The Final 10,000 steps

Posted on June 17, 2014 | 5 comments

Yesterday was the last day of our 10,000 steps competition. For the whole month I had done 391,176 steps with an average of 13,489 steps per day.

steps

Our team has five people and we managed to rack up 1,762,967 steps.

However, we are not the team with the most steps as some other team has as many as 2,898,329.

Here is the graph for my last week.

graph

It has been a great experience and like in past winters, I have not put on any weight, instead I feel better and have more energy most of the days. My best days are when I swim in the afternoon which makes me feel refreshed every time.I love my weekend yoga session as well 🙂

myoga

Even though the competition is over, I am planning to keep counting my steps so I know how much exercise I do every day. If I see it go too low, it encourages me to do something after I get home.

Keep exercising everyone.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Australia won the World Cup and the weekend update

Posted on June 16, 2014 | Leave a comment

I know FIFA World Cups is still underway (I am not crazy :P) and I know that Australia lost its first match against Chile but that is not what I am talking about here.

Australia is the world champions once again, defending their Hockey World Cup title with a 6-1 demolition of the Netherlands. 😀 😀 😀

Australian hockey team also known as the Kookaburras played the most dominant performance of the tournament and gave Australians a reason to celebrate :).

Now back to the soccer world cup, I enjoyed heaps of soccer last weekend. It was great to be home and watch the games. Saturday started early for us as there were a few games on but the very important one at 8am was Chile vs Australia.

It was so disappointing to watch 2 goals from Chile in the first 15 minutes. Seriously, every goal was so painful but Australia did still really push them hard. Then the magic happened, Tim Cahill’s goal with a brilliant header gave some hope back to the Aussies.

There were a few opportunities for Australia in the second half like Cahill (twice) and Mathew Leckie, both headed over during the second half, while Mark Bresciano struck a sweet far-post half-volley that was saved by Claudio Bravo.

Australia went down to Chile 3-1 and I am sad because Australia played really well. We will take on the Netherlands next on Thursday morning. I know Netherlands are good after watching their game with Spain but there is still some hope.

After the game on Saturday, I made a big breakfast with bacon, hash browns, beans, mushroom, eggs, bread and tea. It was more like a brunch than a breakfast and it kept us full for a long time.

big breakfast

The plan for the rest of the afternoon was to clean the house but our friends called to check if we were interested to go to eat Newari food for lunch. We couldn’t resist so we went to Bhancha to enjoy lunch with them. We ordered Fokso fry, Nhyapu (brain fry), jhol momo, choila and chatamari. The food was yummy and I had fun with their daughter.

cholia Fokso fry jhol momo

After a very satisfying lunch, we went to the beach again. We wanted to give our failed walk from last weekend another try and this time there was no rain.

me

It took us over 90 minutes (over 10,000 steps) to do that walk but it was one of the best things we did for the weekend. The sunset was just beautiful and AS and I talked the whole time.

sunset

As the lunch was so filling, AS had salad for dinner and I had some fruits and that was the end of Saturday.

Sunday was planned as a lazy Sunday so we had late breakfast and caught up on some TV shows. I have to admit I wasted many hours watching mindless things on YouTube instead of cleaning the house. So it was already 2pm when I went to the kitchen to make lunch for the day and for the following day. I made an easy chicken couscous, which turned out nice.

couscous (8)

After that we Skyped with our parents; it is always nice to catch up with them. By the time we were done with both the family, it was almost the end of the weekend.

Of course, we watched more soccer this morning. Go Argentina 🙂

How was your weekend? Hope you had heaps of fun too.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Simple chicken couscous

Posted on June 15, 2014 | 9 comments

These days I am after recipes that are easy, quick and healthy. This is one pot wonder.

Serves: Four

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion, thinly sliced
  • 200g chicken breasts, diced
  • 1 inch fresh ginger, grated
  • 1-2 tablespoons harissa paste (use chilli paste if you don’t have harissa)
  • 2 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 10 dried apricots
  • 220g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 200 gm char grilled red capsicum sliced
  • 200g couscous
  • 200ml hot chicken stock
  • Salt to taste

couscous (1)couscous (2)

Method

  • Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for 1-2 mins until the onions turn golden.
  • Add grated ginger and fry for a few minutes.
  • Now add the chicken and fry for 5 mins until cooked through

couscous (3)

  • Add cumin powder, salt and stir through the harissa to coat everything and cook for 1 min more.
  • Add in the apricots, red capsicum, chickpeas and couscous, then pour over the stock and stir once.

couscous (4)couscous (5)

  • Cover with a lid and leave for about 5 mins until the couscous has soaked up all the stock and is soft.

couscous (6)

  • Fluff up the couscous with a fork and serve with yogurt, if you like.

couscous (8)couscous (7)

  • Enjoy!!!

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Dakshinkali Temple

Posted on June 14, 2014 | 5 comments

Dakshinkali Temple is located 22 kilometres outside Kathmandu and the last time when I was in Nepal, I went there with my parents.

Dakshinkali Temple is one of the most famous and popular Hindu shrines dedicated to Goddess Kali, “The Black One”. Scowling and emaciated, with protruding tongue and red eyes, decked with a necklace of skulls, Kali is just another form of the great goddess Durga. Kali is believed to be extremely powerful and accomplished. In Hindus holy Vedas and Purans, it is written that she has a blue body with three eyes, each eye is made up of the Sun, the Moon and fire respectively.

