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About me

Hi, I’m Jehan and welcome to my Blog.
First, let me be honest with you, I’m not programmed to think as a singular person, not at least for the past few years it’s always been “US”.
So let me do the introduction as best as I can.
And that goes to images of me as well, I can’t seem to find one picture of me, ALONE.
I’m either attached to funny guy, my husband or to one of the terrible four. I kid you not, there is not a single one of me alone unless I go way back, maybe ten years to a much younger me.
Hence the cropped photo, maybe in the future I’ll change this image to a much more glammed up me but sticking to honesty, this is basically who I am.
 
 
And to make my point, below you will find the original image I cropped, see what I mean, I’ve got the little guy falling asleep on my arm and the big guy gazing at the camera, I don’t know what he’s doing with his mouth to get that look,

Moving on,

I’m a Geminine, left-handed and a Sri Lankan.

I’m the eldest in a family of four, Happy, happily married with four kids who I refer to as the terrible four because in my life trouble doesn’t come in one’s but in fours (they’ve fine-tuned the pack mentality into an art form).

I’m a binge reader and I can read any genre except Biographies (guess, I don’t like other people writing about themselves as well).
I don’t fall asleep without my daily dose of reading, My Husband and Kids like to tease me about my e-book reader, they believe I can’t live without it(Which is true).
And guess what family? Apparently, there is a name for my fear, its called Pteronophobia which justifies my fear of being tickled to death (not by feathers but with fingers). They find amusement in ignoring my threats and screams when tickled. 

I’m an advocate and believer in the power of positive thinking and smiling at total strangers, It’s surprisingly easy to talk to people once you smile first, and no, so far I’ve not come across any crazy one’s (not yet anyway).

 
WHY Island Smile?
The name of this Blog is a tribute to the people of my Country, we Sri lankans are truly defined by our smile and rarely will you find us without one.
Even in trying times you’ll find us smiling!
 
The funny guy and me.
 
 
The funny guy I refer to here is my husband Riza, whom I met in the most unusual circumstances in which two people can meet. The odds were against us and a hundred other things could have gone wrong.
Why?
Because our first meeting or shall we say the first contact happened over a phone and we didn’t meet until three months of phone conversations. I kept talking to him because I liked his voice, a lot, its deep, its sexy (chemistry over the phone?). He claims he was nagged into calling me by a mutual friend of ours.
Would I recommend anyone to find their life partner the way I did?,
No, we were not total strangers, somebody knew both of us and that friend, for some reason knew magic will happen.( At least that’s how I think)
To anyone else I’ll say be cautious but keep an open ear and mind, you’ll never know, life’s funny that way.
And mind you, the first time he called me, I did refuse to speak to him on account that he was a total stranger but then he mentioned our friend’s name and details of himself and so it began. 
 
Sometimes I think the world (at least my part of the world) knows how we met because HE, loves to tell the story to anyone who’ll listen, I guess you’ll be hearing about it in a later post too.
 

If I had to pick one thing that is constant and love about him after so many years, is his ability to make me laugh. The years have toned down the jokes a bit, he still has his moments

If there are any single ladies reading me, give the funny guy, who likes you a chance, you might be surprised. After 19 years of marriage, I should know.
Some of his funny stories and jokes can still get me to do the ugly laugh, you know the one’s you have no control over, with tears and bellyaches.
And the timing of his jokes, oh…the timing, I only wish I could write about them……. but I can’t and I won’t. (wink)
 
Us and the kids
 
 
Four kids, different age groups, two boys, two girls can sometimes be interesting in good and bad ways.
(not complaining)
Our lives revolve around them, there isn’t a boring moment in my life because 100% of the time, I’m acting as referee, peacemaker and negotiator. I’ve accepted it as a part of my life. will I have it any other way? No, absolutely not. Do they drive me batty? every nanosecond.
(Still not complaining)
 
We love them and like typical parents think they are very special human beings.
They have such different personalities, likes and dislikes that sometimes it can be a challenge just doing something everyone wants to do.
And if we both listen very carefully without interrupting them, oftentimes we find there’s simple wisdom in what they say, what’s that saying? oh yes, “Out of the mouths of babes oft time comes gems”.
Or sometimes writings, this was written by my eldest, Durrah pasted on our entrance door, the day we were bringing our youngest, Baby Raaya home.
 
