March 21

Yesterday when I awoke, I had an awful kink in my neck/shoulder area. I could hardly move! We did not have anything planned, so this kind of worked out. We went down for our included breakfast. He called it a “simple breakfast.” But it was more what I would call a farmer's breakfast. It was roasted potatoes, egg omelet, toast with butter and jam, and masala tea! When we finished and tried to decide what to do… it started raining! Bummer. So we ended up just vegging and watched some You tube. For lunch we just just did light snack stuff. In the evening there was a little break in the rain, so we went out for supper.

We meandered and discovered a shoe place that had Keen Sandals!!! We are needing replacements, but could not get them in Indian stores. We found our sizes and discovered the shoes were made in China… sooo, pretty sure these are knock offs, because Keen's are a USA brand. It doesn't matter to us. They fit, seem to be good quality, and are less than a third of the price. Yeah – same same, but different. Anyway, I waited as Jeff had to go to an ATM for Nepalese Rupees to pay. This area we are in is very touristy. Shop after shop of brand name jackets, shoes (supplies you would need to climb Mount Everest), and all the souvenirs you could need from magnets, to cashmere sweaters, to wood carved elephants, etc.  Anyway, Jeff returned and we then found a restaurant that had lamb, beef, chicken — meat. We ordered lamb chops and bowl of beef veg noodle dish. The lamb was not so much to my liking, so Jeff ate most of it. The noodle dish was excellent! We each had a never ending cup of tea – once it was half way down they refilled it! This was actually good due to the cool dampness of the evening air. We finished and went back to our room. I blogged some. Bed by 2230.

Today we had plans. We readied (with cold showers as there was not any hot water)🥶☹️!  We skipped breakfast and headed out. We are trekking to a Nepalese Cooking Class Jeff had booked. It was an hour hike in town. Even though, we are hiking along some main roads on the way, it is in general quieter. This is some because not as much traffic, but mostly it is due to less blaring horns because they tend to follow the traffic rules. I know, what a concept!?! Upon arriving, we met Esther and another lady (did not catch her name) – they will be teaching/directing us, and another couple who also showed up. They are Michelle and Jaime from Melbourne, Australia. Nice couple – will be here for two weeks also, but more trekking in the lower mountains (not Everest). 

Today we were making Momos (a steamed, filled dumpling); Dal Bhat (a Nepalese lentil curry/soup);  Aloo Baingan (an eggplant and potato curry dish); and Dry Chicken Curry (Nepali Fried Chicken). It was all fun! To chop veggies and cook – it is just so therapeutic to Jeff and I! The base spices we used in every dish: coriander, cumin, turmeric, a garlic-ginger paste, a dried chili powder (Not the chilly powder, like back home), fennel seeds toasted, and salt. The meat had a prepackaged masala powder seasoning that we used. While it was all cooking, we had a crash course in making momos! It was great adventure, but we had to semi-perfect three kinds of shapes before we “graduated” to actually make them!! The concentration and laughing was just nice!! Laughing at our misshapen momos – what a hoot. Anyway, then it was time to eat… It was so flavorful and aromatic. Even though we did use much the same spices, we had used different quantities of each and this enhanced the dishes. All four of us enjoyed the class. Esther said she will send us the recipes via email — YEAH!!

We finished by two pm, so four hours of cooking and eating!!! We hiked back to our hotel in the cool, dampness of the afternoon, arriving around three pm. Needless, to say we probably won't be eating dinner tonight. It was a one meal kind of day. The whole way back, we kept feeling a bit of spitting of mist, but never had rain. 

We plan a relaxing evening. Today has been a great start for Kathmandu, Nepal!