Seat of Our Pants » Kathmandu

One Year Later

Martin — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 01:08:49 +0000

Today is a good day to remember some of the cool things we did during our trip. Exactly one year ago, we were on our way back from Nagarkot, Nepal. We were pretty roundly hung over, thanks to the scrumptious and thoroughly wet feast our landlord had thrown the night before. All we wanted to do was to get back to our Lazimpat apartment ASAP – a prospect somewhat hindered by the fact that Maoist ex-insurgents had decided to blockade the Kathmandu Valley. The solution was to hang big signs saying ‘TOURIST BUS’ on our vehicles, park our western-looking selves in the front seats and hope that the Maoists were still letting foreigners through. Trying not to look silly by barfing on ourselves was also a priority.

This new year’s celebration is way different. Of course. We live in Mariposa, still figuring out our lives. We are moving towards a more structured life, slowly. What I do think though, and this is perhaps the greatest lesson of our trip — is that we still live our lives the way we did on that day in Nepal. Anything is possible, if we just put your minds to it.

And that’s all the ranting we had for you today. If you’ve missed it, Jaime’s running her own show over at the dailybeeswax.com, while I’m trying to write a book.

Oh and the Maoists did let us back home that day. All it took was bribing a ragtag bunch of 12-year old road-blocking insurgents (at a cost of 3 USD). Good times.

"Anything is possible, Dude!"

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And…We’re Outta Here

Jaime — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:59:24 +0000

Our experience in Nepal has been one of the highlights of our trip, thanks in no short part to Arjun and his family. Without their help, we would be floundering around (much like we are about to do) trying to make educated guesses about what the heck is going on around us.

If you’re heading to Kathmandu and are undecided on where to stay, Arjun runs a cozy little guesthouse in the Lazimpat district (our favorite) of Kathmandu. Send us an email by clicking here and we’ll be happy to forward his information. You should really give this man business. He’s pretty much the nicest guy on the planet.

Until next time, Nepal! (and there most definitely will be a next time) You’ve been amazing.

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Celebrating Nepal – With a New Addition

Jaime — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:54:40 +0000

A few glasses of wine and an inquiry into nose piercing practices in Nepal lead me here:

That’s right. I got my nose pierced. I also used the word Karma today without being cynical. They say travel changes you…(enter Martin’s rolling eyes here)

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Nepali Hot and Spicy Potato (Piro Aloo) Recipe

Jaime — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:25:07 +0000

Our awesome landlord Arjun had us over for the feast last night, instructing us on how to cook everything he prepared for us. In total there were ten dishes. We’re talking a whirlwind tour of Nepali food – and every dish was better than the last.

Piro Aloo was served as a cold snack, but it would probably work just as well as a hot side dish. It’s super easy to make and has a nice bite. The seasoning/spices should really be added to taste, rather than following these quantities exactly. Experiment a little to find the best combination for you.

Piro Aloo

4 large Potatoes, boiled and cubed into 1” pieces an d cooled

4 cloves Garlic, ground into a paste (if grinding isn’t your thing, you can dice the garlic)

1 tsp Fenugreek seeds

1 tbsp Chili powder

1 tsp Salt

2 tbsp Vegetable oil

Heat the oil in a wok or heavy bottomed pan until it’s good and hot.
Drop in the fenugreek seeds, stirring occasionally until they are almost black (if you don’t wait for them to turn black the sees will be bitter).
Add the garlic and turn off the heat.
Stir until cooled slightly then add the chili powder (you don’t want the chili powder to burn, which is why you cool the oil down before adding it).
Add the boiled potato and the salt.
Mash a few of the potatoes with your spoon and stir into the mix
Cook while stirring for 2 minutes and you’re done!

See, super easy, right?

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Kathmandu’s Outdoor Food Market

Jaime — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:55:13 +0000

In celebration of our time together our landlord (pictured) agreed to cook us up some amazing Nepali food before we leave. Not only does he run a tight ship with his rental units, but he also runs a guesthouse, helps to relocate refugees to the US, and was a professional chef for twelve years. The man is a blur of energy – and a darn fine chef so we’re excited for tonight’s feast.

