Farmers Market Goodies

There are some comforts of the familiar life that we don't like to sacrifice, even for a life in kathmandu. Finding certain individual indulgent treats can be difficult here, and for me, those 'treats' tend to be edible. The is no Loblaws or Essence of Life in Kathmandu, no one-stop grocery shop where you can get any ethnic ingredient or health food or organic veggie. Here I have taken the habit of prowling each grocery shop looking for certain ingredients. i know i can find Kimchi at one store, beef tenderloin at another, Japanese food at yet another...
Hence, I was thrilled to discover the 1905 farmer's market held every Saturday in the city. Here is a link to a little video of the market made by a travel group. 
The market is held in picturesque restaurant grounds and the wares are sold by various local craftsmen from Nepal, Italy, France, Russia, Poland...
The goodies we found.... it was like Christmas morning and thanksgiving dinner combined....

Cheese! (goats cheese, mozzarella, brie, all fresh made)

Fresh organic produce!

Multigrain bread!

Fresh homemade Italian pasta!

for J: pain de chocolat!

and for U: fresh mango puree!

Cheese, fresh ravioli and various organic produce (including shittake mushrooms!)

my stomach is telling me that it is getting easier and easier to call kathmandu 'home'...

j inquiring about something at the market

friends!

many people have been asking about our social life here. do we have one?

I couldn't imagine being here without a baby. Having a baby has immediately propelled me into a world of playgroups, facebook groups, singing groups (for baby, not for me thank goodness), baby-safety talks and used-baby-stuff groups. Likewise, a baby can always serve as a topic of conversation or awkward-moment cover up when attempting to meet new people.

In a quick few months, little u has managed to form us quite an extensive social network and she can't even talk yet.

Having some friends over for sunday 'family' dinner

U and her good friend at the cafe.

We've made friends from all over the world: Ireland, Nepal, Australia, America, Austria, Holland, France, the UK to name a few places. Apparently there are other Canadians here but so far I've only met two. Neither of them asked if I knew so-and-so from Canada.

play group!

My only concern is our lack of Nepali friends. The expat community here is just so involved and so keen that the only Nepali people we see regularly are those that have married foreigners, those J works with, and our didi and Nepali teacher.

That's the things with the expat community. Many of them are working in development, or with embassies, or otherwise are on 2 or 3 year contracts and are used to living the transient expat life, moving from place to place. So they are really good at making friends. Forget the small-talk, the life-stories, the inside jokes from way back and idea of really understanding a good friend. All I needed to do was show an interest in making friends and 2 days later I had a whole group.

It doesn't matter if we don't know each other's last names, really.

u in heaven with a friend and toys

Namobhudda

This time of year is somewhat of a holiday in Nepal. It is Teej time, which I'll write more about in the next post. The holiday means a little time off work and therefore another little getaway outside of Kathmandu.

Last week we headed up to Namobhudda resort, which is located in Kanodada Village here.

We stayed in a quaint cabin built in the traditional Newar style, with lots of beautiful carved wood, a loft style bedroom (steep ladder included) and an overall sense of being tucked neatly and compactly into the mountainside. Our one complaint was that traditional Newar style also meant Newar size, and we both suffered a share of bumped heads on the low doorways and ceilings. Here's our cabin:

Cabin from the back

me & u through the cabin door

morning view from cabin

We also ate extraordinarily well, gorging on delicious homemade vegetarian food, mostly made from the produce grown in the resort's own organic garden. The chef even made us mashed potatoes for U, which she very much enjoyed, despite the picture that looks like she just ate a lemon:

Eating mashed potatoes

I also came across something I had never seen before - an isolation, or flotation tank on the resort property. J and I both made a point of trying it out, though I can't say I'm in any rush to do it again. A bit too transcendental for me.

Besides attempting to meditate in a creepy dark space of salty water, we got out for a beautiful hike around the village and explored the nearby monastery and Stupa. apparently, the Stupa is quite famous as it was actually visited by Bhudda. Here is the gate to the Stupa:

The hike itself was and invigorating (small) bit of exercise. Being out on a trail brought back fond memories of pre-baby days in Ontario's backcountry. Sigh. While this was no Canadian Shield, the air was crisp, fresh and pine scented.

As we neared the stupa and monastery areas, the tress became crowded with Tibetan Bhuddist prayer flags, which (according to Wikipedia, are used to spread a message of peace, wisdom and hope. The monastery area itself was covered in them.