Tag Archives: nepali australian

Chhori’s visit to the Zoo in Nepal

Posted on April 12, 2017 | 9 comments

The last time we went to zoo was when we went to Nepal with my then 6 months nephew. This time we wanted to take the little girls, Chhori and our niece, there.

The zoo is located a few kilometres away from the city centre, Kathmandu. It is the only zoo in Nepal but there has been about talk about opening another zoo somewhere else as well.

We went there with AS’s mum, his two brothers, sister in law and niece. We really wanted the girls to have a good time. As it was Saturday afternoon, as expected the zoo was busy with many families coming for an afternoon out. It was a warm sunny day which was great.

The zoo is arranged according to taxonomy, with mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes all occupying different parts of the zoo. There are also playground rides, picnic lawns and boat rides on the lake.

The zoo houses some 780 species including the critically endangered white-rumped vulture and Chinese alligator and six endangered species: Asian elephant, royal Bengal tiger, one horned rhino, wild buffalo, gharial and yellow headed turtle.

Along with these animals, there was a hippo that was lazily sunbathing, a hyena, a giant deer, peacocks, white-napped crane, two big rhinos, monkeys, water buffalo, chimpanzees, leopards, bear, tigers, lions as well as golden pheasants, silver pheasants, chukar, kalij, parrots, owls. They also had a small reptile collection which featured a common cobra, an Indian rock python, snakes and a turtle.

As we walked from one enclosure to another, I could see the girls’ excitement. They would make noises of the animals that we saw or count the birds.

Chhori loves to look at real animals as she can hear them make noises and she gets really excited. I am so glad that she got time to spend with our families in Nepal and the girls did bond well despite fighting from time to time.

After the whole tour of the zoo, we were all tired so decided to go to a nearby restaurant for our favorite momo and Nepali food.

I have mentioned before that Chhori loves momo and she was over the moon in Nepal getting to eat so many times. In one occasion, she surprised us all by eating 8 momos in one sitting.  I guess she is showing us her Nepali side.  🙂

I hope everyone is having a great week. Take care till next time.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

9 Comments

Posted in Holidays, Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal 2017

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nepali style chowmein

Posted on April 11, 2017 | 3 comments

After momo, chowmein is one of the most popular dishes in Nepal. I have been cooking it for a while but getting the right texture and taste took me a while. Now I am happy with it so I am sharing the recipe here.

Ingredient

  • 1 pack cooked ready to eat Singaporean noodle (you can use any noodle as you like)
  • 200gm thigh fillets
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped Ginger
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped Garlic
  • 1 onion thinly sliced
  • 1 medium carrot thinly sliced
  • ¼ cabbage thinly sliced
  • ½ capsicum thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 tablespoon chili sauce
  • 1 tablespoon tomato sauce / ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp pepper powder(chili powder optional)
  • 1/2 cup spring onions chopped
  • Coriander to garnish
  • Salt as required

Method

  • Boil the thigh fillets for 10 minutes and let it cool. Slice it thinly.
  • Heat oil and add boiled chicken and cook until it is brown. Season with salt and pepper. Keep it aside

  • In the same pan, heat oil and add finely chopped ginger and finely chopped garlic. Then add sliced onion and sauté it for a couple of minutes until the onions turn translucent.

  • Now add cabbage, carrots, capsicum and cook for a few minutes. Do not overcook the vegetables.

  • Then add chili sauce, tomato ketchup, soy sauce and vinegar.

  • Add the cooked noodles and mix it well with the vegetables and the sauces.

  • Now add the cooked chicken, salt, pepper and spring onions and turn off the heat.

  • Serve hot and garish with coriander.

Take care,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

3 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Recipe

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Chandragiri hill

Posted on April 9, 2017 | 2 comments

When we were in Kathmandu this time, we didn’t get time to go out of valley but we still managed to go to a few places within the valley. One glorious sunny morning we started a trip to the newly opened Chandragiri Hill.

Located 16 km from Kathmandu, Chandragiri hill is in Thankot and it took us around 30 minutes to drive there. They have recently introduced cable car to the top of the hill making it good place for a family day out. We bought our tickets a few days in advance from Bhatbhateni supermarket so we didn’t have to queue up once we reached there.

When we reached the base of the hill, I was already very happy to see an amazing view of the surrounding mountains and hills. We quickly caught a cable car to the top. The ride is around two and a half kilometres long taking us around 9 minutes to reach the top.

When we reached on the top and came out into the open area, we were welcomed by the beautiful Himalayan range. The panoramic views of Kathmandu Valley and the Himalayan range from Annapurna to Everest makes you feel as if you were seeing the whole of Nepal from this hill. I am so glad we got there early in the morning because; the view from the top was worth it.

People used to trek for hours to get to the top of this hill to watch the same view which we were lucky enough to enjoy with the new cable car ride in just a few minutes.

On top of the hill there are restaurants, a kids’ play area, a resort, a multipurpose hall and shops as well.

Once we enjoyed the view of the beautiful landscape, we decided to walk further up to the temple of Lord Shiva, Bhaleshwor Mahadev.

We prayed to the god, went around the temple and then to the nearby restaurant to have our lunch.

It was Shivaratri that day so there was only vegetarian option on the menu. We all enjoyed the lunch and kids had a good time too.

After lunch we went to the other side of the hill which is where the kids’ play area is. I was so glad that they had thought things through and had so many different things for kids to enjoy including slides, rides, see-saw, climbing robes, swings etc.

Chhori and our niece spent more than an hour there and didn’t want to leave as they were having so much fun.

We all had a great time too with the whole family and it was definitely one of the best outing place to go near Kathmandu.

If you are looking for a good escape from the city and don’t have much time in Kathmandu, this day trip is highly recommended.

