Prabal Gurung made a 13 years old boy’s dream come true

Posted on October 5, 2012 | 8 comments

I have always loved Prabal Gurung and I respect him more now after reading this heart-warming story. I am sure you will start liking him too (if you are not his fan already) after you read this.

If you want to read more about him, you can do it here, here, here and here.

A 13 year old, Jeremy Miller, wrote a hand written note to Prabal Gurung which Prabal posted on his Instagram with the following note.

This melts my heart. The best note I have ever received. Who knew an affirmation for something I love doing would come from a 13 year old. @jerbear_fd601 you really made my day!!! Xo PG

So in reply Prabal sends him a shirt from his collection. Isn’t that sweet of him? Then Jeremy posted the following photos wearing the t-shirt. Prabal Gurung posted the following photo with a note in his Instagram.

Y’all this is my 13 year old Instagram buddy Jeremy who really touched my heart yesterday with his sweetest note so I thought why not return the gesture and look he looks adorable in our Fall12 Tee, no? He reminds me of my own nephew Arhant. @theboyoffashion @jerbear_fd601 dare to dream and inspire all of us. I am excited for your future!!!! PG

I am so touched by his gesture. I hope my dream of wearing his collection and meeting him one day will come true as well. Waiting for his collection to come Down Under!!!

You may also like :

*More stars shines under Prabal Gurung’s collection *Love you, Prabal Gurung *Sneak peak on Prabal Gurung for Target

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I was reading a blog “living in west with values of east”. I was shocked when I found out who its author is :)

Posted on October 4, 2012 | 25 comments

I am sure by now all of you know that I really enjoy writing and I am blessed to have so many readers following my blog. I am happy to find this online world where I can share my opinions and experiences and above all to find supportive people who read my blog and share their opinions with me.

You must be wondering what the hell the title of this post means.

I have been blogging for a while now and except my husband no one around me knows about it. There are a few people who know my identity and know that I blog but they have all come across my blog first and then got to know my identity later.

Initially, I didn’t really see it as necessary for people around me to know about my blog because I was not sure where this blog was going. Now after a year I think it is not that important to tell everyone around me that I blog. I haven’t really found anyone who blogs so I always assume that they won’t be interested.

But at the same time I knew that at some point of time my family and friends would find my blog. The World Wide Web is so open that if they Google something relating to Nepal or Nepali festival or Nepali culture, there is a high possibility that they will land on my blog. They will recognise me straight away if they are in my Facebook as I use the same photos on both platforms.

I have to admit that my parents will be happy to find out that I write on a regular basis. As you know now that I have a few articles published in +977 magazines here in Sydney. Every time it is out in the market, I put that on my Facebook. I wasn’t sure who was reading it but one time my dad mentioned that he has read all my articles and he loved it. He said it is really nice to see me writing and expressing myself. I had sent a few copies of the magazine to Nepal and my mum was so proud that she was showing it to her friends.

Anyway back to the title of this post. This morning on my Facebook page, one of my cousins wrote, “I was reading a blog “living in west with values of east”. I was shocked when I found out who its author is 🙂 🙂 🙂.”

I smiled reading it because I thought my friends and family would have found my blog a long time ago and it took one of them over a year to do so :).

So I would like to welcome to my blog my cousin sister GA who lives in USA. She said she was reading some blog post from this blog and kept clicking on different photos until she got a post with a photo that had her in it. I think that must have been a bit of a shock for her. BTW here is the photo and she is the small kid in the middle. That photo was taken at least 13 years ago.

I am sure many of my other cousins and family members will find this blog in the future and I am ok with that. Most of my cousins live far from me so I think this blog will give them some insight into me and my life 🙂

While I am at this, I want to address another query. I get lots of people asking me why I am anonymous and why I blur the faces in my photos. I even have some people writing to me angrily that blurring photos are not cool.

I know some of you may not like it but one and only reason for my action is purely for the sake of privacy.

My life is like an open book on this web so I don’t want everyone to know where I live and other details of my life. Also I don’t want to use my real name on the blog because I don’t want people to Google my name and land on this blog especially if they are my future employer or someone looking for me in an official capacity. Anyway after year of blogging, I know now that my friends on blogosphere are happy to call me M or nepaliaustralian. So thank you guys for accepting me with my anonymity. Hope everyone else who is angry with my anonymity will respect my reason for my privacy and accept me as M from nepaliaustralian.

Does your family and friends know that you blog? Does it make any difference if they know? 

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St Peters Basilica : Vatican

Posted on October 3, 2012 | 6 comments

We went to St Peter’s Basilica on Vatican city tour.  One must wear proper cloth that covers shoulders and legs in order to go into the Basilica.

St Peter’s Basilica is the largest Christian church in the world. It is the symbolic “Mother church” of the Catholic Church and is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites.

