First video recipe shooting

As there were about 8 people supposed to come for a dinner, so three neighbours came to help. Of course, I tried filming before my journey with my mom and friends and it felt quite easy. But there was one person cooking only, there was no language barier, I knew all the used ingredients prefectly, I knew in advance what will be cooked and how long the preparations may take, there was enough light in the room… Simply completely different situation than in the kitchen in Sri Lanka.

I didn`t manage to run from one cook to another, let alone trying to take some additional pictures illustrating the atmosphere. I had no clue what they put into the meals. I was so naive I thought there is no need for a notepad, that I will be able to put down everything from the video… Ha ha ha, how wrong I was again.

The material from the frist day was nearly useless, but it was a great school and such a great experience. For the first time I had a chance to see how to make a home made coconut milk. That they use a huge machete they sit on for chopping, slicing, pealing… simply nearly for anything we use knife and chopping board for. And how to rub garlic? Easy :) They put the cloves on a black massive stony board and roll it over with a heavy roller made of the same material. I expected that cooking in Sri Lanka will be different. But in such an extent? It was amazing. And I hope you will find it interesting too.

And the lesson from today cooking session? That I am not coming back to the kitchen without a notepad again and tomorrow I will pop up to supermarket to learn about local ingredients (otherwise for shopping I prefer traditional local markets of course), as they have both English and Sinhala signs on. And majority of the recipes I will have to shoot again or their part at least. (January 2014)