The drive from our place to the temple was very scenic once we crossed the ring road area. The roads were windy but I loved the view of old houses and wide green fields.

Legend has it that Daksinkali came into existence after goddess Kali herself appeared in the dream of a Malla king, the ruler of 14th century Nepal. Goddess Kali then commanded the king to build a temple dedicated to her in a very unknown and strange place. As the command was about to be followed, a person said that he already had a stone image of the goddess kali in the same place where the goddess  commanded the king to build the temple. The idol was then left open to the elements as she had commanded and over her head a gilded canopy was erected with four golden serpents. Also images of lord Ganesh, seven Asthamatrikas and a stone Bhairav were erected near her image.

Dakshinkali (2)

Dakshinkali temple is of great importance among those who need her blessing and also among the blessed ones. There is a strong belief in the ability of the goddess to make wishes come true.

Dakshinkali (3)

To satisfy the blood-lust of the goddess, pilgrims take a menagerie of chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, pigs and even the occasional buffalo up the path to the temple to be beheaded and transformed into cuts of meat by the temple priests, who are also skilled butchers.

Dakshinkali (1)

We went there on the weekdays so it was not busy. It took us 10 minutes for our puja and from there we went to another temple on the top of the hill which is called the Mata temple.

Dakshinkali (4)

After puja, we went to one of the local restaurants and had tea and freshly prepared sel, jeri, and malpuwa. Just writing about it, I am salivating as it was really good.

Dakshinkali (5)Dakshinkali (6) Dakshinkali (7) Dakshinkali (8) Dakshinkali (10)

After that my mum did a quick shopping at the local market there as they were selling gundruk, kafal and other items.

Dakshinkali (9)

On the way back home, we also stopped at the Sheka Narayan.

Dakshinkali (12)Dakshinkali (11)Dakshinkali (15)

There is temple on the top and a pond filled with crystal clear water. The pond has different types of fishes swimming around. There was a guy selling a bag of bread to feed the fish. It was a really nice and quiet place compared to Dakshinkali Temple.

Dakshinkali (13) Dakshinkali (14)

Every time I visit places like this, I feel really happy to see all the old Nepali architecture and idols of god which has been preserved from ages past. If you are in Kathmandu, it is a nice place to go for a day trip.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Posted in Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal 2014

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FIFA World Cup fever

Posted on June 13, 2014 | 19 comments

Unless you are hiding far far away from civilization I am sure you know that FIFA World Cup Football is here and we are so excited. 😀 😀 😀

Here is the official song for the cup.

Today is the first day of the game and the opening ceremony was held in the 62,600-capacity stadium Arena Corinthians in Sao Paulo before guests which included Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

The pre-match extravaganza starred pop superstar Jennifer Lopez, who performed the tournament’s official song, We Are One, with Brazilian songstress Claudia Leitte and rapper Pitbull.

Here are some colourful photos from the ceremony

This morning we woke up to watch the game but not at 4am. We missed most of the opening ceremony but I got to watch 70% of the game.

The first half we watched at home, getting dressed and having breakfast. At half time, we ran to the car but it took me more than 30 minutes to get to work. Therefore, I missed the Brazil’s second goal but was glad to watch rest of the game. The last few minutes were so exciting and the environment in the stadium was amazing. One of the items on my bucket list is to definitely watch a world cup live in the stadium.

Unfortunately being so far from Brazil, the games will air here very early, 4am and 7am so I am not sure how many games we are gonna watch. But it still will be a great month full of excitement and adrenaline rush. I am supporting Australia, Argentina and Brazil for this Cup.

Hope all of you are enjoying the game. My Facebook is flooded with posts about the world cup. I found this status and found it funny so sharing with you all. Glad we both are into the game so AS doesn’t have to put this on his status 🙂

Dear Sweetheart,

The FIFA World Cup is close by, so let me give you a few rules that will help both of us during the months of June and July.

  1. The TV remote control belongs to me for the whole month, no Magic Movie or Soap Opera this time around.
  2. Tell all your friends not to give birth or wed on any of the days of the world cup because we won’t attend.
  3. You must support the teams that I support or you use a sleeping pill while the match lasted.
  4. No talking during the game, wait for half time or end of the match.
  5. Repeats and highlights are as good as the main match, so I’m gona watch them too.
  6. We can watch movies/home videos provided actors/actresses are wearing football jersey and they are in Brazil.
  7. You don’t just pass in front of the TV if am watching any match, you better freeze where you are or crawl on the floor, I know you are beautiful, there is no need for beauty parade @ this crucial period, wait till July 14 please
  8. Make sure you don’t ask annoying questions such as “is this Arsenal vs England?”. Since it is not “Who wants to be a millionaire” I won’t bother to answer.
  9. No funny faces to my friends when they come to watch a match with me.
  10. Food must be ready 20 minutes before every crucial match particularly that of the Super Eagles.
  11. Smile every time EXCEPT when my team is losing OR ELSE!!!

May God help us.

If you are not into soccer but your partner is, please let them slack off for the next four weeks. He/She will love you for that forever 🙂

Please let me know which team you are supporting and may the best team win.

P.S: Today is Friday the 13th so please watch out everyone. 🙂

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