Stepping inside St. Peter’s Basilica, you can see and feel the grandness of the church.  The place is so huge and beautiful that it must have cost a fortune to construct something so amazing. The church roof was really high and the letters on the wall just below the roof were actually over 6 feet tall even though they looked so small from the floor of the church. We could see people on the gallery near the roof and they were the same size as the letters.

The big altar, the decorated ceilings, the sun shining through the stained glass windows of the basilica were just awesome and the main altar was about 10 stories high. The details on every pole were just awesome and we could have easily spent hours admiring the work of great architects and sculptures. The natural light coming from above illuminates the church and spreads subdued radiance all around.

The Papal Altar and rising above it is the Baldacchino

The altar in St. Peter’s is made of bronze, just the way the requestor wanted it to be.  The designer at the time, however, was unable to find enough bronze in all of Rome to make it.  So, the requestor told the designer to use the bronze in the Pantheon.  So, the designer went and drilled numerous holes in the Pantheon, taking out the bronze he needed to finish his work.

The whole church is filled with renaissance monuments, statues, trimmings, and sculptures in meticulous motifs/details and maintained in utmost attention. In there, we also saw the famous Renaissance masterpiece that was sculpted by Michelangelo called Pietà.

Pieta

The structure is pyramidal, and the vertex coincides with Virgin Mary’s head. The statue widens progressively down the drapery of Mary’s dress, to the base, the rock of Golgotha. The figures are quite out of proportion, owing to the difficulty of depicting a fully grown man cradled full-length in a woman’s lap. Much of Mary’s body is concealed by her monumental drapery, and the relationship of the figures appears quite natural. Michelangelo’s interpretation of the Pieta was far different from those previously created by other artists, as he sculpted a young and beautiful Mary rather than an older woman around 50 years of age.

Here is an interesting story behind the Pieta.

Created by Michelangelo before he was famous, Michelangelo never put his name on his works.  No matter what the work is, you can’t find his name anywhere.  There is an exception, of course.  Shortly after Michelangelo made it, another sculptor of the time began to claim that the Pieta was his work.  This was of course quickly disproven, but Michelangelo got fed up with it.  He snuck into St. Peter’s late one night, and carved this across the sash running across Mary’s breast:  MICHAELA[N]GELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTIN[US] FACIEBA[T] (Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, made it).  There is one more important piece of information about the Pieta.

It sits today behind thick bullet-proof glass.

Next was the chapel of the tomb of Pope John Paul II, whose remains were placed beneath the altar.

We also saw a statue of St. Peter with the foot extremely worn down from all of the people touching it. It is believed that if you touch his foot, your wishes will be fulfilled.

The bronze statue of Saint Peter

We also had a chance to go down the grottoes, beneath the basilica, where there are many tombs. Although surrounded by tombs, it did not have an eerie feeling.

Here are few photos from the Basilica. Even though our guide told us what each of the statues and altars were about, I couldn’t recall them when I looked at the photos after coming back to Australia. Thanks to internet, I managed to identify most of them.

Altar of Falsehood

Altar of St Jerome

Michelangelo’s dome

Please click here for more photos.

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Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Tikka Masala

Posted on October 2, 2012 | 4 comments

Here is another simple recipe from my favourite chef, Jamie Oliver.

Ingredients

• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 3 inches of fresh ginger, peeled
• 2–3 fresh red chillies, deseeded
• olive oil
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 3 tablespoons garam masala
• ³⁄₄ cup plain yogurt
• 4 medium chicken breasts, skinned and cut into large chunks



• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 medium onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons tomato purée
• a small handful of ground cashew nuts or almonds
• salt to taste
• ¹⁄₂ cup heavy cream
• a handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• juice of 1–2 limes

 Steps

  • Grate the garlic and ginger on the finest side of a cheese grater and put to one side in a bowl.
  • Chop the chillies as finely as you can and mix them in with the ginger and garlic.

  • Heat a good splash of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start to pop, add them to the ginger and garlic mixture along with the paprika, cumin, ground coriander and 2 tablespoons of the garam masala.

  • Put half of this mix in a bowl, add the yogurt and the chicken pieces to it, stir and leave to marinate for half an hour or so.

  • Melt the butter in the saucepan the mustard seeds were in and add the sliced onions and the remaining half of the spice mix.

  • Cook gently for 15 minutes or so without browning too much – it should start to smell fantastic! Add the tomato purée, the ground nuts, 2 cups of water and a teaspoon of salt. Stir well and simmer gently for a few minutes. Let this sauce reduce until it thickens slightly and then place to one side.

  • Put the marinaded chicken on a hot griddle pan or barbecue and sear until cooked through – you can also do this under a preheated broiler if you like.