If you like to hike, you can still do so using the route from Matatirtha-Chandragiri- Chitlang. This hike takes you through forest and hills offering scenic views of Kathmandu valley and through Chitlang taking around 5-6 hours to complete the entire hike.

This much for today. I will come back with more posts from Nepal soon.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

2 Comments

Posted in Nepal 2017

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dal (lentil) fry

Posted on April 7, 2017 | 17 comments

I have written a recipe about dal before but this one is slightly different as this is thicker and I have used different spices.

  • ½ cup red lentils
  • ½ cup  brown lentils
  • 1 pinch turmeric powder
  • 1 tablespoon ghee
  • 1 medium red onion finely chopped
  • ½ inch ginger crushed
  • 6 garlic cloves crushed
  • 2 dry red chilies
  • 1 teaspoon methi, crushed
  • 1 large tomato finely chopped
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
  • ½ teaspoon coriander powder
  • ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
  • ½ to ⅔ cup water or add as required
  • salt as required
  • 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ½ inch cinnamon stick
  • 2 to 3 cloves
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 1 bay leaf

Instructions

  • In a pressure cooker, pour all lentils and add 1 teaspoon salt, a pinch of turmeric powder and add 2 cups water.
  • Cook for 15 minutes on a low to medium flame.
  • When cooked, the lentils should be soft. Lightly mash and keep aside.
  • In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon ghee and add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamoms and bay leaf to the pan and sauté them till they crackle and become fragrant.

  • Add turmeric powder, ginger garlic and fry for a few minutes.
  • Now add the chopped onions and fry till the onions turn light golden brown.

  • Add chilli and methi and stir for a minute.
  • Add the chopped tomatoes; stir and sauté till the tomatoes soften.

  • Now add chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and mix with the rest of the onion-tomato masala.

  • Add the cooked dal and mix well.

  • Add water and stir very well and season with salt as required.

  • Simmer the dal on a low flame till the dal thickens a bit. Keep on stirring the dal at intervals so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
  • When the dal is done, switch off the flame, add chopped coriander leaves .

Take care and have a great weekend.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

17 Comments

Posted in Foodie, Nepali food, Recipe

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Chhori turns 2: the celebration party

Posted on April 5, 2017 | 10 comments

We decided to have a party to celebrate Chhori’s birthday with our friends and family after puja. We started planning when we were here in Sydney with my in laws so we had a venue booked months in advance. I also found photographer via Facebook so they were booked for the day as well.

I am sure anyone who is trying to book an event from overseas goes through lots of frustrations when you can’t find the right vendor to execute your ideas. I had the same problem when we planned our wedding and it was no different this time.

We had no idea what was available in Nepal in terms of decoration so I bought everything I could think of from here and I am so glad I did. Because when we got there, I couldn’t get the things that we wanted.

As the venue and photographer were sorted, the next big thing was cake and decoration. I bought the Dora cake topper from here so we got the baker to do a cake with those. I was pretty happy with the cake.

We also ordered cupcakes which did not turn out as planned. The cupcake was not the pink colour we wanted and it was not decorated as we had explained but I guess we shouldn’t have set our expectation too high since everyone seemed to use their own ideas instead of following ours 😦

The biggest problem we faced was not finding a person to do helium balloons. After searching and talking to so many people, finally when I put out a call for help on Facebook and a friend gave us the number of a guy who did the balloons. We got the number just a day before the party and I was so worried on what to do until then.

The other big problem was our outfit. I had this vision to have me and Chhori wearing similar colour outfit and AS can have tie to coordinate with us. It turned out choosing the outfit was not easy as I planned because there are too many choices. Finally after going to a few boutiques, I settled on golden and fuchsia pink lengha and Chhori was getting fuchsia pink princess style gown.

It took many visits to get the dresses right fitting but the end result was perfect. I loved them.

It was a big job to find fuchsia pink tie in Kathmandu. The shop keepers had millions of other suggestions on the tie if they didn’t have the one I needed. But finally we found a shop that sold one and was super happy with it.

When the day of party arrived I was happy as most of the stuff were sorted. I got my make-up done and got dressed and got Chhori ready. AS was busy getting the decoration finished and picking up the cake.

He has always been so supportive of my ideas and when I plan, he helps me to make my plans come true. I think we complement each other well.

The photographers were already at the venue when we arrived. I was glad to see all the decoration looked as we planned. The hall was looking beautiful with hundreds of white and pink balloons floating around.

We had a few hours left before the guests arrived so we took photos of Chhori, us and with our parents.

 

Slowly, the venue started to fill with family and friends. I hadn’t met many of them for a while so it was great time for all of us.

After a couple of hours into the party, we cut the cake and then on to the dance floor as usual.

I had been teaching Chhori to dance to the Nepali move song “Sirai ma sirbandi” for the last few month but I didn’t know if she would dance or not. But she made us so proud by dancing to the song with all the right moves and steps. She actually danced twice to the song and we got some amazing photos and video of that. She was looking totally adorable and princessy in her cute outfit.

All our relatives were dancing and enjoying themselves as well. It was a really happy occasion for us to celebrate the birthday of our beautiful daughter with our close family and friends.

By 10 pm the guests had dinner and stared to leave. Chhori was really tired and was fast sleep on the sofa. It was a long day but we were very happy with the end result.

Chhori was spoiled by everyone with gifts, dresses and money. I know Chhori doesn’t understand much yet but we have some great photos and videos that she can go through when she is a bit older.

I will write more about our trip to Nepal in the next post. Till then take care.

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

10 Comments

Posted in Being Mum, Celebrations, Holidays, Nepal 2017, Our daughter, Travel

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,