We took a trip to a local food market this morning to pick up the vegetables he needed. We got there as the sun was rising and already the place was packed with people buying their day’s produce. As happens eight hours a day here, the power was out (the government calls this “load shedding”) when we arrived, so the interior of the space was lit by candles. This added a warm intimacy to the very, very large vegetable-stuffed building.

Leafy greens, garlic, onions, ginger, cauliflower, broccoli and tomatoes made up the bulk of the produce on offer. The deal was this: if you want something you have to buy five kilos of it. So, we bought five kilos of everything. Did it break the bank? Well, let’s just say that five kilos of cauliflower cost the equivalent of one US dollar.

I’d say the bank is pretty well intact.

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Kathmandu Photo Gallery

Jaime — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:21:32 +0000

While Martin is busy taking photos of the television, I was snapping photos of our last visit to the market in Kathmandu (OK, to be fair, he was with me and took some of these photos).

We’re leaving Nepal on January 22^nd, so I thought a photo gallery would be a nice way to get some of you pumped about visiting Nepal. It may have it’s fair share of issues, but the people are awesome, there are a million things to see and do and for you foodies – the spices are second to none (and cheap as heck).

brass-in-kathmandu

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Picture 1 of 7

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Our Last Week In Nepal

Jaime — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:15:15 +0000

We gave ourselves three months in Nepal to get started on our book writing. We figured it was as good a place as any to do this – we found a great little apartment outside the crazy part of town, we joined a gym and we started cooking our own food again. In short, it’s been a little paradise.

Well, in less that a week we’ll have to wave goodbye to our life in Kathmandu and hit the road again. I’ve gotta say that I’m a little bummed about leaving. We’ve grown to love it here. Sure, it has it’s issues (as seen here, here and here) but the charm far outweigh all those.

Whats next for us is still up in the air, but we have six days to figure it out – but not tonight. Tonight we’ll toast (maybe a little tearfully) to our last weekend in Nepal.

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The Last Resort for the Reluctant Vegetarians

Martin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:06:51 +0000

Our time here in Nepal has been almost completely vegetarian. It’s not that we don’t trust the meat around these parts – we’re just a bit intimidated by the meat stores. Think giant slabs of meat dripping of fresh blood, piles of decapitated chickens and lumps of liver on the floor.

Still, we do eat meat at times, mostly when someone else cooks it. The other day, however, we decided to make pizza. We knew we wanted a meat topping, but again we wimped out of going to the butcher’s. The options were narrowed down to either Very Expensive deep frozen slices of smoked ham (flown in from Germany), or a slab of Chinese Spam. The Spam won.

It is the very last resort for a meat craving couple. The taste? It isn’t exactly vile, but New York Strip it is not. Think coagulated baby food.

Um. Yum?

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Set Wet – Everyone’s Doing It!

Jaime — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:37:57 +0000

He’s tried the mustache, it was dismal. (Martin: it was brushy and beautiful!!)

Now he’s moved onto another Indian accessory – the set wet hair. We’ve seen commercials for this product for the last four months and just had to give it a try.

Um. Yeah, that’s my husband.

Ouch.

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My, What a Fine Turban You Have There

Jaime — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:29:02 +0000

Life on the road moves at a different pace than in the real world. The key to maintaining a semblance of the person you were before traveling (as opposed to a loser hippie traveler, for example) is to keep yourself busy in creative ways.

Martin and I do this a few different ways. One way is figuring out new and interesting ways to entertain/annoy one another. My attempt a few days ago resulted in this fine head wear, which I wore the entire evening, though Martin begged me to remove it. Knowing that no one would see me (except, I guess, everyone that opens this site), I figured that it annoyed Martin just enough to keep on my head for a while.

Well, it seems that a certain someone missed the joke. We found Bacon had turbanated himself when we weren’t looking. Or has he mastered the art of the entertain/annoy pastime? He’s remaining tight lipped about it. Either way, I’ve gotta say that Bacon is working that turban!

In other, unrelated news, it’s time for us to get a new pastime.

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