeños and lime spiked sour cream. I kept the avocado on the side since Tilden’s allergic and they were a hit. Julia made cookies, Hillary made onion dip, Tilden made buffalo bean dip with blue cheese, and Dale procured wings from Clara’s.

Something to order:

I’m going in chronological order here, but have to say the food in Sri Lanka was incredible. Importing food is expensive so we ate a ton of local produce and fruit (some of the best fruit I’ve ever had) and it’s very vegetarian friendly. Some of my favorite dishes were the coconut roti, coconut sambal, the dal, the lightly fried eggplant and mushrooms, hoppers, spicy potatoes, and of course, the fruit. It’s not a restaurant, but Earthfoam’s canteen at their factory had one of the best meals we had the entire trip, made with all local ingredients. In addition to feeding three meals a day to the factory team, they also provide meals and school supplies to a local school as part of Earthfoam’s fair trade fund. We got to visit the school, meet the students and try some local sweets, which were very good. My favorite was a mung bean fritter fried in coconut oil. Our time there was very special and we got to try local tea as well, which really helped with the jetlag. In working with Earthfoam over the past few years, we’ve seen lots of photos of the factory, trees and more. Seeing it in person (and touching the rubber, which looks like marshmallow fluff) was so impactful and put things in greater perspective.

We had a layover through Dubai and stayed at the Park Hyatt, which was beautiful. We landed late and got room service—they had a vegetarian club sandwich with very crispy fries. Best enjoyed in a robe, like all room service.

In Colombo, we stayed at the Amari, which had an excellent breakfast buffet. Their yogurt with passionfruit compote was so good and I loved both the coconut roti and King Coconut water. King Coconuts are native to Sri Lanka and so flavorful. They’re less sweet than the coconuts we have here, which are usually from Thailand. The Amari has a rooftop pool perfect for watching the sunset, a coffee bar with snacks off the lobby, and a lovely dinner buffet.

I loved the breakfast at this hotel, such a great variety

We had lunch at Seed Cafe in Colombo, which is an Australian-ish cafe that has a varied menu. I had the butternut squash roti stack with a poached egg and a locally made ginger kombucha. Don’t skip a warm chocolate chip cookie. It’s a place you can hang out and read for a few hours and has both indoor and outdoor seating.

Cinnamon Life has a new location in Colombo and we had a group dinner at Quizine, which has foods from Sri Lanka, Japan, India, Italy and more. My favorite part was the Hopper station (hoppers are a crepe made of fermented rice flour batter in a special pan—they can be topped with an egg and lots of sauces, Noor told me to try them and she was right) and the homemade cinnamon ice cream.

Hoppers are so good, you get so many textures!

After Colombo, we headed for the jungle, where much of Earthfoam’s rubber comes from, and saw so many animals (monkeys, goats, elephants!!, peacocks, cows, dogs, birds, etc.) We had a beautiful and vegetable filled lunch at Living Heritage Koslanda—the ladyfinger okra and potatoes were crowd favorite and they greeted us with mint iced tea after the drive. The setting is incredibly special as well, with views of the jungle.

We stayed at Planter’s House (you off road in a jeep for 45 minutes to get there and it’s worth it) and the breakfast was so good—mixed fruit smoothies, more fruit, pancakes, toast, and eggs. We had tea after breakfast and then headed to the rubber trees, which grow very well in Monaragala, thanks to the climate. We got to see the tapping and collection process, which includes lab testing and layers of quality control. Rubber trees grow alongside many other species, like cacao and black pepper, and we got to try raw cacao, which is very sweet and fruity. We had another gorgeous lunch at Capital Resort Inn. Fruit is often served with buffalo curd and coconut treacle syrup, a delicious and probiotic combo.

Latex comes from trees! It takes about 3 hours for this cup to fill up

We ended the trip at Weligama Bay and our stay overlapped with Sri Lanka’s 77th Independence Day. We got to see some traditional dances that involved juggling fire sticks (extremely impressive to watch) and the food was great. They had a hopper station at breakfast and King Coconuts to sip by the pool. It was an incredible trip and though, we packed in a lot in a week, I know there’s so much more to see and I feel so lucky to have experienced it with Earthfoam.

Once I got back to New York, I’ve craved Mexican food, home cooked meals, and bagels, of course. We also ordered Inday one night and I’m actively looking for Sri Lankan food in New York—let me know if you have any recommendations!