Easter long weekend break

Posted on April 23, 2014 | 4 comments

It sounds crazy but we, Aussies get excited about long weekends. It doesn’t happen often but every time when a long weekend is on the way, most of us have plans for it. One of them was last weekend for Easter.

Normally, I plan months in advance for the break but this time I was too tired to even think about it. Having come back from Nepal just a few weeks ago, I needed to rest but of course, it was not going to happen.

Hunter Valley (2)

My cousins are visiting from the US and they were planning a trip away so we did a last minute planning. We were lucky that we managed to get accommodation for seven adults and three kids. Of course, it was expensive but still we managed to plan the trip and left Friday morning for the Hunter Valley.

Hunter Valley

We had been to Hunter Valley multiple times before but we still enjoyed the Hunter Valley Gardens with the kids again and also the wine tasting. The kids were having a blast and we just loved it  🙂

Hunter Valley (1) Hunter Valley (3) Hunter Valley (4) Hunter Valley (5) Hunter Valley (6)

Nelson Bay and Toboggan Hill Park

Nelson bay is a big area and even though we had been there before, it was still a great place to be. We swam in One-mile beach and went for a walk in Nelson Bay wharf.

newcastle (4) newcastle (3) newcastle (2) Nelson Bay (2) Nelson Bay (1) newcastle (5)

We also went to Toboggan Hill Park, which is set amongst natural bush just off Salamander Way at Nelson Bay. We had so much fun with the kids tobogganing. The 1km track starts with an automatic uphill tow of 300 metres.

From the top station, we can control the speed of our toboggan as we commence the exhilarating descent.  The track winds down through 11 bends before we reach the bottom. With practice, speeds of up to 45 – 50km/hour are possible. All the little ones rode with their mum/dad and they enjoyed it a lot too.

Toobagan Hill

The Entrance

Surrounded by lagoons, lakes and beaches, The Entrance is a beautiful town. When we arrived in The Entrance, they were having markets and carnival for Easter. We just walked around and enjoyed the view.

The entrance (4) The entrance (5) The entrance (6)

At 3.30 pm they had pelican feeding and that is what we wanted to observe. The pelican feeding in The Entrance Memorial Park is a highlight of the place. By 3:00 pm there were so many people gathered in the park. We also waited patiently as we knew the feed went ahead in all weather and is sponsored by local businesses.

The entrance (2)

According to the official info, the pelican feeding started by accident over twenty years ago when staff from a local fish and chip shop would throw out scraps. It became such a ritual that whenever the staff were late in throwing their scraps out, the pelicans would cross the road and come up to the shop to be fed. The Pelicans start coming in group to the waterfront around 3.00, approaching the platform slowly and jump into the platform just before 3.30 pm when the staff are ready to feed them with the fish.

The entrance (3) The entrance (1) The entrance (8) The entrance (7)

It was a great to watch them as they eat the fish and go back to the water. It’s not all fun and games, though.  The volunteers use the daily contact to keep an eye on the welfare of the pelicans, which are prone to injury from plastic bags, fishing line and hooks.

nepaliaustralian

Hope all of you had great Easter too.

This week is very short week for us (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) as from this Friday we are having Anzac long weekend so looking forward to another long weekend.

Take care, everyone.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Posted in Australia, Holidays

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Lapsi ko achar (Nepali hog plum pickle)

Posted on April 22, 2014 | 4 comments

Every time we go to Nepal, my MIL makes sure that we have enough laspsi ko achar for our entire stay. This time while we were there, she made the second batch and I helped her. Sharing the recipe with all of you here.

lapsi

Normally, lapsi ko achar is a bit sweeter than I like so when we make it at home, we tend to use less sugar. Feel free to add more sugar if you like very sweet lapsi ko achar.

Ingredients

  • 1 kg Lapsi
  • ½ teaspoon cumin Seeds
  • 2 teaspoons chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ½ teaspoon fenugreek seed
  • 2 teaspoons mustard oil
  • 1 cup sugar
  • Salt to taste
  • Some raisins
  • 1 cup Water

Method

  • In a pressure cooker, add lapsi and water enough to cover all the lapsi and cook for 5 to 8 whistle.
  • Take out the lapsi from the pressure cooker and check if it is cooked well and its skin comes off easily.

bolied lapsi

  • Peel off the skin and set aside. Put the rest of the laspi in a bowl.

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  • In a big pan, heat oil and add fenugreek seed until it is dark brown in colour.
  • Turn off the heat and add turmeric powder. Let it fry for a few seconds.
  • Now add all the lapsi to the pan.
  • Add sugar, chill, salt, mix well and cook on low heat.
  • Once the mixture become a bit thick, let it cool down.
  • Now add raisins and the achar is ready.
  • The lapsi ko achar can be eaten for several days. If it lasts that long 🙂

Lapsi ko achar

4 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepal, Nepali food, Recipe

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My Life Lesson No 1: Say what you are thinking

Posted on April 19, 2014 | 21 comments

I was reading the title of this post again and again. I couldn’t believe I was going to write about life lessons but I guess I could now as I have some life experience. I definitely want to write about what I have learned in my not very long life and share it here hoping it might be helpful to someone.