What my blog is about
Initially the blog was meant for me to include recipes I’ve tried and enjoyed, I certainly didn’t grow up learning to cook beside my mom or grandmother,No, I learnt to cook using a Sri lankan cook book, found at a random book shop, I’m still learning and improving certain areas of my cooking skills. 
Then there are some food that I grew up on but are lost because nobody ever makes them anymore, my goal is to find them and get them on my blog for future references.
I’m surrounded by great cooks, Mama, My grandmommy (Aachi-Pochchi as my kids call her ) and my mother in-law, I’m going to pick through their memories to get to some of the lost ones.
 
One more thing, I’m here and blogging because of two special people and a quote, my funny guy who said I should do it and Pioneer woman, that special lady who inspires many with her cooking and blogging, someday, someday I’m going to meet her and thank her personally.
The quote,
“It’s impossible”, said pride
“It’s risky”,said experience
“It’s pointless”, said reason
“Give it a try”, whispered the HEART,
the day I came across this quote is the day I started blogging.
 
My Cooking Favorites?
I don’t have a favorite type of food, I think that’s the Geminine in me, we need a bit of variety or we get bored, If a recipe catches my eye, It’s usually a question of “Can I make it?” and then I try it.
It can be anything from Sri Lankan, Asian, Mexican, Spanish etc…Basically what I do is introduce and expose flavors of different cultures to myself and the kids. for example, recently they were introduced to sushi and sashimi (thin slices of fresh raw fish), they were reluctant at first, opting to have only tempura prawns but watching their mom and dad enjoying it, they were curious enough to try and surprisingly, like them. 
Although the terrible four will give it a go the first time, if they don’t like it, they are quite vocal about it.
Thankfully none of them are picky eaters or have food allergies which makes me a very happy mom.
Yes, I do Sri Lankan food,
Yes, I do loads of cheesy food,
yes, I do healthy meals too…sometimes.
 
And then you’ll find me baking cakes and desserts, I’m bad at it. Trials and errors as they say, you’ll just have to wait and see.
I’m fascinated by Heston Blumenthal’s scientific approach to cooking,
That’s another thing about me, I LOVE EXPERIMENTS!
 
By the way, if you should come across any recipes that mention a time, like 5,10, 30-minute recipes, they are my favorites.
I call them quick fixes.
But please don’t presume this blog to be just another Food Blog, we all have our own stories, we live, experience and learn lessons from it. How we live our lives and how we perceive to look at it, is in our own mind.
I choose to look at mine with humor and a blessing from above. 
I do have my bad days but I choose to believe in,”This too shall pass” and take one hour at a time.
 
Our Stories is where you will come across my family, memories and some of the things that tend to happen in our lives. It’s a place where I get to put down thoughts of humor, lessons learned and the funny side of life in general.
My family is the cornerstone of my life, to say, who I’m today is because of them would be correct, their acceptance of all my failings have made me be at peace with who I’ve become,
I am content, I am happy.
This is for your family!
 
Now those of you who know me personally know that I never ever post a single-family picture in my Facebook page they’ll be surprised to find them here and wonder why here and not there. 
Aah… you see when I post pictures here, it’s on my terms and I get to write the story behind it.
 
I love the telling of experiences of our lives through writing and images which is a big part of blogging. It also gives me the opportunity to write all those crazy internal conversations I have with myself.
  
Write to me, let’s start a conversation, there is a certain joy to be felt when someone on the other side of the world share their thoughts with you, Even a Hi, would do.
Be safe, stay happy and SMILE! 
Love 
Jehan.
 
 

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