TracyFood

Nepal picture mania, and a bit about momos. 3 December 2007 1:36 am

Posted by Tracy in : Morning Glory, nepal, pictures, travel , trackback

So my last Nepal picture post got cut a little short because I had to run off to Morning Glory to cover a shift, and then I didn’t post on Thursday and Friday, but this week I hope to make up for it with extra picture posts, which appropriately enough, continues last week’s theme. Over the weekend I managed to finish sorting through (and posting) the last few dozen pictures of our first day of not-quite trekking, so now I can post an illustrated version of the events of that day! Let’s start back in the garden on the roof of the Hotel Utse, where I spent some time taking pictures and journaling, first thing in the morning when I was too excited to sleep any more:

From there, I went down to the hotel lobby and restaurant, probably for Nepali breakfast:

and then I ventured out into the Thamel for what I thought would be one last Internet fix:

and make an almost-live TracyFood post and upload just a few pictures, including the above breakfast. I had more time for all this than expected, because our flight out of Kathmandu was delayed, so we left for the airport easily an hour later than expected. But eventually we all got packed into the Hotel Utse’s van, waving goodbye to Mom and another hotel guest:

(Mom would spend a few extra days in Kathmandu to rest her fractured ankle, then fly to Phaphlu and join the trek.)

Here’s a happy sight from the drive through Kathmandu to the airport:

Nepali fast food! And just to keep this a TracyFood post, I’ll make that the last picture of the day and finish this entry by writing a little bit about the deliciousness that is momos.

Momos are Tibetan dumplings, not unlike wontons: thin dough wrapped around a savory meat or vegetable filling, and usually steamed or fried, and often served with a spicy-savory tomato sauce. I first tasted momos at the Patan Museum cafe, of all places (I promised no more pictures so I’ll link to the appropriate one instead), and it was love at first bite. As I scribbled in my notebook, “vegetable momo (Tibetan dumplings: Chinese on the outside, Indian on the inside — yum.)” While these looked like steamed wontons on the outside, inside they had a distinctly curried vegetable filling. Does it count as fusion cuisine if a landlocked country borrows cooking ideas from its neighbors and combines them into its own special, awesome delicious thing? Or can I just call it magic?