  •  Warm the sauce and add the cream and the other tablespoon of garam masala.

  • Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary. As soon as it boils, take off the heat and add the grilled chicken. Check the seasoning once more and serve sprinkled with the chopped coriander and the lime juice.

  • Then all you need is a huge bowl of steaming rice and some poppadums !

You may also like :

*Jamie’s Crackin’ Crab Briks, Couscous Salad & Salsa *Jamie Oliver Szechuan stir fry with chicken and brown rice *Jamie Oliver’s Dan Dan Noodles

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Vatican City: Vatican

Posted on October 1, 2012 | 10 comments

Vatican City is a Holy place for most Christians and is one of the must see places if you are in Rome. We were in Vatican City twice during our trip.

St Peter’s Square

I am sure all of you know Vatican City is a tiny country in itself. It is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), and a population of just over 800. This makes Vatican City the smallest independent state in the world by both area and population.

The city is ruled by the bishop of Rome, the Pope, who is the head of state and head of government of this city. As an independent state, the Vatican has its own postal service, currency, newspaper, radio station and army. The flamboyantly dressed Swiss Guards were founded in 1506 by Julius II to defend the Papal States against invading armies and are responsible for the pope’s personal security even today.

The place has really impressive architecture and I can’t believe how well built and maintained the tiny country is. Large vaulted ceilings and tall building, statues of saints in every direction.

On the square lies the amazing structure of 100+ columns on both sides. While walking past the columns that surrounded the square we could see an Egyptian obelisk in the centre, with two fountains on the sides all looking at the magnificent Saint Peter’s Basilica.

The obelisk is about 25m high. It is also a sun dial and its shadows mark noon over the signs of the zodiac in the white marble disks in the paving of the square.

On one side of the square, there is the Apostolic Palace which is actually a group of buildings including the Papal Apartment.


 Papal Apartment

The Papal Apartment is the top floor of the Apostolic Palace where the pope resides. The top two right windows are the study and bedroom of the pope. On Sundays at noon, the pope usually appears at the second window from the right to pray the Angelus and bless the crowd in the Square.

The day we were there was Sunday as well so there were lots of people around in Vatican waiting to be blessed by the pope. The pope was in Milan that Sunday so he performed a TV blessing instead. The guide explained that square was not very busy that day like most Sundays when the Pope is in the city.

Even though I am not a Christian, I am really fascinated by history and religion. I have watched movies like Dark Angels and Da Vinci Codes which have taught a lot of things to me. Also AS is an avid reader and he has some knowledge of the Bible as well as lots of other books so he is my guide when I get lost with the history and religion. When he is lost too there is always Google.

Vatican Museum

The next morning, we had a local tour guide with us who took us inside the Vatican. I really liked her as she had so much knowledge and I could tell that she loved her job.

There was a long queue outside the Vatican main gate when we arrived there at 7.30am. As we were with tour and the guide had already booked our tickets, we didn’t need to wait on the queue. Instead we were escorted straight inside the Vatican City. At the entrance we were informed that flash photography was not allowed as it ruins the frescoes. Unfortunately, once inside I realised that no one was really following the rules as everywhere I looked I could see the flash of cameras.

When we got inside the guide went to get our tickets so we had time to look around while we waited. There were a few plasma TVs around the place and most of the inside was made out of the marble. There was heavy security like at airports so we needed to send our things through scanners. Once the guide came back she gave all of us our tickets.

Once we cleared the security, we took the accelerator to the other level and we were led into a big garden.

We stooped there for 15 minutes while she explained in detail about the Sistine Chapel. I am so fascinated by the whole history of the Sistine Chapel that I have decided to do a separate post for the chapel. I will post it soon.

From there we were ready to experience the tour of the Vatican Museum. Inside the museum, there were people everywhere. There were tour groups as well as individual tours who were admiring the massive museum arts and sculptures which were collected over the centuries.

First we entered the Raphael Rooms. There are classical sculptures, paintings and masterpieces from the Renaissance, among so many others. I really wished I had recorded what the guide told us about the arts in the museum. She had so much information that I was lost in it all. There were countless of other sculptures and arts that after a while, I was not even sure what they were.

I do remember her tell that they were masterpieces by famous artists like Michaelangelo, Rafael, Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian and many others. The Gallery of the Maps was filled with painted topographical maps.

The ceiling frescoes of the museum looked so marvellous. It looked like a 3D art but the guide explained that they were flat art so cleverly done that it looked like a 3D art.

After she was done explaining, she led us to Sistine Chapel and gave us an hour on our own to admire the beauty of the chapel.  We also went to St Peters Basilica and I will post more on them in my next blog.

Going to Vatican was a really remarkable experience.

Please click here for more photos.

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Posted in Travel, Vatican

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