Ice-Master Doug

You know you are on vacation when you greatest concern is how to make ice, get ice or when the ice will be ready. If you have read my earlier entries, you know that we loaded up at duty free in Colombo since we would be pretty much isolated at the beach house. When we arrived, and cracked open a bottle of Zinfandel for the girls and some gin for Doug…the house staff quickly brought out a small ice bucket. That hit the spot after our grueling five hour van ride to the coast. Ice seemed not to be the issue, but as we hit the afternoon on day two…ice was nowhere to be found. Warm gin, does not hit the spot but you can manage with a cold coke mixed with rum. So here was our dilemma, tonic water was not available during the first grocery store rum but soda and limes were. Doug, a former bar tender on campus at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, concocted a mock gin or vodka and tonic. Tasted good however without ice it goes down slowly.


The best ideas come out of necessity. Doug saved the plastic water bottles, filled them half way and laid them on their side on the freezer. Phase 1 of making ice. Secondly, he cut one of the liter soda bottles, cleaned them out and used it as a freezer ice holder while we filled the trays and rotated them. The cook and housekeeper must have thought we were CRAZY. The volume of ice was flowing, enough for sodas and mixed drinks in our 90 degree weather. Our next great idea was to bring the bottles that had been half filled with water and frozen to the beach. But before coming down to the beach we filled them with rum, all that was needed was a cold coke from the Ocean Moon beach restaurant. Now I had rum and cokes at the beach and I even found Lays potato chips. Vacation had arrived!

So in addition to being my best friend, personal life coach, husband, father of my children, local chemist, make shift doctor – Doug is also the Ice-master which is essential for a Southeast Asia beach vacation.

Cheers!