Tag Archives: M from nepaliaustralian

Chhori update

Thank you everyone who sent me emails letting me know that you enjoy my blog or to let me know that my blog has helped you in some way or emailing to ask some questions or just to say hello.  I am trying to reply to everyone as soon as I can. I am really happy to answer question or help in any way possible so please do not stop writing.

I got a few emails asking about Chhori so here is an update.

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Chhori is 16 months now (I know it makes me feel very old) and is running around a lot.

When we are out and about, she loves to walk around so one of us has to be behind her at all times. She enjoys people and has started saying a few words like

  • Mama
  • Hi
  • Bye
  • Ma (grandma)
  • Ba (grandpa)
  • Pa (water)
  • Mum mum – food

AS constantly tries to teach her to say “dada” or “daddy: but so far no success.

chhori (1)On top of these words, she mumbles a lot. If I ask her what does a dog do, she will say “bow bow” and for a duck she will go “quack quack “ and cow is “mooooo”

Even though she doesn’t talk properly yet, she understands almost everything we tell her. I have named all her toys so when I ask her to pick one toy out of many; she understands what I am talking about. She uses lots of sign language and gets what she wants done using them. I have to admit, she has both parents wrapped around her tiny cute finger already.

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She also knows actions to many rhymes like “itsy bitsy spider”, “head shoulder”, “twinkle twinkle”, “five little monkeys” and quite a few more. I love to watch her when she does these actions as she looks super cute. (I know I am biased :))

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My parents, especially my mum is looking after her 5 days a week while we are at work. I am very grateful that they decided to come and help me. A few days a week, my nephew comes over too so my parents have their hands full. Chhori really enjoys my nephew’s company and she is always happy around people. I guess she is going to be one social being.

As it is winter here, it gets dark around 5pm these days. Every day when it is dark outside, Chhori comes over to the door every 5 minutes to check if AS and I are home yet. As soon as we enter the house, her face lights up and most of the time she shows her happiness by clapping her hands. If I ask her to come and hug me, she will run and hug me and plant a big kiss on my cheeks. I am so enjoying being a mum and I love her so much.

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Most of the day, my mum gives some update about the day and sometimes it is a complaint that Chhori refuses to eat some meals while other days about the fight between Chhori and my nephew. I think my mum loves to describe her day with the kids. I believe that there is a special bond between grandparents and grandkids.

Recently we went to a friend’s baby’s christening and Chhori surprised everyone including me by sitting on a high hair for the whole time and eating a normal meal. She loves using a fork so we take her eating set wherever we go. So she enjoyed roast duck, broccoli, potatoes, noodles and water melon. I break them into small pieces so she can use her fork. She loved it and was happy to sit and eat.

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Also during one of the parties we went to, there was music and people were dancing so she went around the dance floor and started clapping and did her own little dance and she looked so adorable.

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As a mum, I am very biased and love everything about her. I am sure every parent is like that. 🙂  Will have another updater soon.

Please share about your little one.

Thank you one again everyone and take care.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

 

Pan fried Chicken Gizzard

As I have mentioned in my previous post, in Nepal, a goat’s brain (gidi), feet (khutta), head (tauko), stomach (bhundi), tongue (jibro), liver (kalejo), kidney, lungs (phokso), fried intestines (aandra), fried solidified blood (rakati) are considered delicacies and are in very high demand during Dashain and other festivals. We also eat certain parts of chicken apart from the usual.

I know some of you might feel squeamish even thinking about eating offal but believe me if you love your meat, you will love these dishes. Another thing is that eating offal uses the parts of the animal that might otherwise be wasted. As it takes 10 kilos of cereal to produce one kilo of meat we should not waste any part of the carcass. Unless you deliberately avoid meat, eating offal should be regarded as “green”.

Today I am sharing the recipe to cook chicken gizzard. A gizzard is an organ found in the digestive tract of a chicken. Similar to a stomach, the gizzard is used to grind up the foods the bird eats. Eating gizzards provide a healthy dose of certain vitamins and minerals.

Chicken Gizzard is a very popular appetizer and tastes really good.

Ingredients

  • 500 gm Chicken Gizzard, cleaned
  • 1 teaspoon Ginger/Garlic Paste
  • 1 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Cumin Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Coriander Powder
  • 3 teaspoon Vegetable Oil
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Clean the chicken gizzards and boil them for 5 minutes until they are tender.

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  • Drain them and let it cool for a few minutes.

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  • Cut them into bite size pieces

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  • In a big bowl, add ginger garlic paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt with chicken gizzard and mix them well.

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  • Heat oil in a pan and add the gizzard and fry for around 8-10 minutes.