Having a husband like AS, who can be your therapist and psychiatrist is a great plus point in life. He has always helped me a lot ,especially when I am in pain or in my weakness. There are lots of things he has taught me and one of the thing he has always encouraged me is to tell people what I feel and what is in my head.

I used to be a people person, trying hard to be friends, hard to be responsible in every relation I have like a daughter, sister, friend, cousin, SIL, DIL etc. However, most of the time, no one really saw my sacrifice to please them; actually in most case it went unnoticed. I didn’t even get a simple thank you instead I was taken for granted by the vary people who I was trying to please so hard.

The way I used to deal with it in the past was to just get sad and upset but never in front of the people who said or did something to get me upset. It used to make me feel down to the point I used to cry and make me doubt my every move. I even fought with AS when he tried his best to get me out of my emotion whirlpool.

It took hours and in some cases days to recover from those messes. On the other hand, the person who hurt me had no clue that I was upset let along care that they caused me pain.

So recently I adapted the rule “Say what you are thinking”.

Funny enough it worked so well for me because now I just let them know in kinder words that their action/word had hurt me. In most cases, they seemed to be surprise and say sorry. In others, they didn’t have a better come back so they just ignored it, but still getting my feeling out there was a big relief.

For me it was the best as I spent less time thinking about it as it is already resolved from my side and now I can use the same energy in something better and I am a happier person. I know it may not work every time but I am sticking to it as it has definitely lessen my pain and anguish.

Let me know if you agree with my views?

P.S. We are in Central coast for our easter break. Hope everyone is having a great Easter too. HAPPY EASTER !!!

21 Comments

Posted in My Life Lesson

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Pau Kwa (Nepali hog plum – Choerospondias axillaris)

Posted on April 17, 2014 | 8 comments

While I was in Nepal, my mum made pau (Pau Kwa – a hot and sour drink) for me. I forgot to take photos of every step but here is easy recipe that she followed.

lapsi

Unfortunately, I can’t make it here as I can’t find lapsi here but if you want to try it, please follow these steps.

Ingredients:

  • ½ kg lapsi
  • 1 tea spoon fenugreek seed
  • 2 teaspoons black salt (Birae Nun)
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 3 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • Chopped coriander to garnish
  • Salt to taste
  • Water

 Procedure

  • In a pressure cooker, add lapsi and water enough to cover all the lapsi and cook until 5 – 8 whistles.
  • Take out lapsi from the pressure cooker and check if the lapsi cooked well and its skin comes off easily.

bolied lapsi

  • Take out the skin and seed and mash the remaining lapsi pulp (pau) with 2 cups of water . Use hand or whisker to mix the pau so you get the right thickness. Add water until you get the thickness you like. I normally like mine thin, like the consistency of orange juice.
  • Add black salt, salt, and chilli powder and mix well.
  • In a pan, heat the oil.
  • Now add the fenugreek seed and fry it until it turns dark brown.
  • Add this to the pau.
  • Garnish with chopped coriander and pau kwa is ready.

paau

8 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepal, Nepali food, Recipe

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Game Of Thrones Season 4 – the shocker

Posted on April 16, 2014 | 10 comments

Like all the other fans of Game of Thrones series, I was impatiently waiting for the season 4 to start as well. It had been more than 10 months. I started reading the book a while ago but then stopped as I wanted to enjoy the series first and enjoy the suspense every episode carries.

I was really excited when I got to watch the first episode last week. When it ended I couldn’t get enough and was eagerly waiting for the next one which I watched last night.

*SPOILER ALERT**

Please don’t read further if you haven’t watched the series and plan to watch it.

Having disliked Joffrey for 3 seasons now, I was waiting for someone to kill him and I secretly wished it to happen horribly but I was in for a shocker at the way he has been killed off on his wedding day.

Because he is one of the most hated characters in the show, I though he will be there for a while but no, they just decided to kill him. I am not shocked that he died but of the way he died. I wanted him to be killed in a much more brutal way than just a simple poising. I’m sure many people also felt he deserved a more extreme end than a simple, straight forward poisoning – which only took only about 20 seconds to kill him.

When we finished watching the show yesterday, I was a bit upset because that is not how I wanted the episode to end. However, having watched the series for 3 seasons now I should definitely have expected the unexpected from a writer who bumps off our favourite characters one by one.

Now everyone is speculating on who actually killed the king. I am so eager to find out and can’t wait for the next episode. AS knows as he’s read all the books but he just keeps mum on the topic!

Are you watching Games of Throne? Share your thoughts?

Take care until my next post.

XOXO

M from nepaliaustralian

10 Comments

Posted in General, Movie Review

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