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  • Keep stirring occasionally until they are brown on all side.
  • Serve hot as an appetizer.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

P.S.S: If you blog about Nepal, please visit my new page .

Okra (lady’s finger) fry

I have to admit, we don’t cook too many different types of veggies when we are on our own but since my parents came here we always have vegetables in every meal. Normally my mum cooks them and I am trying to learn how to cook them :).

Here is an easy recipe for Okra (lady’s finger). I know it might not be everyone’s favourite but it tastes so yummy when done the right way. I am not a big fan of it either but when my mums make it I just love it :). Just remember not to add water.

Ingredients

  • Okra- 250 gm washed, dried and chopped into small pieces

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  • ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
  • ½ tablespoon garlic paste
  • 1 teaspoon of chilli powder
  • ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
  • Cooking Oil – 1 ½ tablespoon
  • Salt to taste

    Method

  • Wash the okra, dry them, chop and throw away tip and tail ends. Chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
  • In a pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds and let them brown.
  • Add garlic paste and let it fry for a few minutes, stir them for few seconds.
  • Add turmeric powder and add okra and mix well.
  • Fry on medium high heat for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally.
  • Add salt and reduce to low flame and cover it and cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
  • The okra is cooked when it turns soft.

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  • Enjoy!

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

P.S.S: If you blog about Nepal, please visit my new page .

Specialist visit

When Chhori was around 6 months old, I saw a dark line underneath her left ring finger. She had just started to crawl so I thought she had managed to hit her finger somewhere and it caused a blood clot under her nail. I just checked if she was OK and let it be.

When I cut the nail the next time I noticed that the new nail still had the line so I got a bit worried. I googled it and there were many posts from birth marks to cancer. So we visited our GP to make sure it was nothing to worry about. He checked her and referred her to a specialist to check it further just to be safe.

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It took us almost 2 months to get an appointment and so we finally went for a visit on last Friday. We both took a day off work for the visit.

About 3 hours before the appointment time, I got a text letting me know that the doctor is running an hour late so we adjusted our day accordingly. When we arrived there, we had to wait around 5-10 minutes before it was our turn. In that time, we filled out the paper work and made sure Chhori didn’t break anything while she was busy exploring the place. She has become so active recently that she needs a full time minder when we are out and about. I was scared she might hurt herself or break something.

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Anyway, when it was out turn the doctor came in and introduced herself. She checked Chhori’s nail and said that it was just a mole and there was nothing to worry about which was quite a relief. She took a photo of her finger in her phone, also under a microscope and asked us to come back next year so she can examine Chhori again for any changes.

I was confused for a while because she was literally done in less than 2 minutes and it was all over so quickly. I can understand that she was busy and all that but we paid $235 for the consultation and it was done in 2 minutes.

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I am super happy that Chhori is OK and we don’t have to worry about it but at the same time I don’t understand how a dermatologist can get away with charging $235 for a 2 minutes consultation. I guess I am in the wrong profession.

Does anyone out there have a similar experience? Do you think the doctors are getting more money than the service may be worth?

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015

Nepali breakfast treat

It always feels great when we discover something authentically Nepali in Sydney. Sometimes in life, even a small thing can make you happy and that is what I felt when we discovered that there is a Nepali restaurant which serves Nepali style breakfast.

I think everyone has fond memories from their childhood and one of mine is yummy food for breakfast when in Nepal, like gwaramari, puri, malpuwa, jeri, swari and other delicacies. It is not every day that we eat these foods but usually on weekends I would wait for my dad to come home with some for us.

Last week, one of our friends mentioned that, a Nepali restaurant is serving Nepali style breakfast on the weekends. I couldn’t wait to go and taste them so we went there on Sunday along with my parents and some friends.

We heard that the place gets busy very early and the last time our friends were there they had to wait a while for a table so we went early and I was happy to see most of the tables empty. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet style breakfast.

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They served puri, jeri, potatoes curry, brown chick peas, kheer (rice pudding) and tea.  I took a bit of everything and I really enjoyed the breakfast. AS, my parents and friends were very happy with the breakfast as well. Chhori ate some rice pudding and some puri too. These days she really enjoys our food so we try to feed her a little of everything.

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The owner was very accommodating as well giving us jeri without sugar syrup fresh off the stove and sugarless tea as my dad is diabetic.

I am sure if I eat this regularly, you won’t be able to recognise me as I can’t control the amount I eat but it is a great place to go occasionally. We already plan to go there in a few months’ time. 🙂

What is your special breakfast? Have you tried any Nepali treats?

Happy Monday everyone and Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S: Do not forget to nominate your favourite blog. NEPALIAUSTRALIAN’s Blog Award 2015